Solid Waste Treatment

Solid waste is leftover solid material from industrial, commercial, domestic, and other human activities. Solid waste management is the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of waste materials. Different management and treatment processes are employed to manage the solid wastes based on the location and setting in which they are generated, such as developed or developing countries, rural or urban areas, and residential or industrial setting. To the extent possible, management of solid wastes also involves deriving benefits from them; otherwise the materials within the waste would be lost, and simultaneously pollute the environment.

In the United States and other developed countries, conventional practices for mixed municipal solid waste (MMSW) management are as follows. First, the MMSW is collected by on-site or ...