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5 Creative Ideas for Sustainable Waste Management

4 June 2021 6184 views

Although the waste management problems remain another global environmental challenge, the efforts to devise and develop solutions for efficient waste management are still ongoing.

As a leading company in the region, SCG has focused on sustainable development and integrated circular economy in business activities. We put together up-and-coming waste management solutions to keep an eye on in 2021.

Inside out: SCG Waste Management Project

Bang Sue Model is SCG’s internal waste management project initiated to reflect resource efficiency concept and enhance waste management practices of different waste types to ensure a proper circular value chain. The model is a crucial mechanism driven to establish the infrastructure to support closed-loop waste management and recycling system on top of instilling a green mindset of “Resource Maximization, Correct Sorting, Proper Disposal” among employees.

The internal project’s success has expanded to Map Ta Phut communities in Rayong province under the project “Waste-free Community,” a project that engages local units of home, school, temple, and waste bank to bring about resource management and waste management at source practice. The project has the aim to increase recycling and reduce landfills. The community leaders are equipped by SCG expert teams with knowledge and tasked to educate community members. This also includes establishing learning-based stations in schools to instill a resource efficiency mindset based on the circular economy principles among students through hands-on activities. The project aims to encourage young people to embrace the concept “Resource Maximization, Correct Sorting, Proper Disposal” and hope such implementation will pass on to families and communities.

Since its start in 2019, the project attracted the participation of 25 communities and established ten local waste banks to collect recyclable materials. The project has 2,697 users engaged in the Koomkah application with an astonishing recyclable material balance in the system of over 100 tons, worth 230,000 Baht. (The data collected from April 2019 to December 2020) The number of recyclable materials collected and logged in the system has saved 73,442 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent. SCG aims to include more communities and households in the project to advance Rayong province toward a waste-free city in the future.

Making Waste Separation Fun

Most people acknowledge that waste separation is a crucial step toward circularity. But only a few come up with the idea to make such an activity fun. TOMRA, a Norwegian collection and sorting machine manufacturer, invented reverse vending machines — known as VRMs – to offer reward points in exchange for recyclable materials.

To date, over 84,000 reverse vending machines have helped capture over 40 billion used plastic items across the world each year.

Unlocking the Value of Plastic Waste for the Community

ASASE Foundation in Accra, Ghana, also introduces a project to promote plastic waste sorting and reuse. The foundation members, who are local people, come together to collect, wash, and dry plastic waste. These plastic items will be re-grinded and sold to recyclers.

The initiative is excellently received by local people, and it has been supported by Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) , a non-profit organization that brings together companies throughout the plastic value chain which SCG is a co-founding member. The project can ramp up processing capacity from 35 tons of plastic waste in 2019 up to 500 tons in 2020. The foundation sets an ambitious target of recycling 2,000 tons of plastic by the end of this year, aside from further expansion to other cities in the country. Watch the ASASE Foundation’s video here:  https://bit.ly/39wwtZo

Turning Waste into Housing

Plastic is rigid, light, cheap, and moldable: all desirable properties favorably made for building materials. Upcycle Africa is another project that promotes effective waste management in Uganda by transforming plastic waste into building materials. Since the beginning of the project, over 3 million plastic items have been repurposed and transformed into 117 affordable homes.

And in this midyear, the enterprise plans to pilot another project by converting plastic waste into fuel oil. The goal is to find another effective way to turn plastic waste unsuitable for building materials into something else meaningful.

Intercepting Plastic Before It Reaches Ocean

Jembrana Regency in Bali is known for its natural beauty. However, it has been struck by limited access to waste management systems which led to plastic waste being illegally dumped, buried, or burned in the area.

Project STOP Jembrana was initiated to maintain its magnificence. It constructed a local management system where the waste is collected weekly and delivered to a recycling facility. The system helps catch about 2,200 tons of plastic waste every year, preventing it from leaking into the environment. The team is carrying out a feasibility study to see if the model could be scaled up to capture plastic waste across Indonesia.

Source : https://endplasticwaste.org/en/our-stories/6-bright-ideas-in-2021

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Latest Projects Based on Waste

The following projects are based on waste. This list shows the latest innovative projects which can be built by students to develop hands-on experience in areas related to/ using waste.

1. Domestic Thermal Insulation with Sugarcane Composite

On this modern age the composite materials are become the primary material for any engineering production because composite materials have several specific properties such as high strength to weight ratio, low cost, and ease of fabrication, tensile strength, compressive strength, Impact strength, high resistance to thermal which does not realize in pure material or non-composite material. Because of its vast application, a Mechanical Engineer should know how to fabricate and teste a composite material. In this project, you will be using two waste materials i.e. bagasse and waste plastic to produce a composite. The composite can be used for the purpose of heat insulation which we can apply in our rooftops or any place where we can reduce the heat transfer. The main aspect of our project is to produce something useful out of waste materials.

2. Treatment of Wastewater using Membrane Bioreactors

Food industry uses a large amount of water for various food processing compared to other sectors. food industry requires a big chunk of water for plant operations, such as production, cleaning, sanitizing, cooling and materials transport, among others.

3. Wastewater Treatment Plant Design Project

Wastewater treatment is the process of converting wastewater into bilge water so that it can be discharged into the water bodies so that it can be mixed and gets reused due to the natural filtration process. Wastewater usually contains toxic chemicals, bacteria, and other harmful resins. The treatment unit aims at reducing the contaminants to acceptable levels so that it can be discharged back into environment.

4. Wastewater treatment using Electrocoagulation process

The industrial wastewater is highly polluted in nature with the presence of variable characteristics such as oil and grease, excess chloride content, acids and alkaline, total solids etc. Due to this problem, it is not possible to release wastewater into a watercourse or on land. There are many treatment methods are available to remove these pollutants. Electrocoagulation is one of the wastewater treatment method which is easy to apply and cheap in cost.

5. Soil Stabilization with Plastic

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6. Effect on compressive strength of concrete with the addition of solid waste

7. e-waste management project.

Electronic industry is the world’s largest and innovative industry for its kind. Every year tons of electronic items get shipped over oceans. Yet, after their usage time, they become a complex waste matter. It consists of many hazardous heavy metals, acids, toxic chemicals, and non-degradable plastics.

8. Solid Waste Management Using GIS

9. arsenic removal from groundwater by coagulation process, 10. partial replacement of coarse aggregate with demolished waste.

The use of building materials has been changing every year. Materials like molded earth brick stones, Timber, Steel, Aluminium, PVC which are less in cost and locally available have replaced the traditional and high-cost materials. However, all these materials have been developed to meet specific requirements of climate, availability of skilled labour and specific raw materials to affect the desired economy.

11. Waste Polythene in Bitumen

12. sugarmill waste in construction.

Construction is a work that leads to environmental degradation that has resulted in global warming and climate change. A good example of degradation in construction work is the emission of carbon-di-oxide accounted as the 2 nd largest after electricity generation which is around about 930 million tons/year or approximately 7% of the total CO 2 emissions.

13. Adsorption of Fluoride Using Nanoparticles of Aluminium Oxide

Fluoride is the element that is naturally found in minerals, rock sediments, and geological deposits, it is named as “double-edged sword” due to the inadequacy of this element in the human body causes dental caries, whereas if intake is more than it leads to dental, skeletal and soft tissue fluorosis. According to the latest research, about 25 countries around the globe shows that fluorosis is endemic. In 1993 UNICEF identified 15 states in India as endemic for fluorosis.

14. Electricity Generation from sugar mill waste using microbes

Nowadays a lot of waste is being generated daily. Developing countries like India, Brazil, Afghanistan are facing severe problem due to the rapid industrialization and urbanization. If the waste is not treated properly it will pollute the environment.

15. Treatment of Effluent With Teak Leaves and Banana Trunk

Water is the main source that runs the world. Water is used in almost every industry for production, servicing and so on. As a result of this, a heavy volume of water is being extracted and used. Then it is discharged in the form of effluent.

16. Garbage Monitoring System

In this world, waste is generated from every work we do. Statistics says that about 62 million tonnes of wastes are generated from urban cities.

These wastes generated from urban cities must be collected by the municipality of the city but due to some constraints this waste is not being collected on time.

If the garbage is not collected regularly, it becomes a good place for breeding of the houseflies and it will make the place hard to live because it will be comprising of materials which will start to decompose and dreadful smell will be covered all over the area.  

17. Preparation of Concrete using Gold Mine Waste

The Rapid increase in urbanisation and industrialisation lead to the construction of huge buildings and factories. So, the usage of concrete is also increased. As concrete is made of the limestone which is a natural resource, it is exhausted by extreme usage.

18. Noise Absorbing materials using Agro Waste Products

Increase in population increases the number of vehicles and because of that both air and noise pollution are increased. Not only from the traffic but noise pollution is also produced from industries and also usage of many mechanical and electrical appliances has created this heavy dosage noise pollution.

19. Sustainable Energy Generation from Septic Tank

Non-renewable energy sources are coming to an end as they are depended on the sources like coal, petrol. So, renewable energy generation is the right way to overcome energy demands.

Electricity is one of the important social need and many types of research are also going on in the generation of non-conventional electricity. Many countries are investing a large amount of money over renewable energy sources like solar energy and wind energy. But it consumes more space as well as a huge capital to build. They also cause pollution to the environment and need much manpower. It also requires raw materials to construct the setup.

Septic tanks are built in every residential house. The function of the septic tank is to reduce the pollution and content of pollutants in the wastewater. This is automatically done by the anaerobic bacteria that live in the septic tank. The septic tank provides favourable conditions for these anaerobic bacteria. This bacteria feeds on the organic material that presents in human waste and converts them into H+ ions and also produce a slight amount of methane gas.

20. Water Purification using the Pedal System

Earth is also known as the blue planet as 75% of its surface is covered by the water. But there is a lack of drinking water on earth. This is because only 2% of 75% of water is meant for drinking and irrigation purpose.

21. Waste Plastic Fuel used in Petrol Engine

Plastic has become a daily need in our life and at present it is posing a greater threat to the environment. Nearly a 200 million tons of plastic is been produced worldwide annually.

Latest Projects based on waste

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15 Innovative Solutions To Our Garbage Problems

The landfill – and the Western mode of managing waste in general – is garbage (pun intended) and isn’t going to be very feasible in the future.

Especially since population growth is expected to reach 9.6 billion people by 2050 . That’s going to be a lot of waste to deal with.

The demand for sustainable waste disposal solutions increases every day, so entrepreneurs, engineers and inventive people everywhere are coming up with new creative ways to tackle our environmental problems.

Below are some of the 15 most creative zero waste solutions you probably haven’t heard about (yet).

1. Plastic Roads

Plastic’s in our oceans, plastic’s in our forests, plastic’s in our…roads?

The day may come when we’ll be driving our (hopefully electric) cars on plastic roads.

Plastic roads, according to the pioneer company KWS , will be made from the plastic waste that’s clogging up our landfills, streams, oceans and generally our entire world.

The plastic will be converted into hollow prefabricated modules, or blocks, that can be lined next to one another like you’re making a line of saltine crackers.

