Conservation through waste disposal : benefits and savings through recycling and other methods of solid waste disposal

Abstract

One factor which separates Man from all the other forms of life with which he shares his environment is his ability to produce waste. With increasing population, increased industrialisation, increased affluence and increased consumerism the amounts of waste are at present producing problems and leaching proportions unforeseen and unplanned for in the past.

Pollution, in the form of leachate and environmental degradation from dumping sites, the visual impacts of these sites and the loss of valuable resources are amongst the major problems associated with methods of waste disposal which have developed over time. It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate that what has in the past been considered unwanted and a nuisance could become a valuable resource for the future. After all rubbish is nothing more than a resource in the wrong place and form.

If Man is to continue to maintain himself in an environment which is able to support him, then He must return to a state in which He is more in balance with that environment. I see more environmentally compatible methods of waste disposal including methods of extracting both useful materials and energy from that waste as one of the tools by which Man can reduce his impact on his environment and save large quantities of the valuable resources necessary to sustain his lifestyle.