Household Waste Management Project of Riyadh City - Case Study Example

Household Waste Management Project Riyadh City: Saudi Arabia Name Institution Course Tutor Date Household Waste Management Project Riyadh City: Saudi Arabia Introduction Summary Saudi Arabia has been experiencing rapid population growth due to increased standards of living. This is contributed to by the increased level of industrialisation in the country that has raised the level of employment rates resulting into increased income levels of individuals. The City of Riyadh have shown cases of population grown due rural urban migration, and with the increasing level of per capita in Saudi Arabia, 900kg house hold waste is produced per year constituting a 2.5kg share of household waste (Arab Unity Council (AUC), 2001). This figure is evidently increasing annually. This waste management project is aimed to help reduce household waste through management strategies had enhance the standards of the environment of Riyadh City. Goals for this Document This document is intended to comply with the Environmental Standards on Material Recovery and Recycling of Waste 2012 of Saudi Arabia which gives statutory authority, regulatory responsibility and accountability to local municipal government for planning the management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. The document is also meant to educate students and other relevant individuals how manage household waste and improve the health standards of environment. The following objectives will be addressed by this document: An integrated household management project, taking account on: Earth Science perspective, and Non-Western Perspective Implementation of the household management project amongst primary school student in Riyadh Students education and information on benefits of household waste management Literature review and supporting successful plans similar to this in other countries Household Waste Management Project: CONVERT OR 3R This project is aimed at educating students and engaging them in practical activities that would help manage and handle household solid waste in a manner that include Earth Science and Non-Western perspectives. Definition and Demarcation Solid Waste: According to Cheremisinoff & Heinemann (2003), solid waste is defines as any tangible non-liquid or gas substance that is discarded from human and animal activities. Household Waste: Household waste is defined as any solid waste produced generated by daily house activities consisting of both organic substances; the ones that can decay and rot; and non-organic; those that, even if given how long, cannot decay and rot (Tchobanoglous et al., 1993). These solid household wastes can be hazardous or non-hazardous. Household wastes include: Food waste, plastics, textiles, leather, yard waste, wood, glass, tin cans, aluminium objects, other metals, ashes, electronic wastes, tires, and even oil wastes. The CONVERT OR 3R Project This project, as stated earlier, is meant to give the students the benefits of a clean environment in our lives, the consequences and effects of household wastes mentioned above, and the CONVER OR 3R method of managing our environment. Project Literature Review The CONVERT OR 3R Project id aimed at making use of the available resources within the school to enable students understand the types, sources, and effects of household waste within the school. Measures and activities outlined by this document are the management plans to facilitate household waste management and promotion of safe environment within the school. Household wastes in our schools, which mainly constitute food remains, packaging wastes and papers waste, contribute to the general waste impacts on our environment within the school. Therefore, adopting such activities that are aimed at collection, sorting, and effective management activity, will ensure our school environment is conserved and protected from effects of such wastes. According to Stromberg (2013), the entire world has been involved in debate on how human has changed the environment. He claims that several environmental studies done by geologist and environmentalist show that people have changed almost every aspect of the structure and composition of our environment. In what he referred to as “anthropocene”, he illustrated how human activities have destroyed the natural features and compositions of our natural environment. As always perceived by many people, cutting down of trees, emission of gases and other chemical wastes from factories, damping wastes into water sources, are some of the activities that are responsible for pollution in our environment. However, household wastes are also polluting our environment, if not managed appropriately. Household wastes material, in many ways, consequence and affect us negatively. National Environmental Report (2011) shows that household waste materials such as food wastes, amongst others, cause pollutions of surrounding water sources, air, and soil; affects our health negatively though diseases such as cholera, breathing complications, amongst others. As illustrated and demonstrated in the green school-making a difference video, natural environment is beneficial when managed and conserved to high standards. If our environment is kept well conserved, we are able to benefit highly from it. It provides us with fresh air for breathing, food from trees that bare fruits, beauty of our school, as well as shades within the school. Using the available resources of the well conserved environment to provide for some of our needs within the school is what is referred to as “Non-Western perspective” of life. Relevance of the Perspectives to this Project Critically analysing these two perspectives, I considered the practice of making use of the Non-Western practices as a way of understanding the benefits of our natural environment at its best of better standards. The design of this project involves such activities that make students aware of how they contribute to impacts wastes on the environment within the school by their food remains, packing materials of those foods, and paper wastes from their books and reading materials, and help students identify themselves with waste managing measures as part of their daily activities within the school and reduce the impacts of household wastes on the school environment. Understanding the Earth Science perspective helped me come up with ideas of activities that be used in primary learning institutions to manage the biodegradable household wastes and turn them into useful organic resources required by our environment. Therefore, CONVER OR 3R household waste management plan incorporates these two perspectives to implement activities within a primary school set-up to manage household wastes. Such activities that involve: i. Conversion of biodegradable household wastes into organic fertilizers (manure): Organic fertilizers can be used in our farms to supplement the growth of crops and trees. The wastes that fall into this category include vegetable wastes, food remains, ashes, yard waste, and