Check out this short video which explains the concept:

All the components of the plastic road have tremendous benefits:

• Since it’s made from recycled plastic, the roads reduce the amount of plastic litter around the world.
• Pre-fabricating the road blocks makes construction 4 times faster, according to KWS.
• Since the roads are hollow, they can temporarily absorb and thereby reduce the amount of floodwaters on top of the road. This increases urban safety and potentially reduces property damage caused by floods.
• The roads last 3 times longer than regular asphalt roads.
• If the road is damaged for whatever reason, the damaged block can simply be replaced. No more traffic jams due to road repair.
• The damaged block can furthermore be recycled and made into a new one.

While there may be some concern over BPA potentially leaking into nearby water systems, the financial, environmental and urban benefits of these roads may simply outweigh the costs.

2. Fly Larvae to Recycle (Organic) Trash

While the thought of eating insects can make a person’s stomach churn, insects provide a great ecological service to reducing the immense amount of food waste dumped in landfills each year.

According to the  UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization ,  one third  of the food produced each year – or about 1.3 billion metric tons of edible food – either spoils or is thrown away.

What most people are not aware of is that organic waste which ends up in landfills is actually a major source of greenhouse gas emission (find out why and how to avoid this in this article ).

Spoiled and thrown out food is also a lot of unused fuel. At the same time, humans are cutting down huge areas of land – even the ever more endangered (rain) forests – to grow crop to feed livestock.

This, in turn, competes with crop cultivation for human alimentation, because feeding crop to animals to eventually be able to eat a steak is very inefficient and a huge waste of resources.

And that’s not even talking about the environmental impact of the current meat production process through CO2 and methane emission or the widespread use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Enter: the black soldier fly larva.

This particular type of larva is ideal because it has a voracious appetite: about 2.5 pounds of larva can eat through 5 pounds of food waste in 4 hours. That’s eating twice their own weight.

They are a great source of sustainable protein ( 42% ) for aquaculture, pets, as animal feed, and yes – also for humans! 

According to the Smithsonian , larvae from black soldier flies already eat the food waste from about 2,000 restaurants in China. The larvae are great at converting this waste into body mass.

Once the larva are nice and fat, they can be fed to chicken, fish, even turtles.

Using the black soldier fly larva effectively reduces the amount of organic waste rotting in the landfill.

Instead of producing climate-warming greenhouse gases in the process, it can be used to cut the cost of growing and feeding livestock for human consumption.

Maybe the creepy-crawlies aren’t so bad after all.

3. Composting Human Bodies

What do you want to happen to your body after you die? Do you want it to be buried in a coffin or cremated?

Or do you want your body to be composted for further use, giving new life?

With companies like Recompose or Earth , the latter option is possible.

They offer an alternative to cremation and conventional burial practices by gently converting human remains into soil, which is then used to help restore forests, nourishing new life and sequestering CO2 from the air.

In most western societies, death is a somber and touchy subject, and we don’t mean to say that dead humans are waste to the environment.

But corpses do take up a lot of space, water and energy to be buried in the stereotypical western tradition.

For example, each year in the U.S., 2.7 million people die and are buried and emit carbon dioxide and particulates into the atmosphere.

Humans are embalmed and take a long time to decompose, so they don’t go back into nature the way organic beings are designed to.

Worse, embalming fluid leaks into groundwater, and further carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere from the manufacturing of caskets, headstones and grave liners.

More people will be born, more people will die.

We have to think about Western burial practices more strategically if we want to use our limited usable land more efficiently, economically and ecologically.

4. Building With Glass

So, yes, glass is recyclable. But a large amount of glass  isn’t  recycled and ends up in the landfill. Which is a problem, because glass will take about  1 million years  to break down.

What are we to do with all this glass? Some smart engineers are saying, “Build with it!”

A report from the Journal of Cleaner Production finds that waste glass can be repurposed into building material without needing to remelt it and without requiring much water to produce.

This makes glass recycling much more efficient. As of 2018, conventional glass recycling technologies need glass to be separated into different glass types and to be remelted, which takes a lot of energy.

Instead, mixed broken glass could be remade into a “polymeric glass,” which is functionally and aesthetically equivalent to stone products and can be used as kitchen and bathroom benchtops, floors and wall tiles.

Why cut more stones out of the earth when we could make stone-like products out of our own waste? It’s economically and environmentally smarter.

5. Zero Waste and Package-Free Stores

Nope, they’re not the talk of hippie-dippie dreamers anymore. Zero waste stores are becoming a reality.

They’re exactly what they sound like. In no part of the process – from manufacturing to what the consumer buys in the store – will anything need to be thrown away.

For example, at Package Free Shop , every single one of their products is compostable , recyclable or reusable in some way, even the packaging of their products.

“Wait, packaging! That makes them liars!” you might be crying from behind your computer screen. And, yes, it’s technically true.

However, it’s incredibly hard for companies to completely avoid packaging for their products. Menstrual cups and other sanitation products even legally require packaging.

However, that doesn’t mean that the packaging needs to be made of non-recyclable plastic or other disposable packaging. That’s at the core of package free and zero-waste shops.

At some places, such as The Fillery in NYC, customers bring their own containers and bags, weigh them at the beginning of their shopping trip, fill their containers with food or other products, and pay at the counter.

No plastic bags, no food boxes, no plastic or packaging of any kind.

It’s a smart way for businesses to save money and for consumers to avoid unnecessary trash, especially plastic packaging.

6. Turning Waste to Energy

According to the market analyst Grand View Research, the global economy for turning trash into electricity could reach $37.64 billion by 2020 , especially as technology improves to make trash burning more economically and environmentally efficient.

Sweden was one of the first countries to revolutionize this process, and their technology got so good that they ran out of their own trash to burn . They had to import trash from other countries to keep their recycling plants going.

Less than 1% of Sweden’s trash is sent to landfills, and over 50% of Swedish household waste is converted into energy to heat their homes.

Imagine, there might be a day when the landfills stinking up the earth could be used to safely and effectively power homes across the world.

7. Poo Power

Along a similar – albeit smellier – vein, fecal matter can be turned to fuel as well.

With as much commercial waste entering landfills, there’s a comparable if not greater amount of organic waste entering sewage systems. This could be an untapped source of renewable energy to fulfill growing energy demands.

UK researchers  recently invented a toilet which works without water or electricity, two key services which are not available to a huge part of the population. The toilet is currently being trialed in Ghana, Africa.

What’s amazing about that toilet is that it separates the water from the human waste, which can be used for irrigation, household washing or even as drinking water!

The human waste’s gas is converted into energy and the remaining solids can be used as fuel or fertilizers. Check out this short video to see how it works:

Through this waterless process, the toilets can provide clean sanitation to people who don’t have it – and even provide water and energy as a byproduct.

It’s amazing how most sustainable innovations intersect with societal and economic improvements. The future is ecological.

8. Recycling Cigarettes

Smoking’s not only bad for your body, but it’s gross for the environment as well. Cigarettes are the most littered item in the U.S. as well as worldwide, and cigarette butts make up  30 – 40 percent of all collected litter .

75 percent of smokers report tossing cigarette butts onto the ground or out their car window. Because of this, cities spend somewhere between $3 million and $16 million cleaning up cigarettes.

This clean up is important, as cigarette butts are not biodegradable and leach harmful substances into the environment. Among many other toxic chemicals, cigarettes contain Arsenic, which is used in rat poison and is therefore deadly to many animals.

In addition, the many harmful and toxic chemicals contained in cigarettes end up in our soils and waters – and thus in our food chain and drinking water.

Because of this, cigarette cleanup and recycling  is paramount, and companies like TerraCycle are incentivizing individuals to pick up cigarette ends.

Volunteers sign up on their website for free, pick up cigarette butts and trash and ship it for free to the company, which removes the waste and ash and repurposes the butts into plastic pallets for reuse.

What’s more, for every pound an individual sends in, TerraCycle donates $1 to the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program. People get to feel good about cleaning up their streets and cleaning up a whole country.

9. Roofs Made From Recycled Paper and Plastic

A typical non-residential flat roof has to be replaced every 20 years so having a roof material that is sustainable could have a huge impact on the environment.

Continuus Materials has a closed loop solution for roof cover boards used on these roofs. See how in the animation below:

Continuus Materials, based in Houston, Texas, makes 100 percent upcycled roof cover boards from plastic and paper waste.

For every 1,000 square feet of EVERBOARD installed, nearly 2,000 pounds of paper and plastic are diverted from landfills.

Then, Continuus can take the products back and use them again at the end of their useful life – truly a circular solution.

What’s more, ContinuusMaterials is a zero waste, zero water company, so their manufacturing itself is as green as the products they produce.

Fast food restaurants, coffee shop and retail stores roofs may one day be built with their own waste products. Here is an example of one finished project and the resulting waste diversion.

10. Never Waiting for Ketchup

Alright, this one’s a bit off the wall (literally), but just wait a second.

If you eat ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise or any liquid that comes in a container, you know that some of the liquid inevitably ends up sticking to the wall of the container.

It’s annoying when you just keep shaking the bottle, trying to get the last bit out, but it refuses to go. So, so you end up chucking the container into the trash.

Imagine the amount of food waste all the collectively thrown out condiments of the world causes! And imagine all the plastics that can’t be recycled because of the leftover food residue. If only there was a way to get out all the contents of a condiment container out.

Thankfully, condiment sustainability improved tenfold thanks to LiquiGlide technology. Liquids slide around the inside of the container with ease, making sure all the contents exit when you tip the bottle .

Consumers save money by using all the condiments they bought, less food waste winds up in the landfill and the containers themselves won’t be contaminated with food waste and will thus be more easily recycled. It’s a win-win for everyone.

11. Electronics Recycling

That ancient music player you tossed in the trash may seem harmless, but it might be leaking toxic heavy metals into the environment.

As technology steadily becomes more entrenched in our daily lives, electronic waste desperately needs to be dealt with sustainably. Luckily, there’s the Electronic Recycling Association  (ERA) working with Canadian recyclers to reduce e-waste entering the environment.

Less mercury, lead, beryllium and cadmium will make their way into water systems and residential areas. ERA, in collaboration with Hi Tech Recyclers, work to recycle TVs, printers and other unusable electronics.

However, recycling electronics comes with the fear that user data may be mined and used to commit identity theft or fraud. Hi Tech Recyclers ensures data protection, as recyclers dismantle, shred and ship electronics to a downstream processor.

ERA and Hi Tech Recyclers can thus help our environment while ensuring such electronic recycling isn’t used for nefarious means.

12. Pulling Carbon Out of Thin Air

We know humans are putting too much carbon into the air, but what if we could pull this carbon back out?

According to Wired, many start-ups are tackling the excess carbon problem with creative carbon sequestration solutions. There are a lot of very different and promising approaches. For example, a Montreal-based company called Carbicrete makes cement free concrete.

Cement is the main ingredient in concrete that causes CO2 emission during its production, so avoiding cement already saves CO2. Furthermore, Carbicrete’s process actually injects CO2 into its product, making it actually a carbon dioxide negative concrete.

Here’s the gist: Carbicrete takes a steel slag, or a complex waste product from steel plants, and mixes it with purified CO 2 in an enclosed chamber. The CO 2 reacts with the compounds in the steel slag, resulting in a product that behaves like regular concrete.

