Page 219 - Energy from Toxic Organic Waste for Heat and Power Generation

Economic Factors for Toxic Waste Management 197

the public services. Although waste can be generally defined as worthless
and useless by-product, a more specific and precise definition as given by
environmental literature is that waste is a matter, liquid, solid, gaseous, or
radioactive, which is discharged or emitted or deposited in the environ-
ment in such a volume, constituency, or manner as to cause alteration of
the environment. For different wastes, different disposal methods have to be
developed. Waste is broadly defined as including nonhazardous industrial,
commercial and domestic refuse including household organic trash, street
sweepings, hospital and institutional garbage, and construction wastes; gen-
erally, sludge and human wastes are regarded as a liquid waste. Again, wastes
are of two categories; solid or liquid or gaseous waste as organic waste and
inorganic waste.

12.2.1 Toxic Waste Management

Toxic waste management (TWM) is a planned system of effectively con-
trolling the production, storage, collection, transportation, processing, and
disposal or utilization of toxic waste in a sanitary, esthetically acceptable,
and economic manner. It includes all the administrative, financial, legal, and
planning functions as well as the physical aspects of toxic waste handling.
The ecological waste management act considers TWM as a strict discipline
that is associated with the control of the generation of toxic components
in the form of waste, extremely safety in collection of waste, safe storage of
the waste, safely transport, proper processing and disposal in a manner that
should be in accordance with the best principles of public health, econom-
ics, conservation policy, esthetics, and other environmental considerations
and that is also responsive to public attitudes. Also, the TWM includes all ad-
ministrative, financial, legal, and engineering functions in order to counter
the problems raised by toxic wastes.
It is well-known that the quality of the environment affects the well- being
or the utility of the consumers either positively or negatively. As the envi-
ronment is treated in economics as a commodity, the actions of economic
agents bring some negative effects, say, pollution and similar problems when
individuals do not bear all the costs of their actions. The costs, if, are not met
in the current period will be costlier in the future, while the “quality” of the
environment is considered as a scarce resource in economics. The social cost
of producing any good is its cost to every individual in the society and this
also includes who do not produce or consume it. The social cost, therefore,
is the private cost what the producer incurs plus the cost the others incur.
When the social cost of producing any good exceeds the private cost, there