leaves from trees, among others. These wastes are found around the school compound, our homes, as well as along the roads to school. This can be done by designing different containers for collecting these types of wastes separately, and then dumping then into a pit for them to decay and turn into manure. ii. Reducing the waste: This marks the first R in 3R used as the title of this project. It involves controlling the amount of waste we produce in our homes and within the school compound, and controlling how much they impact on the environment. iii. Reuse: Involves the method that makes use of plastic container wastes such cooking oil plastic bottles, metallic cans, amongst others. These materials can still be used as water containers when cleaned well. iv. Recycle: This involves coming up with collection containers for collecting plastic and paper waste materials within our school, and having them taken back to factories for reprocessing into other new useful products. The City of Alexandria also adopted a similar project in 2004 to help manage its solid waste (CASWMP, 2004). Their strategy in waste management focused on municipal waste management, where waste management activities were incorporated with the daily learning curriculum of the school and implemented alongside other learning activities. They explored the types of municipal solid wastes ranging from plastics, metals, rubbers, to many others. Since some of the solid wastes that they addressed in there plan included household wastes, I found it relevant to apply their idea of waste hierarchy to develop and design activities and practices of this project. They made use of such activities involving collection of wastes, sorting them, and having them managed by reusing, recycle, or conversion into compost manure. I found such measures useful in collecting and managing household wastes. Project Hierarchy This project as supported by the Environmental Standards on Material Recovery and Recycling of Waste 2012 develops comprehensive and integrated household waste management plan that addresses the four strategies of this project. The following describe a form of project hierarchy adopted from USEPA. Conversion: this is where biodegradable waste household material (wastes that are able to rot and decay, such as food remains and papers) are collected into containers with assigned labels, and having them buried in a pit in a manner that will allow them decay and rot to produce organic fertilizers that can be used as manure in our farms (European Commission, 2000). This pit can also be seen a dumping site for organic waste to regulate their effects on our immediate environment by having thrown everywhere. Having one collection point, pit, ensures they are centralised and managed from having to spread to other places around us. Reuse: This involves use of a product for its original purpose but in a new application without having to change its physical state (McKinnon et al., 2012). Reusing waste such as plastic containers is also another way of reducing disposal of inorganic household waste in our environment. Recycling: According to Jeavans (2008) and Novelis (2014), recycling of waste material involves having the materials reprocessed into other new material that can be used again. Amongst household wastes that can be recycled include papers from magazines, newspapers, used books; plastics containers, metallic cans, rubbers such as tyres, amongst others. Source Reduction: This involves managing household wastes by regulating the quantity of waste we produce daily in our homes and school. Foods and food packs are mostly from homes and then taken to school by students. Reducing the amount of such substances from home to school is one way or reducing the source of household wastes in hour school. This can be done by implementing measures that will ensure that just enough foods and necessary packing materials are used. Implementation Plan This project is designed for household waste management for a primary school set-up to be incorporated into the regular curriculum of the school by teachers and help students to carry out activities of collecting and managing household wastes within the school. With the help from teachers, this plan can also be practiced by students in their respective homes. The activities that will be carried out in this waste management plan include having waste pit in the school and our homes where organic waste materials can be buried to help reduce loitering of household wastes in the compounds of our homes and school. It will also involve having collection points/containers, with labels of types of household wastes to be collected in them, within the school for students and teachers to collect solid wastes. The same will also be practiced in our homes. However, for wastes that can be reused such containers, the school will have them cleaned and reusing practice made use of. This will be much possible in our homes where many plastic and metallic containers are available for reuse. To regulate the amount of waste produced in our homes and school, students will be guided to make good use of their books to reduce the amount of paper wastes. In our home, solar energy sources can be installed to reduce amount of ashes produced by firewood as a source of energy. This will also ensure trees are conserved and the beauty of our environment maintained or developed. The school it to integrate this plan in the school curriculum for duration of one term and allocate the daily time just as for other curriculum activities. The school will also provide the required containers, protective wares, and necessities in waste collection. Students will work in groups or teams, assigned to collecting different types of wastes into specific containers. With teachers monitoring these activities during their assigned periods, directing students where necessary to facilitate efficiency, students will participate in collecting different wastes into different containers. Within the period of one term with daily periods of about 15 minutes, household wastes will be managed in the school. Students should also be encouraged to practice such activities in their respective homes. The aim of the project plan was to manage the amount of household wastes in the school environment and make use of them to sustain our environment. These activities eliminate wastes from our environment and at the same time make some of them useful to us as well as to the environment itself. Evaluation of this project can be done by interviews amongst students by teachers to assess the practices in their homes. Reference List Cheremisinoff, N.P. & Heinemann, B. (2003). Handbook of Solid Waste Management and Waste Minimization Technologies. Butterworth Heinemann, Burlington. City of Alexandria,Virginia Solid Waste Management Plan. (2011). European Commission. (2000). Official Journal of the European Union. Retrieved 29 Oct 2016 from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:226:0003:0024:EN:PDF. Green School-Making a defference. (n.d.). Retrieved 29 Oct 2016 From Read More