The carbicrete can be used to construct roads, driveways, buildings, or anything else where concrete is needed. The process currently fixes about 200 kgs of CO 2 per day, and the company is hoping to scale up to two tons within the next decade.

Along with concrete, carbon dioxide can be remade into ethanol, ethylene, methanol and the other building blocks of fossil fuel, according to CERT . Maybe one day in the near future, the burning of fossil fuel can be as cyclical as the water cycle.

13. Technology to Clean up Our Oceans

Do you know where to find the biggest garbage dump in the world?

That’s right, it is floating between Hawaii and California, also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. And great it is indeed – 3 times the size of France, containing 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic:

And this is only one of 5 of those garbage patches, which the ocean currents concentrate in certain areas around the world.

If left on its own, the sun, wind and water will break the plastic into ever smaller pieces of microplastic , which will be next to impossible to remove from the ocean.

So it is not only important to stop new trash from getting into our oceans, but we also need to act fast and get the plastic that’s already in there back out of our oceans while we still can – before it becomes invisible microplastic.

But since plastic never actually biodegrades, it will continue to impact our ocean ecosystems, human health and global economies. We put trash into our oceans, so it’s up to us to get the trash out of the ocean.

Probably one of the most promising approaches to tackle this problem is  The Ocean Cleanup . Here’s how it works:

Basically, a  600 meter long floater rides the surface of the water and is pushed by natural ocean currents, wind and waves. The floater’s 3 meter deep skirt catches plastic and stops debris from washing above it or passing below it.

A vessel collects the accumulated plastic regularly, just like a garbage truck. The collected plastic, once back on land, will then be recycled into new products.

Ocean Cleanup’s models show they could clean up 50 percent of the ocean’s plastic in just five years, and 90 percent by 2040, once the system  is deployed at full-scale.

On September 2018, the first prototype “System 001”, launched from San Francisco to prove the concept. You can follow its progress and track its position here .

14. Smart Meters: Reduce Household Electricity Consumption

Research done in Europe found that smart-metering significantly reduces the energy demand of meter users.

The smart meter tells users where electricity is going, allowing users to realize any abnormalities in their electrical usage. On average, smart meter users could reduce their electrical consumption by 5-15 percent.

This may not sound like a lot, but up to 15 percent will make a considerable impact on a household’s electrical usage if more people install and listen to their smart meters.

15. Use Fungus for Nuclear Waste Clean-Up

The United States produced a horrendous amount of radioactive waste during the Cold War. Much of it wasn’t properly disposed and has been leaking from underground storage tanks into the environment since the 50’s .

Popsci estimates that nearly 800 billion gallons of water and over 2 billion cubic feet of soil have been contaminated by such waste. 

Cleaning up nuclear waste is damaging to humans, but some yeast strains are naturally resistant to extremely radioactive and acidic conditions, according to the journal of  Frontiers Microbiology .

These little fungi won’t get rid of the radioactive substances themselves, but could turn the seeping, highly toxic and acidic sludge into less harmful substances or form a biofilm which could act  like a seal.

Fungi’s true impact on radioactive waste remains to be seen, but it’s a step in the right direction for tackling waste that was once thought to be permanent.

As concerns for the climate grows, technology and human creativity to overcome sustainability-related issues grow with it.

While it is impossible to predict how things will turn out, those inventions and ideas we just saw definitely give hope and inspire.

Which idea is your favorite?

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How to Reduce Waste: 21 Ideas for Zero Waste Living

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Easy ways to reduce your waste.

Every day, Americans collectively generate 700,000 tons of trash. Reducing waste may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be. You may not have the time or resources to do it perfectly, but don’t let that stop you! 

From taking sustainable actions to purchasing eco friendly gifts , there are countless ways, big and small, to reduce your waste in a way that fits with your lifestyle. To help you get started, we’re sharing a collection of 21 easy zero waste tips. No pressure or judgment — just try a few and see what works for you!

And remember: don't let perfect be the enemy of good. The world needs millions of environmentally conscious people doing zero-waste imperfectly, not a handful doing it perfectly.

Reduce Reuse Recycle: 21 Ideas to Help You Reduce Waste at Home

1. Bulk Goods are the ULTIMATE Eco friendly products

Consider buying staples in bulk and storing them in reusable containers like mason jars or cloth bags. Because you can control the amount, you'll be able to get exactly what you need. And as an added bonus, you should notice a difference in your bank account, since pre-packaged goods tend to come with a hefty price tag. To save even more, consider joining a food buying club (or start one)!

2. NO Plastic Bottles

Approximately 40% of bottled water sold is actually tap water. Instead of being duped by clever marketing, invest in a quality water filter and a sweet reusable water bottle. We love glass, but there are plenty of other sustainable options! And while you’re at it, grab a thermos for your coffee or tea on the go. You’ll be able to make it exactly the way you like it — and save a money, too.

3. Invest In a Set of Cloth Produce Bags

You know those flimsy plastic bags they offer in the produce department? Super wasteful. Investing in (and remembering to bring) a set of cloth produce bags will protect your purchases and prevent more plastic from ending up in the ocean and the bodies of aquatic wildlife. These bags are great for transporting bulk goods, too. Plus, your produce will never be cuter!

4. Avoid Produce Wrapped in Plastic

This is a tough one, because many supermarkets shrink-wrap every loose piece of produce they can get their hands on, even those that naturally have biodegradable packaging. Shrink-wrapped bananas, anyone? But, that brings us to our next tip!

5. Support Your Local Farmer

The food will be fresher, tastier, more sustainable, and way more nutritious. Besides, by supporting local farmers, you’ll cycle your dollars right back into your local economy. Alternatively, you can join a CSA or sign up for a local food delivery service.

6. Avoid Single-Use Plastics

Plastic cutlery, straws, plates, and cups clog our landfills and end up filling the bellies of sea turtles. So get yourself a set of reusable cutlery, stainless steel straws, and reusable containers to keep in your car or bag while you’re out and about.

8. Ditch the Tea Bags

Most tea bags are loaded with micro plastics that are bad for you and the environment. But have no fear: loose-leaf tea is here!  Pick up an in-mug strainer or a set of reusable cloth tea bags and you’ll be on your way to a delicious, sustainable brew in no time! And if you’re feeling adventurous, try blending up your own teas — you’ll be able to have your cuppa exactly how you like it — and as a bonus, custom blends make wonderful gifts.

9. Green Up Your Closet

Buy exclusively from sustainable clothing brands or hit up your local thrift or consignment shop. Often, you'll find unique, gently worn (or even brand new) stuff at a fraction of the original price. Get used to people asking “where did you get that?” And while you’re there, donate that pair of jeans you haven't been able to squeeze into in 10 years. As Marie Kondo says, "To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose."

10. Plan Your Meals

Meal planning can really help streamline your grocery trips, trim food costs, and reduce waste by ensuring that you'll use everything you purchase. It will also save you from the question that pretty much everyone dreads after a long day of work: “what’s for dinner tonight?” And who knows? You might just score a little more "you" time on busy weeknights. You can also read up on how to adopt a more sustainable diet !

11. Give Veggies a Chance

In a perfect zero-waste world, everyone would go vegan and consign environmentally destructive factory farming to history. But if you aren’t ready or able to give up meat, choose local, humanely raised meat. And consider making Meatless Monday a new tradition at your house. You might just be pleasantly surprised at how satisfying and delicious plant-based meals can be.

12. Compost Your Food Scraps

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 30% of the waste Americans produce is made up of yard waste and food scraps, which can be composted instead. By diverting that waste away from the dump we can shrink the size of landfills and reduce methane production, a greenhouse gas and major contributor to global warming. Getting started is easy. You can create your own compost heap or take advantage of your city’s compost pick-up service. 

13. Replace Plastic Wrap With Bees Wrap

Made with beeswax, cloth, oil, and pine resin, they’re like plastic wrap’s fun, eco-friendly cousin. Sold in a variety of shapes, sizes, and patterns, you’ll be sure to find one you like. They’re reusable, work surprisingly well, and save a heck of a lot of plastic waste. They’re also relatively easy to make and can be a great gift!

14. Green Up Your Period

Yes, that one! Give (BPA-free) menstrual cups, period underwear, and reusable cotton pads a try. This will keep the 10,000 tampons (and plastic applicators) that the average woman uses in her lifetime out of our landfills. Think of all the things you can buy with the money you’ll save. Fair trade chocolate, anyone?

15. Give Ugly Veggies and Dented Cans a Chance

When shopping for produce, we tend to expect that everything will be shiny and unblemished — which happens to create a LOT of waste. Check out the “last chance” shelf at your local supermarket. You’ll save these items from the dumpster and get great deals on what you need. Also worth exploring are ugly vegetable delivery services like Misfits Market!

16. Reuse Old Clothes

Make cloth rags out of old, un-donateable clothes and use them in place of paper towels for deep cleaning projects around the house.  If you go through a lot, check with your local thrift store — they may sell bulk rags created from un-salable donations. Or if a t-shirt just doesn't fit you anymore, turn it into a reusable bag! 

17. Replace Your Soap Bottles With Bars

Not that kind! Give plastic shampoo, conditioner, and soap bottles the boot. Bars are concentrated and last longer than bottled products, so you’ll save money, too. Or if you’re feeling ambitious, try handcrafting your own homemade beauty products. 

18. Make Your Own Cleaning Products

Did you know that conventional cleaning products are full of harmful endocrine disruptors and other chemicals that leach into our sewage systems, waterways, and bodies? Fortunately, it's pretty easy to make your own eco friendly cleaning products: try combining baking soda with lemon juice and vinegar to clean your counter-tops, showers, toilets, and floors.

19. Check the Air Filter in Your Car

A dirty air filter can reduce your vehicle's fuel economy by up to 10%. Read your car’s user manual to figure out what type of filter you need, and how to change it out. And don’t be intimidated! This is a quick fix that anyone can do!

20. Recycle Spare Tires

Most landfills won’t accept tires, but retailers that recycle them will be happy to take 'em off your hands. Some tire shops will also recycle them for a fee. You could also get creative and upcycle them into tire swings, dog beds, and more.

21. Use Digital Instead of Print

Switch to digital documents to save on paper and ink. And while you’re at it, get yourself off of those junk mail lists, ask for paperless bills, and always opt for digital receipts. Receipt paper is often coated with toxic BPA and BPS, so this is a good way to avoid unnecessary chemical exposure, too.

So there you have it! By no means are we suggesting that you do everything on this list right away. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but with a little time and patience, you can absolutely reduce your impact. We hope that after reading this, you’re feeling inspired to create less waste and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle .

Want to do more? Consider planting a tree with us today!

Meaghan Weeden

Meaghan works to share our story far and wide, manages our blog calendar, coordinates with the team on projects + campaigns, and ensures our brand voice is reflected across channels. With a background in communications and an education in environmental conservation, she is passionate about leveraging her creativity to help the environment!

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8 university recycling ideas to make your campus greener

Recycling at your university achieves that fewer materials are burned, buried in the ground or washed away into the ocean. Instead, these resources can be re-used again to generate economic value and benefit people. Recycling is a core aspect of becoming a sustainable university . In this blogpost, you learn about 8 university recycling projects.

