Page 42 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

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Introduction 13
The management of municipal, hazardous, medical, universal, C&D, and other special wastes
will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters. The management of radioactive, mining, and
agricultural wastes is not covered in this book.

1.3 GENERATION OF MSW
At the close of the Second World War, economic activity increased markedly for many Americans.
Following the fulfillment of basic material needs, expenditures for personal consumption increased
substantially. Americans have enjoyed a growing amount of discretionary spending dollars. As a
result of this growth in personal consumption expenditure (PCE) dollars, otherwise referred to as
consumer spending, we have increasingly become a nation of consumers. Waste generation is
inevitably correlated with this increased consumption.
Advertising has been central to stoking the current level of overconsumption in American soci-
ety. In addition, new marketing and production practices, such as disposable products and the
planned obsolescence of various goods, have been introduced (Tammemagi, 1999). To exacerbate
the situation, packaging has become important in marketing practices for consumer goods.
Packaging now comprises more than one-third of the U.S. waste stream. The overall result of these
trends has been an explosive growth in the variety and volume of consumer goods, and concurrently
in the volumes and heterogeneity of solid wastes (Figure 1.6). The need for adequate management
of wastes, therefore, continues to grow in urgency.
Table 1.3 and Figure 1.7 show trends in MSW generation, materials recovery, and disposal in the
United States from 1960 to 1999. The generation of MSW has increased steadily, from 80 million
metric tons (88 million tons) in 1960 to 208 million metric tons (229 million tons) in 1999 (U.S. EPA,
2001). Per capita waste generation increased from 1.2 kg (2.7 lb) per person per day in 1960 to 2.1
kg (4.6 lb) per person per day in 1999. Only recently have annual per capita waste generation rates
begun to stabilize. Such trends have occurred partly because the public is more informed of envi-
ronmental concerns and responsibility (i.e., awareness of reduce, reuse, and recycling), and partly
because disposal costs have increased markedly.

1.4 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Solid waste management is concerned with the generation, on-site storage, collection, transfer,
transportation, processing and recovery, and ultimate disposal of solid wastes.

FIGURE 1.6 Reproduced with the kind permission of King Features Syndicate.