What are the benefits of recycling?

Recycling sounds boring, doesn’t it? It’s dirty and unsexy. But that might just be your first impression. Here are some arguments why you might want to care about the dirty waste that students and staff leave behind:

• Your university saves money , by paying less for waste going to landfill or incineration. Your university might even earn money, by selling cardboard, glass or plastic.
• Everybody at your university throws away garbage. Students and staff immediately see if a recycling system is in place or not. If you want people to care about environmental issues, then improving recycling is a good way to avoid common complaints that your university doesn’t do enough on sustainability.
• Litter can spoil beautiful campus gardens, incineration contributes to climate change, as well as seagulls and fish suffocate from plastic. University recycling can help you to reduce your university’s environmental impacts .
• The resources that go into the goods, buildings and gadgets that make your modern life so convenient are limited. Finding ways to use less material inputs for products and to re-use materials in a circular economy is necessary for long-term prosperity.

Recycling projects are a key practice of a sustainable university.

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What does recycling mean for your university?

In a nutshell: Recycling at your university or college achieves that fewer materials are burned, buried in the ground or washed away into the ocean. Instead, these resources can be re-used again to generate economic value and benefit people.

Here are some materials to recycle and re-use:

• Organic materials
• Electronics
• Metals and cans

You can recycle these materials by implementing recycling project ideas.

Tip: Often the hotspots where recycling should take place are the library (paper), sports events (plastics), cafeteria and other common areas that students and staff use to take breaks (organic materials), as well as student dormitories, offices and classrooms (about everything).

1st recycling idea: Distribute boxes in offices to recycle pens or batteries

What are great university recycling ideas?

(1) understand waste management practices.

Before you want to change anything, it helps if you understand how the current system operates. Ask yourself some of these questions:

• Who’s currently responsible for waste management and recycling?
• Is a recycling policy in place?
• How is waste collected and by whom?
• What governmental regulations affect what materials your university must recycle?

(2) Gather and analyse data

To act strategically, it’s important that you establish a baseline. Establish a baseline by asking yourself these questions:

• Can you get data from the waste manager or waste haulier about the types of waste that are collected?
• How much is currently recycled?
• Is this data available for different buildings and over multiple years?
• What trends can you see?
• Based on this data, can you identify some buildings that are ‘recycling hot spots’ or where a lot of waste goes to landfill? These are areas you might want to target first.

(3) Standardise bins and labelling

Some buildings might not have any bins. Also, the types of bins and how they are labelled might differ, which can be very confusing for people. Standardising the types of bins and how they are labelled across all buildings makes university recycling much easier.

As a first step, it helps if you examine buildings:

• Are recycling bins installed?
• Where they are placed?
• How are they labelled?

Then develop a proposal with the waste coordinator or the director of facility services on how this could be improved.

Labelling bins is a good recycling project idea

(4) Set a university recycling target

A university-wide recycling target can help you to set a clear ambition on how much to improve recycling at your university. Without a target, it might be difficult to legitimize why money and time should be invested to improve recycling. Once you have a university-wide target, you can easier legitimise your projects, and hold the institution accountable if goals aren’t met.

(5) Run a competition

You have a baseline, standardized bins, put up labels and set a target. But how do you improve recycling rates? A great way is to run competitions. Challenge buildings, faculties or dormitories to improve their recycling rate. Track progress and award winners with nice prizes.

For inspiration, check out RecycleMania or these 9 tips from Harvard University for running a recycling competition . You can also run Green Impact at your university and award points to staff teams for recycling actions that they implement.

(6) Run events to spread recycling ideas

You might already run events to raise awareness, educate and change behaviours. If not, here are some university recycling project ideas to get you started:

• Run an upcycling workshop where students use waste to produce bags, wallets or other products
• Organise a repair cafe where students and staff bring their broken things and repair them
• Carry out a Swap Shop or Swap Party where people bring their old clothes and exchange them
• Collect scrap paper that has been printed on one side and then run an event where students bind papers together into new folders
• Screen a sustainability documentary about waste and then discuss with people what could be done to improve recycling on campus
• Train student volunteers as Recycling Heroes and have them stand next to bins in busy areas to explain to people how to recycle their waste

(Not enough ideas? Explore our blogpost to get 10 more project ideas on how to engage students on the Sustainable Development Goals .)

Run a swap shop to exchange 2nd hand clothes

(7) Change procurement contracts and practices

Procurement describes the process through which your university buys products and services on the market. The procurement department decides what furniture, food and electronics are bought, and how they are discarded.

Here are some university recycling ideas you could implement together with your procurement department:

• Purchase second-hand furniture, furniture that lasts longer, or that is easier to recycle
• Oblige suppliers of computers, mobile phones and monitors to take them back, once you want to get rid of them again
• Order products in bulk or require less packaging
• Make it part of the catering contract that the caterer strives to reduce food waste

(8) Address low-threshold areas

In addition to these events and procurement practices, you could act upon the following university recycling projects:

• Introduce double-sided printing as the standard settings of printers
• Install hand driers in restrooms, and remove hand towels
• Ban water bottles entirely from campus and install refill stations
• Collect e-Waste centrally and donate it to a charity
• Deliver publications electronically, instead of printing them
• Green guide: 15 tips for sustainable student lifestyles
• What is a green university? (definition)
• 9 sustainable food projects for your university

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Project Idea | Smart Waste Management System

Introduction:.

Brief presentation of the project (MUST SEE before reading further)   The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept in which surrounding objects are connected through wired and wireless networks without user intervention. In the field of IoT, the objects communicate and exchange information to provide advanced intelligent services for users.  This project deals with the problem of waste management in smart cities, where the garbage collection system is not optimized. This project enables the organizations to meet their needs of smart garbage management systems. This system allows the user to know the fill level of each garbage bin in a locality or city at all times, to give a cost-effective and time-saving route to the truck drivers.  OBJECTIVES  The key research objectives are as follows:  • The proposed system would be able to automate the solid waste monitoring process and management of the overall collection process using IOT (Internet of Things).  • The Proposed system consists of main subsystems namely Smart Trash System(STS) and Smart Monitoring and Controlling Hut(SMCH).  • In the proposed system, whenever the waste bin gets filled this is acknowledged by placing the circuit at the waste bin, which transmits it to the receiver at the desired place in the area or spot.  • In the proposed system, the received signal indicates the waste bin status at the monitoring and controlling system. 

Design Implementation and DFD  

PRODUCT FEATURES

With the web application, the administrator will be able to search for dustbins. The result will be based on the criteria the user inputs. There are several search criteria, and it will be possible for the administrator of the system to manage the options for those criteria that have that.  The result of the search will be viewed either in a list view or in a map view, depending on what criteria are included in the search. The list view will have one list item for each dustbin matching the search criteria and show a small part of the dustbin information, so the user can identify the dustbin. The administrator will be able to either select a dustbin as a target destination or get information on how to get there or view the information of a specific dustbin.  The web portal will provide the functionality to manage the system and the dustbin information. It will also provide information about the system, for example, showing when there is a new update. 

A list of possible stakeholders of the system and a brief description of their needs, business rules, possibilities and connections with others is presented below:  • City administration needs an understanding of the big picture, generating reports, control over pricing etc.  • District administrations are interested in controlling the process of waste collection, checking the quality of service (all waste collected, all in time, waste collected cleanly, waste transported to special places), quick and legal ways for solving disputes and problems.  • Municipalities can also deploy and maintain smart city infrastructure like capacity sensors in waste bins and wireless networks for data transferring.  • Waste trucks owning companies need a platform for organizing and optimization of their business process in general without serious investments in developing, deploying and supporting their own system. Such a system must include effective dynamic routing based on IOT data for the truck fleet. Besides, controlling drivers and tracking the fleet is also an important issue.  • Waste truck drivers need a navigation system for fulfilling their tasks. Another issue is reporting problems and passing them to the operators in the office instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, this can sufficiently save the time of a driver and vehicle. Drivers also need evidence that their work was done correctly and cleanly.  • Managers of dumps and recycling factories can publish their possibilities or needs in acquiring a certain amount of waste for storing or recycling.  • Staff that is responsible for trash bins in the current yards needs communications with waste management companies and truck drivers.  • Road police can get reports about inaccurate car parking that leads to the impossibility of waste collection. • Citizens want to have better service, lower cost and having easily accessible reports on what has been done and how much it cost 

HARDWARE INTERFACE:

Arduino Uno   Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board. It has 14 digital input/ output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analogue inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.. You can tinker with your UNO without worrying too much about doing something wrong, in the worst case scenario you can replace the chip for a few dollars and start over again. 

Ultrasonic Sensor:   The Ultrasonic Sensor sends out a high-frequency sound pulse and then times how long it takes for the echo of the sound to reflect back. The sensor has 2 openings on its front. One opening transmits ultrasonic waves, (like a tiny speaker), the other receives them, (like a tiny microphone). The speed of sound is approximately 341 meters (1100 feet) per second in air. The ultrasonic sensor uses this information along with the time difference between sending and receiving the sound pulse to determine the distance to an object.  Wi-Fi Module – ESP8266:   The ESP8266 WiFi Module is a self-contained SOC with an integrated TCP/IP protocol stack that can give any microcontroller access to your WiFi network. The ESP8266 is capable of either hosting an application or offloading all Wi-Fi networking functions from another application processor. Each ESP8266 module comes pre-programmed with an AT command set firmware, meaning, you can simply hook this up to your Arduino device and get about as much WiFi-ability as a WiFi Shield offers. ? Breadboard: A breadboard is a construction base for prototyping of electronics. In the 1970s the solderless breadboard (AKA plugboard, a terminal array board) became available and nowadays the term “breadboard” is commonly used to refer to these. “Breadboard” is also a synonym for “prototype”. Because the solderless breadboard does not require soldering, it is reusable. This makes it easy to use for creating temporary prototypes and experimenting with circuit design. ? JUMPER WIRES: A jump wire is an electrical wire or group of them in a cable with a connector or pins at each end (or sometimes without them – simply “tinned”), which is normally used to interconnect the components of a breadboard or other prototype or test circuit, internally or with other equipment or components, without soldering. 

SOFTWARE INTERFACE:

Arduino IDE:  The open-source Arduino Software (IDE) makes it easy to write code and upload it to the board. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on Processing and other open-source software. This software can be used with any Arduino board. It contains a text editor for writing code, a message area, a text console, a toolbar with buttons for common functions and a series of menus.  Web Server:  A Web server is a program that uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol to serve the files that form Web pages to users, in response to their requests, which are forwarded by their computers’ HTTP clients. Dedicated computers and appliances may be referred to as Web servers as well.  Front end Technologies:  HTML5:   HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the latest and most enhanced version of HTML.  CSS3:   Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the look and formatting of a document written in a markup language.CSS3 is the latest standard of CSS.  Javascript:  JavaScript is a full-fledged dynamic programming language that, when applied to an HTML document, can provide dynamic interactivity on websites.  JQuery:  JQuery is a cross-platform JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. JQuery is the most popular JavaScript library in use today.  Back end Technologies:   PHP:   PHP is a server scripting language and a powerful tool for making dynamic and interactive Web pages.  MySql:   MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). It is very fast, reliable, and easy to use. 

Application

The project design is a part of the implication that can be used to improve the waste management of a locality. All the technical aspects have been thoroughly designed keeping all the constraints in mind. The project resolves around whether the project will be able to meet the future needs of the users. This project-based on IoT gives users the freedom of changing hardware as well as software specifications as per the arising need. IoT based projects are already designed while keeping future demands in mind and in a rising economy like India where the concept of smart cities is new the demand for our project will keep on increasing. This project here is a model of the large scale application which spans pan India in different smart cities. The implementation of this project has been divided into various phases. Starting from the metropolitan cities and moving towards the concept of smart cities, it will also cover small towns and tier III cities in later phases. At present, we are here to display the live working of the model and give an idea about the actual implications. For any society to flourish, it is manifestly important that they remain fair and orderly. Deciding how best to ensure this, in light of the huge growth in both the uptake and complexity of technology that has occurred in the last decade, and which can be expected to continue in the next, this here is one of the products that can be used to contribute to the better management of waste and increase the efficiency of resources. 

Brief presentation of the project   Design Implementation and DFD PRODUCT. 

This article is contributed by Tarun Pandey . If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using write.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to [email protected]. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks. 

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Top 10 Waste Management Ideas

Posted by GreenStories | Sep 3, 2021 | Waste , WASTE MANAGEMENT | 0

Ever wondered, where does all the waste that we throw from our homes go? And, why is it important to know about it? Waste management is more of a necessity than we think. It plays an extremely necessary role in global cleanliness. It is a process of disposing of the waste that we produce. Every year, we produce 11.2 billion wastes worldwide. Managing such a huge amount of waste is essential as this waste can affect the environment in several ways. If we look at the bright side, proper waste management can result in a clean environment. In fact, it can be rewarding. There are companies that pay for giving them waste. Moreover, the companies themselves earn huge amounts of revenue just by following the practice of waste management. It reduces pollution , aids in conserving both energy and environment and keeps the environment clean.

But on the other hand disposing the waste in an inappropriate manner like dumping it in land or water bodies or burning it, can cause air and water pollution . Any damage to the environment will negatively impact our lives too. Non- biodegradable and toxic waste (example – radioactive remnants) can cause damage to the environment and to the health of the living beings. In addition, several kinds of wastes can adversely affect the soil, groundwater and habitats in the surroundings. Based on how the waste is managed, it has been estimated that in 2016, approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide was generated. That represents about 5 percent of global emission.

Thus, we can conclude one thing that the ultimate goal of proper waste management is protecting the environment. If the environment would be affected, it would affect us too in the same manner.

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Read Also :  The new plan to remove a trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere:…

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So, we can say waste management is extremely crucial both for the environment and for the living beings. Let’s talk about some strategies that can assist in waste management.

• The 3 Rs: The 3 Rs i.e. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle have always been an essential component when we talk about waste management. Reduce means to cut the amount of waste produced. Reuse refers to the use of products in different ways before throwing it. Recycle means transforming useless and old things into new and useful things. Exerting these things into our lives can support waste management to a higher extent.

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• Waste to Energy (WtE): Converting non recyclable waste into different forms of energy is another way to reduce waste. Waste to energy plants burns garbage or trash in order to produce steam which is used to generate electricity.
• Saying no to plastic: Plastic is the biggest source of pollution as it is non-biodegradable. Around 275 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced by the world each year and 4.8 million of it is dumped in the oceans resulting in pollution in water bodies. Reducing the use of plastic as much as possible will help in reducing a lot of waste. We have to try sticking to food with zero packaging, it will decrease much of the plastic waste produced.
• Digitalisation: Doing activities digitally helps in reducing waste to a great extent as it cuts the resources that we will need to do it physically. This may make us less dependent on things like plastic. Digitalisation can replace multiple items that we use in our day to day life.
• Compost: All the management starts with us as we are the ones who are generating. Composting is a strategy that we can use at our homes to reduce waste. Food scraps can be used as compost for plants. It’ll also work as a fertilizer for the soil along with the management of waste.
• Buying in bulk: The best way of management of waste is not creating waste first. Most of the unnecessary things that we buy are either thrown by us or we never use it at all. In one or other way, we waste it. So, at this point it is better to buy only necessary things as this will help in both saving the environment and saving money.
• Donating: Donating is a great approach that can make you do social work as well as waste management. Donating things like books, clothes, furniture etc. will help in reducing a lot of waste and someone will be able to use it. Furthermore, it would be more contributing to the environment if we adopt the nature of using second hand products. These ways could be supportive for managing waste.
• Say no to bottled water: There is a myth that bottled water is healthier than tap water. But, the reality is tap water is also clean. 80 % of plastic bottles we buy end up in landfills resulting in water pollution that can affect the health of living beings on land as well as aquatic life. It is far better to use a reusable bottle.

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• Reusable containers: For storing food haven’t we used aluminium foils multiple times? Aluminium foils are neither eco-friendly nor good for storing food, also we often use plastic bags too. All these things need to be replaced by reusable containers. Reusable containers and reusable food wraps are best substitutes along with helping in waste management.

Read Also :  What if we could convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel?

• Repurposed items: Repurposing refers to using a particular product in a different way than its original use. It can be easily done by modifying items and exerting it in a new way. Repurposing will make it easier to use the unusable things at home only without wasting it.

Waste generation has increased rapidly in recent years on a global level. It is expected to increase up to 70% by 2050 due to the rising population. As a citizen we cannot make a big difference but, we can still work on several things to make a difference in our environment. A good waste management system can also aid in making a circular economy. We can start with our own homes and can motivate others to do as well.

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Waste and its management is one of the most crucial environmental challenges

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From Trash to Treasure

According to United Nations, between now and 2025, the world population will increase by 20% to reach 8 billion inhabitants, and it is estimated that by 2050 the world population will reach approximately 9.5 billion. 97% of this growth is predicted to take place in Asia and Africa. With this increase in population, an increase in waste volumes generated is inevitable.

Waste and its management is one of the most crucial environmental challenges that is facing the world today. As we proceed to develop and improve our standards of living, the amount and types of waste generated is seen to be increasing constantly.

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Africa is one of the continents struggling to cope with the increased wastes generated. In urban centres throughout the continent, less than half of the solid wastes generated are collected, of which 95% is not contained nor recycled.

It is unsystematically dumped– usually at sites on the fringes of urban centres, and less frequently at temporary sites. These types of waste disposal act as breeding grounds for diseases and also pollute water sources in the vicinity, leading to serious health and environmental impacts. These poor waste management practices aggravate the existing problem of poor sanitation across the continent. 

The main concern is that the infrastructure and land use planning for waste management in Africa is not coping with the growth in the wastes, as well as the types of wastes. This is especially urgent in the slum areas that constitute a big part of many of the cities and towns across Africa. In rural areas, waste management infrastructures are non-existent, leading to high costs of health services, urbanisation and poverty.

Despite the existence of waste management policies at governmental levels in several African states, application and implementation remain problematic. There are many alternatives emerging in the field of waste management, such as composting, separation and recycling.

These options can convert wastes into assets, and can also assist in generating employment and income, which is always desirable. There are a number of powerful, scalable technologies that can be used to turn waste into resources. These practices range from waste sorting and commodity recovery facilities, to extremely efficient energy from waste management plants – mixed waste-streams can be used to generate renewable heat and power for local communities.

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To protect the health and wellbeing of the people through efficient waste management systems across Africa’s Nations

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Increase number of jobs within waste services, recycling and recovery sectors

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Profitable Waste Management Business Ideas to Start in 2023

• Last Updated: July 31, 2023

• Providing specialized waste management services can help set your business apart from competitors.
• Offering environmentally friendly solutions can help you stand out from the competition and draw in clients.
• You can increase your consumer base and develop your brand by developing a strong online presence.
• Collaboration with other businesses in the industry can lead to new opportunities and growth.

The global market for waste management is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.4% between 2021 to 2030 . To have a safer environment, modern society needs responsible disposal of waste generated by businesses, households, and individuals. 

And with the increasing revenue of the waste management industry, there are a lot of business ideas that this field offers. So, this blog will help you check out some brilliant waste management business ideas so you can make an informed decision. 

Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to start a new business or an established business wishing to expand your horizons, you are at the right place. This section will provide valuable insights on how to start a waste management business , giving you the necessary knowledge to succeed in the waste management industry. You will get valuable insights that can help you establish and grow your venture in this crucial sector.

Table of Content

What is Waste Management?

• ​​Top 12 Ideas for Waste Management Business

Waste management is the process of handling, controlling, and disposing of waste materials in a responsible and efficient manner. In this process, the waste material is divided into different categories, such as recyclable, biodegradable, and hazardous waste. 

With the trash on the globe piling up, organizations and businesses must step forward to clean the mess.

On that note, let us check out the top ideas for developing or launching a new waste management business in the next section.

Top 12 Ideas for Waste Management Business

It is essential to start a waste management business and implement effective practices, including technology for waste management , to reduce the negative impact of waste on everyone. There are a lot of options when it comes to moving ahead with the waste management business. Here are the top 12 ideas:

1. Paper recycling business

Paper can be recycled into reusable materials such as recycled paper products and paper pulp. This type of business is profitable, as there is a rising demand for recycled paper products in offices and households.

Scrap paper is the main raw material needed to recycle paper, which comes at cheap prices. The equipment used in this process comes in different sizes and specifications. You can also purchase the entire set-up that is economically suitable for a small-scale business.

Recycled paper can help create new materials including:

• Tissue papers
• Cardboard boxes 
• Paper plates 
• Egg cartons 
• Newspapers 

2. Plastic recycling business 

The plastic waste management market is forecasted to grow to $41.39 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 4.09%. With such a growth rate, it is a profitable business idea, which can help you bring sustainability as well as success. 

Plastic recycling involves gathering, sorting, and processing of plastic material into reusable items. So, if you are thinking of starting a plastic waste business, your potential clients will include plastic manufacturers, shopping bag producers, and the like.

It can give various recycled products including the below:

• Plastic bottles 
• Buckets 

3. Rubber recycling business 

Rubber recycling plays an essential role in the waste management process. The process helps reduce the amount of rubber resulting in landfills or a natural environment wherein it can harm the ecosystem. 

Rubber can be recycled into a range of products. The business needs you to secure a steady supply of waste rubber, setting up a processing facility, and looking for markets. A rubber recycling center can be used to collect trashed rubber and sell it to companies that can pay enough for them. 

As per a report, Europe recycles around 92% of its end-of-life tires . You can start collecting discarded rubber shoes, tires, or other rubber items and sell them to businesses that make rubber materials.

4. Glass recycling business

The demand for recycled glass is growing, driven by increasing consumer interest in sustainability and efforts to reduce waste. The business idea is rewarding, however, it may need you to have proper capital. So, opting for a franchise with an established industry leader can be your best bet. 

Recycling glass is a multiple-step process that includes collection, sorting, cleaning, crushing, and melting. So, as a glass recycler, you must ensure that the resulting glass product is high in quality and meets industry standards. 

The resulting glass items include: 

• Refined jars 
• Glass bottles 
• Glass containers
• Crockery 
• Fiberglass insulation

5. Scrap metal recycling business

The scrap metal recycling market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR rate of 7.20% and reach around $83.77 million by 2028 . Looking at this data, recycling scrap metals can be a worthwhile and rewarding business idea. 

Scrap metals are rich in elements including iron and aluminum. These, when recycled, can be used to make essential products that can be sold further. Scrap metals are sourced from manufacturers, individuals, construction sites, and demolition sites. However, starting this business needs sound knowledge of scrap metal and connections with markets for recycled metal. 

After recycling them, you can sell the processed products to metal-using industries. You can also manufacture and sell recycling equipment such as shredders, balers, and separators to businesses that make use of them.

6. Composting business

A composting business involves a collection of organic waste including food scraps and yard waste, and processing them into compost. The nutrient-rich compost thus formed can be used to enhance soil health, thereby improving fertility in agriculture farms, gardens, and landscapes.

The process of composting requires you to carefully balance the ratio of organic materials, moisture, and the amount of air. This is needed to create optimal conditions for microorganisms to disintegrate waste into compost.

The business is comparatively easier to establish than others, but it still needs you to check for your state laws and regulations. It is a large-scale business that serves commercial clients such as landscaping companies and food processors. On a smaller scale, it can serve community gardens and residential clients. 

7. Recycling construction waste business 

The construction industry produces a lot of waste starting from bricks and floor tiles to metals. The job of construction waste recycling businesses is to collect and sort waste materials including metal, concrete, wood, and other building materials. Then they process them to form new products. 

Some of these materials can be reformed into the same product. Whereas, others can be recycled into other useful materials. Many usable waste materials found in construction sites are also donated to non-profit organizations. 

To avoid landfills and build a healthy environment, the construction waste recycling industry is booming. Hence, you can try your hands on this particular idea once you have proper knowledge of all the requirements and documentation. 

8. E-waste management business

With a lot of waste management companies being established, this business idea is worth giving a shot. E-waste management handles the collection, processing, and disposal of electronic waste, such as old or broken electronics, such as phones, computers, televisions, and others. 

E-waste is a growing problem as it accounts for above 50 million metric tons globally every year . As electronic devices become quickly outdated and are often replaced with new models, a large volume of waste is created. It can be a profitable business, as there is an increasing demand and awareness for recycled materials. 

It contains a variety of toxic materials, such as lead, heavy metals, and flame retardants. These are harmful to the environment and human health, so they need to be disposed of properly. 

9. Furniture recycling business

Furniture recycling is a continuously growing business that promotes sustainability by giving new life to discarded furniture. The method of furniture recycling consists of collecting, cleaning, repairing, and selling products that are of no use. Products are then sold to individuals or organizations for furniture use. This process helps to reduce waste from landfills and conserve resources. 

On the other hand, the demand for new furniture is also reduced, which can positively impact our environment. Furniture recycling businesses can stimulate local economies and simultaneously promote a circular economy where resources are stored. 

10. Medical waste recycling business

Picking medical waste can be another lucrative business to consider in today’s world. The medical waste recycling process covers collecting, transporting, and disposing of medical waste in a safe manner. 

Such waste from medical companies includes items such as sharps, laboratory waste, pharmaceutical items, and contaminated materials. This waste may lead to bad health and adversely affect the environment. Just like other waste management businesses, medical waste recycling helps to minimize waste sent to landfills or conserve resources. 

Recycling all of such medical waste can be utilized to create valuable resources like reusable medical items, plastic, and metals. Since the medical waste recycling business needs strict adherence and guidelines, you may need highly trained and experienced personnel to manage waste disposal.

11. Waste-to-energy facility

Waste-to-energy is a technological process that transforms waste into usable energy, such as electricity or heat. The waste materials are burnt at high temperatures in a specialized facility referred to as a waste-to-energy plant. The equipment used here captures the heat formed and converts it into electricity.

Waste-to-energy is trending in the waste management industry as it is a form of renewable energy. It offers a worthwhile solution to manage waste while also helping with electricity generation. It is mainly beneficial for communities that dump large amounts of waste, which can be converted to energy.

Waste-to-energy businesses mostly design, build and operate waste-to-energy plants. They also work with various waste management organizations and local governments. This helps secure a steady supply of waste for plants and distribute the produced energy to the local grid.

12. Mobile toilet rentals

As the name suggests, this business idea involves providing portable toilets for rent and offering cleaning services for the units. This can include regular maintenance, pumping out waste, and restocking supplies for proper sanitation.

Mobile toilets play a significant role in the waste management industry. They offer an efficient, hygienic, and environmentally responsible way of handling waste. Thus, you can help reduce the chances of disease transmission and water pollution.

Starting a mobile toilet business requires you to have the right equipment, such as toilets, tanks, pumps, and trailers. You must ensure that you have all the information on waste management regulations and best practices. 

Also Read: Waste management industry trends

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Here are the best practices for managing waste efficiently and sustainably:

• Sorting waste at the source
• Treating hazardous waste in an environment-friendly manner
• Reducing waste
• Reuse and recycling
• Using renewable energy sources

The costs associated with starting a waste management business can change based on the type of business, the scale of operations, and location. Starting costs of a waste management business can roughly range between $36,00 to $73,000.

The process of starting a waste management business involves the below strategies:

• Market research
• Devising a business plan
• Obtaining the necessary licenses and permits
• Securing funding
• Acquiring equipment
• Hiring employees
• Partnering with waste generators and disposal sites

Starting anyone of the above businesses may need a lot of organization and strategic planning as there are various complex tasks associated with it. Plus, you need equipment and heavy machinery to be placed at your waste management plant based on the type of idea you choose. In this process, manual route planning can add to your overload. Thankfully, your routing chaos is sorted with Upper. 

While you may have multiple addresses to serve and collect waste from, you don’t need to waste hours in finding the best routes to reach your client’s location. With Upper Route Planner, you can schedule pickup routes for weeks and months in advance. As a result, you can save hours of your work by utilizing automated processes. Try our 7-day FREE TRIAL today !

Rakesh Patel is the founder and CEO of Upper Route Planner , a route planning and optimization software. With 28+ years of experience in the technology industry, Rakesh is a subject matter expert in building simple solutions for day-to-day problems. His ultimate goal with Upper Route Planner is to help delivery businesses eliminate on-field delivery challenges and simplify operations such as route planning, scheduling, dispatching, take a proof of delivery, manage drivers, real time tracking, customer notifications and more. He loves sharing his thoughts on eliminating delivery management challenges via blogs. Read more.

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• Managing Materials and Wastes for Homeland Security Incidents

Waste Management Benefits, Planning and Mitigation Activities for Homeland Security Incidents

The primary goal of pre-incident waste management planning is to prepare a community to effectively manage waste, debris and materials generated by a homeland security incident, including reducing the potential amount of waste generated at the outset. Communities can follow EPA’s comprehensive Pre-incident All-Hazards Four Step Waste Management (WM) Planning Process or, if resources and time are limited, focus on one or more pre-incident planning activity at a time.

Benefits of Pre-incident Waste Management Planning

Planning with limited time and resources, interrelatedness of pre-incident waste management activities.

• Pre-incident All-Hazards Four Step Waste Management (WM) Planning Process

EPA's Pre-incident Planning for Waste Management poster and brochure .

Nearly all incidents generate waste, debris and materials. While the amount of waste varies between incidents, the generated waste is often greater than the amount of waste many communities handle each year. Additionally, homeland security incidents may generate waste streams, such as chemical, biological and radiological-contaminated wastes, which typically are not handled by communities or waste management facilities. In addition to helping the whole community prepare for these potential wastes, pre-incident planning encompasses source reduction and hazard mitigation activities aimed at reducing the total amount of waste generated by an incident, especially for a large-scale natural disaster. While this pre-incident planning should be documented in a Waste Management Plan (WMP) , the community’s preparation provides the most benefits, such as:

• Saves valuable time and resources during an incident.
• Allows more efficient and effective waste management decision-making during an incident.
• Encourages interested parties (e.g., state, local, tribal and territorial governments; owners of private storage, treatment and disposal facilities; residents) to work together before an incident occurs.
• Boosts the community’s resiliency, resulting in a quicker and less costly recovery to its pre-incident state.
• Enhances communities’ adaptation to the waste-related impacts of climate change.
• Minimally detracts from, or otherwise impacts, the broader response and recovery efforts due to the efficient implementation of waste management activities.
• Selected Analytical Methods for Environmental Remediation and Recovery
• Waste Analysis at Facilities that Generate, Treat, Store, and Dispose of Hazardous Wastes
• Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods

Pre-incident planning can be done in stages. Below is a list of waste management planning activities that may provide the greatest benefit for a community that has limited resources and time to devote to planning. Small but significant steps taken prior to an incident can have a big impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of post-incident waste management decision-making.

For example, few facilities are able to accept radiological-contaminated waste. Knowing where radiological-contaminated waste can be taken and if it will be accepted by the facility before a radiological incident occurs means that the site can be cleaned up faster (e.g., contaminated waste immediately can begin to be transported off-site to a permitted facility), limiting the possible spread of contamination (e.g., minimizes opportunities for radiation to spread into the surrounding environment due to weather and other factors). Even if a radiological incident is unlikely to occur in a particular community, planning for radiological contaminated waste has value beyond radiological incidents. For example, a large-scale natural disaster may damage hospitals and generate mixed waste (i.e., waste containing both radioactive and hazardous waste components) that would need to be managed at an appropriate facility. Further ideas on planning activities can be found in the Pre-incident All-Hazards Four Step Waste Management (WM) Planning Process section.

• Ammunition and Explosives
• Animal Carcasses
• Asbestos-containing Waste
• Biological-contaminated Waste
• CCA-treated Wood
• Chemically-contaminated Waste
• Construction and Demolition Debris
• Cylinders and Tanks
• Electronic Waste
• Household Hazardous Waste
• Oil-contaminated Waste
• PCB-contaminated Waste
• Radiological-contaminated Waste
• Soils, Sediments and Sandbags
• Treated Biological-contaminated Waste
• Treated Chemically-contaminated Waste
• Treated Radiological-contaminated Waste
• Vegetative Debris
• Vehicles and Vessels
• White Goods (i.e., household appliances)
• Planning for Natural Disaster Debris Guidance
• Incident Waste Decision Support Tool (I-WASTE DST)
• Which people in your community have information or resources related to various waste management-related activities? (e.g., transportation, sanitation, emergency response, environmental health, public health, public works, zoning, key industry and business leaders)
• What is each group’s role and/or authority to act during an incident? (e.g., issue emergency declarations, issue permit waivers)
• What are the possible waste streams that an incident may generate in your community, considering the industrial, agricultural, residential and commercial aspects of the community?
• Do any federal or local laws or regulations apply to the potential waste streams?
• How much waste is expected to be generated by each waste stream , in relative terms?
• Can the amount of potentially generated waste be reduced by means of source reduction (e.g., updating building codes for resilient building design and construction) or hazard mitigation (e.g., eliminating potential problematic wastes, such as retrofitting PCB transformers to reduce PCB-contaminated wastes) activities?
• What reuse and recycling options (e.g., recycling facilities, end markets for reused and recycled products) currently are available to your community within and/or across jurisdictional lines?
• Can the existing reuse and recycling program be scaled up to handle disaster-related wastes?
• Does your community have green building programs, local waste management ordinances and/or building code requirements that encourage the creation and help maintain a robust reuse and recycling infrastructure?
• How may the waste be separated into different waste streams before being removed from the site of the incident?
• Can the volume of the waste be reduced?
• How may the waste be collected and transported off-site after an incident?
• What locations are suitable for waste staging, storage and decontamination activities?
• Are contracts pre-negotiated for those sites?
• EPA Reuse and Recycling Resources
• Building Retrofits For Increased Protection Against Airborne CBR Releases
• What reuse, composting, recycling, treatment and disposal options currently are available in your community, state or region (see the Disaster Debris Recovery Tool and I-WASTE )?
• Which waste streams may each waste management facility accept?
• How much of each waste stream can each facility receive?
• Under what conditions, if at all, will specific facilities accept the waste?
• Are contracts pre-negotiated with these facilities, as well as with neighboring communities?
• How may your community be informed of waste management-related information, including the transportation and management of incident-related wastes in or near the community?
• What are the most effective methods of notifying your community about the risks that each waste stream may present to human health and the environment?
• Which people or groups in your community can help you spread important information?
• What are possible ways to increase public understanding and acceptance of decontaminated wastes, reused materials and recycled products made from incident-related wastes?
• What are the risks associated with the potential waste streams and the use of decontamination technologies?
• Do emergency personnel have appropriate training regarding waste handling and management?
• Is personal protective equipment (PPE) available should an incident occur?

Pre-incident All-Hazards Waste Management Planning Process

EPA’s pre-incident waste management planning process is designed to help communities prepare for an incident’s waste management needs, regardless of the hazard. This recommended process guides emergency managers and planners through four steps that cover the initiation, creation, updating and implementation of a waste management plan. The waste management planning process does not have to be completed at one time or by one person.

Step 1: Conduct Pre-planning Activities

Step 2: develop a comprehensive pre-incident waste management plan (wmp), step 3: keep the waste management plan (wmp) updated, step 4: implement the waste management plan (wmp) during an incident.

• Conduct a community-specific hazard assessment that looks at realistic worst-case scenarios and hazards, their likelihood, and the potential volumes and masses of wastes generated.
• Consider whether you want a single plan that addresses all hazards (recommended) 1 or separate, scenario-specific plans.
• Consult individuals or groups who represent transportation, sanitation, emergency response, environmental health, public health, public works, zoning, agriculture, industry and business among others.
• Include plans of bordering jurisdictions, including bordering states, countries and tribal lands if applicable.
• Enhance community resiliency by identifying opportunities for source reduction (e.g., updating building codes for resilient building design and construction), hazard mitigation (e.g., eliminating potential problematic wastes), and developing infrastructure for composting, recycling and reuse of materials.  
• Determine legal and regulatory waste management requirements, issues, and considerations  
• Review the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) eligibility requirements, specifically those pertaining to debris removal, for applicable situations, such as a federal emergency or major disaster declaration 2  
• Identify unique local circumstances and issues that may affect waste management during an incident (e.g., union concerns, geography, environmental justice concerns)

1 This document assumes a single, comprehensive WMP that covers all hazards will be developed; however, separate scenario-specific plans would address much of the same information but would be tailored to the specific scenario. 2 Emergency managers and planners may find more detailed information regarding pre-incident planning activities in EPA’s Planning for Natural Disaster Debris document and FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide .

EPA’s Pre-incident All Hazards Waste Management Plan Guidelines: Four Step Waste Management Planning Process provides a suggested outline for a scalable, adaptable pre-incident plan that includes recommended plan contents and identifies issues to consider while developing the plan. The specific contents and organization of a WMP are flexible. This document provides a general example to help emergency managers and planners get started. 1

• Consult the individuals identified in Step 1 when developing the plan.  
• For unique waste streams, specialized expertise may be needed for transport and other waste management activities. Make sure all entities receive a copy of the relevant portions of the plan when it is completed.
• Consult with facilities and appropriate regulatory authorities about establishing acceptance criteria for these materials and wastes.

1   For additional assistance in preparing a waste management plan, see “Appendix D: Debris Management Plan Job Aid” in FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide and FEMA’s Independent Study Course, “IS-633: Debris Management Plan Development,” which is available online through the Emergency Management Institute .

• Reach out to groups across the whole community to review and update the pre-incident WMP regularly.  
• Schedule waste management-related exercises and track the schedule, scenarios exercised and groups involved.  
• Develop a training plan to address training needs for staff and equipment (e.g., National Incident Management System (NIMS), National Response Framework (NRF), technical, and health and safety trainings).  
• Incorporate any waste management lessons learned, after action reports and improvement plans into the pre-incident WMP.

Note: For more information about the waste management decision-making process after an all-hazard incident occurs, see the All-hazards Waste Management Decision Diagram for Homeland Security Incidents .

• Identify the pre-incident WMP that best aligns with the specific incident, if applicable.  
• Identify waste management-related policy or implementation issues that require resolution.  
• Include the incident’s situational overview, generated waste types and quantities, locations of waste, an exit strategy and health and safety requirements, and update other sections of the incident-specific plan with real-world numbers.
• Present the incident-specific plan to the appropriate Incident Command staff (response to an incident, including waste management decision-making, will occur within the Incident Command System ).  
• Notify waste management facilities of anticipated needs and utilize contract support where necessary.  
• Implement the waste management-related community communications and outreach plan in line with the broader, overall incident communications plan.  
• Identify waste sampling requirements and notify labs of anticipated analysis needs.  
• Conduct waste management oversight activities, such as site visits to, inspections of, and environmental monitoring at waste management sites as appropriate.  

• Ensure protection of human health and the environment at the incident site over the long-term through continued environmental monitoring, cleanup, inspections, and other activities as necessary. 

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Uh-oh! What Do We Do With Our E-waste?

Sandra Slutz, PhD, Science Buddies

Examine how people deal with e-waste, and which electronic devices, if any, are most likely to be recycled.

Introduction

How many of your friends have cell phones? How about computers, video game consoles, or MP3 players? What happens to all those electronic devices when they break, or someone gets a new, cooler version? This is a question that many scientists and economists around the world are asking. They want to know "What are people doing with their e-waste?". E-waste, short for "electronic waste," is a growing international problem because so much of it is generated every year. According to estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2005, between 1.9 and 2.2 million tons of electronic waste was disposed of in the United States alone. That's the weight equivalent of approximately 1 million cars! Where does all this waste go? The vast majority of it (about 80 percent, as of 2005, according to the EPA) ends up in landfills, while a smaller percentage is recycled. The estimates are that the total quantity of e-waste will continue to climb as electronics become more and more affordable, and part of the worldwide collective culture.

Figure 1. A pile of electronic waste on a roadside in Guiyu, China gives an idea of the sheer volume of e-waste generated worldwide. (©Greenpeace/ Natalie Behring-Chisholm, n.d.)

Why do scientists and economists care about e-waste? Because disposing of it has challenges and raises many questions:

• The most obvious challenge is space. Can we physically accommodate all this e-waste in landfills? If so, is it a good idea or not? And if not, where do we put it?
• Another issue is resources. By weight, most of an electrical device is made from inexpensive, abundant resources, like silica (often found in sand) and plastic. But some of the circuitry has small amounts of precious metals, like platinum, gold, and silver, or very rare and expensive materials like indium and gallium. Does it make economic sense to just throw away these more expensive or rare materials? If we do, will there be a shortage of the rarer ones? How cost-effective is it to extract those materials from e-waste?
• The third major issue is about pollution and health hazards. Some of the substances used in electronic devices can be toxic, like the cadmium and lead found in many circuit boards, or the mercury often present in flat-screen monitors and switches. When they're enclosed in their proper places within a device, these toxic materials are harmless, but what about a broken monitor or circuit board that gets buried in a landfill? Do the toxic substances leach into the soil and water table of landfills, or are they contained? How safe is it for workers to dismantle these electronics and recycle the components?

In this science project, you'll collect your own data and draw your own conclusions about e-waste. First, do some background reading about e-waste. The Bibliography can help you get started. Then decide for yourself what you think are the best ways to deal with e-waste, and which methods are the most environmentally friendly. Once you've sorted that out, you'll survey people in your community to find out what they do with e-waste. Do they create a lot of it or not? Do they throw it in the trash, recycle it, reuse it, or just store it in their garages indefinitely? Your findings might help your local officials decide how to deal with e-waste!

Terms and Concepts

• Water table
• What are the ways to dispose of an electronic device? How do those methods compare, environmentally?
• How much e-waste is generated nationally? Internationally?
• What kinds of toxic substances are found in e-waste? What are the health hazards associated with them?
• Which substances in e-waste could be valuable? Is it cost-effective to extract them?

Bibliography

• Environmental Protection Agency. (2008, July). Fact Sheet: Management of Electronic Waste in the United States . Retrieved August 8, 2010.
• ewasteguide.info. (n.d.). Valuable Substances in e-waste . Retrieved August 8, 2010.
• Greenpeace. (2010). What is E-waste? . Retrieved August 8, 2010.
• Symantec. (2009, March 11). How to Recycle Computers, Keyboards, and More . Retrieved August 8, 2010.
• United Nations Environment Programme. (n.d.). E-waste Management: Overview . Retrieved August 8, 2010.

Materials and Equipment

• Computer, paper, and printer to create surveys
• People to distribute the survey to (minimum of 10 households; see the Experimental Procedure for details)
• Lab notebook

Experimental Procedure

Working with Human Test Subjects

There are special considerations when designing an experiment involving human subjects. Fairs affiliated with Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) often require an Informed Consent Form (permission sheet) for every participant who is questioned. Consult the rules and regulations of the science fair that you are entering, prior to performing experiments or surveys. Please refer to the Science Buddies documents Projects Involving Human Subjects and Scientific Review Committee for additional important requirements. If you are working with minors, you must get advance permission from the children's parents or guardians (and teachers if you are performing the test while they are in school) to make sure that it is all right for the children to participate in the science fair project. Here are suggested guidelines for obtaining permission for working with minors:

• Write a clear description of your science fair project, what you are studying, and what you hope to learn. Include how the child will be tested. Include a paragraph where you get a parent's or guardian's and/or teacher's signature.
• Print out as many copies as you need for each child you will be surveying.
• Pass out the permission sheet to the children or to the teachers of the children to give to the parents. You must have permission for all the children in order to be able to use them as test subjects.

Creating and Distributing Your Data-collection Survey

• In order to collect data from each household about how much e-waste they generate and how they dispose of it, you'll need to create a data-collection survey. The next couple of steps will help you decide what to include in your survey. For more advice about creating good surveys, read the Science Buddies guide to Designing a Survey .
• Decide which electronic devices you'd like to include in your survey. Here are a few possibilities to get you started: computers, televisions, cell phones, stereos, mp3 players, video game consoles, handheld video game machines, electronic toys, printers, fax machines, computer monitors.
• Create a table, showing all of the devices and the various ways to dispose of them. Table 1 lists five possible outcomes for an electronic device, but you might be able to think of more.
• You might want to instruct them to all sit down together and fill out the form together to decrease the likelihood that people report an item more than once by accident.
• Thrown away: put in the normal garbage.
• Reused: given/sold to another person or charity for them to use, or taken apart in order to use some parts of it for another purpose.
• Recycled: returned to manufacturer for recycling or brought to an e-waste recycling center.
• Stored: sitting unused in a closet, garage, storage unit, or other location waiting for someone to do something about it.
• Unsure: don't remember how it was disposed of.
• It is a good idea to have someone read through your instructions and see if they are clear and easy to follow before you print your final version of the survey.
• First, decide what your questions are. For example, "How long do people use each type of electrical device before disposing of it?"
• Second, come up with a hypothesis for each question based on your background reading, such as "On average, households will use a cell phone for two years before disposing of it, but use a television for 10 years before disposing of it."
• Third, list all the data you'll need to evaluate each hypothesis. For example, the amount of time each electrical device was used before it was disposed of.
• Fourth, check and make sure that your survey questions will result in answers for all the data on your list. For instance, you'd need to add a column to the table asking people to list approximately how long they'd owned each electronic device prior to disposing of it.
• People you may be able to collect data from include: classmates, friends, parents' co-workers, extended family members, and neighbors.
• Avoid collecting data from households that have experienced major property damage from a catastrophic event, like a fire, flood, or tornado, within the past five years. These households might have had to dispose of and replace an unusually large number of electronic devices in a short period of time, thus skewing the results.
• Once you've decided from how many households you are going to collect data, print out as many copies of the survey as you'll need and distribute them. Make sure you also have a plan for when and how you'll collect the completed surveys.

Analyzing the Survey Data

The data you collect can be analyzed in many different ways. A few ways are described below, but you should continue to explore other questions and perform your own analyses. Some questions and hypotheses you think of might require you to collect additional data, so design your survey accordingly. Below are three questions you could explore and how to do so.

• For the first household, add up the number of devices that were disposed of in each manner. Record the data in a table, like Table 2 below, in your lab notebook.
• Repeat this for each household.
• For the first household, sum the total number of electronic devices disposed of. Divide the number of electronic devices "thrown away" by the total number of devices disposed. Multiply by 100 to convert this into a percentage. Repeat the calculation for the other disposal methods.
• Repeat for all households.
• For each disposal method, average the percentages across all households. Create a pie chart to show your results. Which disposal method is the most common? Which is the least common?
• Take the first electronic device listed in your survey. Let's use "cell phone" as an example. Create a data table, like Table 3 below, showing how many cell phones were disposed of in each household in each manner.
• For example, add the number of cell phones "thrown away" in household # 1 to the number of cell phones "thrown away" in households 2, 3, 4, and so on.
• Repeat for all disposal methods.
• Note: In step 1.c. of this section, the question was about the typical disposal methods of a household; for this reason, you had to be careful to not have any one household skew, or bias, the results. However, in this current cell phone example, the question is about what is the most likely fate of an individual cell phone. The fact that some households might dispose of more cell phones is relevant in this analysis. It is not a bias in this case and should not be removed.
• For example, take the sum of cell phones that were "thrown away" and divide by the total number of cell phones disposed of using all the methods. Multiply by 100 to convert to percentages.
• Create a pie chart to visualize the results for cell phone disposal.
• Repeat the process for all the other electronic devices on your survey.
• Using the data from step 2, make a bar chart with the percentage of devices recycled on the y-axis and each type of electronic device on the x-axis. There should be one bar for each electronic device.

Ask an Expert

Global connections.

• How does e-waste compare in different countries? If you have a pen pal, friend, or family member who lives in a different country, see if he or she would be willing to distribute your survey there. Compare the results from different countries. Do households in the various countries dispose of different quantities of electronic devices? Do they dispose of them in different ways?
• Do the household members' attitudes toward recycling or "being green" correlate with specific e-waste disposal methods? Include questions on the survey to determine people's attitudes toward recycling. When analyzing the data, read about correlation statistics and use those to interpret your findings.
• Using the data collected and information from your background reading, can you figure out a way to create an e-waste rating for each of the households you surveyed? Which households were most environmentally responsible? Which were the least environmentally responsible? Why?
• Examine the e-waste habits of local businesses, rather than households.
• Can you find any reliable statistics about e-waste? If so, how do those statistics match up with your survey results?

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Related Links

• Science Fair Project Guide
• Other Ideas Like This
• Environmental Science Project Ideas
• My Favorites
• Designing a Survey
• Sample Size: How Many Participants Do I Need?

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30 Best Out of Waste Ideas for School Kids

In higher consumer-based society, purchasing capacity and options are increasing with time. It is easy to reject or throw away things when they are not in use. Teaching the kids about the value of things we need to inculcate best out of waste ideas.

There are two ways to do that; one is recycling and upcycling. Recycling means changing the product entirely to a new one, like turning old paper into a new one. On the other hand upcycling is the way to upgrade the exciting product to change its usage or form. This encourages eco-friendly decoration at home and the workplace as well. This blog has listed class-wise 30 best out of waste ideas for kids.

Table of Contents

Best Out of Waste Ideas for Kids of Class 1-4

1. popsicle photo frame idea.

Popsicle or ice-cream stick is the primary raw material you will find in any craft store. You can take eight of these sticks and glue it to make a square. Place a photograph in the center of the frame that you made out of the popsicles. This is a great option to use sticks to make something very creative and usable. Also, it is one of the best out of waste ideas for school project.

2. Pencil Shaving Art

One of the easy best out-of-waste ideas is pencil-shaving art. Pencil shaving is a common waste for any kids who write with a pencil. You can save these pencil shavings and use them in your art creatively. Draw the flower stem, vase, or owl and use these pencil wastes to fill the space.    

3. Craft Paperweight

The beautiful paperweight can also be made with waste things. Find a smooth stone or rock piece and wash it well. When the stone dries, ask the kids to paint the stones as they want. The painting part would be fun and exciting for kids, and the results would be amazing.

4. Sock Puppets Idea

The stock of old socks gets thrown away when it gets a hole or is overused. Instead of throwing it away, you can use upcycle methods to make cute puppets. Ask the kids to stuff cotton in the socks and paste eyes, nose, and mouth to the sock’s end. To make it more beautiful, make its hair out of wool. The kids will enjoy making it and later playing with it.

5. Paper Garland

Many paper cuttings get wasted when we do any art and craftwork. Collect the leftover paper and ask the kids to cut it in shape, be it round, triangle, or oval. Demonstrate them hoe to stick these papers on a rope. The kids will love the activity, and colorful papers will attract them too. This idea is useful for kids and can be a best out of waste activity in school.

6. Cardboard Tube Coiled Snake

Waste cardboard is one of the easily useable waste products. You can cut long strips of cardboard and give them to the kids to draw snake scales on it. Let them paste their eyes on one end when they are done coloring and drawing. When it is done, take a rod, cardboard tube, or metal pipe and roll the cardboard on it. Hold it for a while. Then remove the rod, and you will get cute coiled cardboard snakes.  

7. Make a Snowman Out of a Sock.

If you are looking for the best out of waste ideas for Christmas decoration, then a socks snowman is the best project. Get the old socks, stuff them with cotton, and tie a string to make the head and body. This will make the structure of your snowman. Now add the details like eyes, hat, or nose to make it look complete. It is ready to place near the Christmas tree or on the center table.

Creative Out of Waste Ideas for Class 6- 8

8. glittery cd fish idea.

If you have old CDs and wish to discard them, wait and think about them again. CDs can be turned into decorative pieces easily. You can ask the kids to take a CD and stick glitters on it. Also, add the fins, eye, and fish mouth to make it more like a fish. It is a great out of creative waste ideas.

9. Spoon Vase Idea

This beautiful spoon vase idea is something that kids would love. Ask them to get colorful spoons and cut the spoon stock leaving the curve part. Now stick the spoon curves and cover the plastic bottle or vase. It will make the vase look beautiful with flowers or indoor plants.  This activity can definitely be one of the best out of waste for competition ideas.

10. Tin Can Chimes Idea

Tins can make sooth-sounding chimes. You just need to get tins of different sizes and materials for better results. Cut the tins in halves and make a hole in the bottom. Insert a string from the hole and ties it at the end. Do the same with other tins as well. Tie all the tins at different heights but close enough to hit each other.  Hang it at the house entrance to let the wind make it chime. Paint it to decorate it nicely. It is one of the best out of waste ideas.

11. Pen Stand Idea

Another best out of waste idea for kids is to create a pen stand. Use the bottle to make the base of the pen stand. Cover the bottle with thick yellow paper and shape it as pineapple. Use green threads to make the diagonals to make it look more like a pineapple. Yes, don’t forget to make a crown of it. This can be detailed and beautified in many ways.

12. Bunker Bed

Make the small things needed for detailing and preciseness. You can make a bed bunk using a matchstick box. Then decorate it with fabric and furniture details. Make it more like a real bed bunk, which needs more detail.

13. Milk Carton Bus

The used milk carton can also be used to make creative things and can be one of the best out of waste craft ideas. Glue four caps at the bottom as wheels and make it stand as a bus. After that, make the windows and door and use the carton’s front side as the driver’s seat. This will look creative and beautiful when painted and decorated well.

14. Superhero Bookmark

Take popsicles or ice cream sticks and paint them well with a solid color. Then make a beautiful character and stick some decorative elements to it. This will act as a fancy bookmarker. Now gift it to your friends to use yourself. You will be happy that you made it yourself. This is definitely one of the best out of waste ideas.  Use it as your birthday party return gift for your friends.

15. Shoebox Maze Idea

A show box is easily discarded when you get new shoes and it find the place in the shoe rack. Instead of throwing it away, make a maze out of it. You can turn it like a pinball game box. Stick popsicles as the obstacle or paste small elements for directing the path for the ball. When everything is stuck, then paint it entirely to make it look furnished. Undoubtedly, it can be considered as one of the best out of waste ideas for competitions.

16. Matchbox Suitcase for Dolls Idea

Another miniature piece of art is the matchbox suitcase.  You can take a matchbox and cover it with brown paper. Add handle and other details to make it look real.

17. Bottle Money Bank Idea

The best way to use a plastic bottle is to save money. Take an empty bottle and fix four corks at the belly of a flattened bottle. Make a slit on the top of the bottle for sliding coins through it. You can now decorate the bottle by pasting eyes and making it look like a cute piggy.

18. Paper Cup Wind Mill

One of the interesting ideas for the best out of waste competition is a paper cup wind mill. Take a paper cup and keep it inverted. Stick two popsicles diagonally and paste it on the top of the cup. Paint the cup and the windmill wings. Place the cap on the box of sand to make it look more realistic.

Best Out of Waste Ideas for Class 8 to 10

19. tin can lanterns idea.

Tins can be upcycled in many ways. One way to use tins for beautification is by making tin can lanterns. Make the holes in the container in a beautiful pattern and place light in the tin. You can use the Chinese light or candles inside and hang it on high to see its beauty.    

20. T-Shirt Bag Idea

If you have an old tethered T-Shirt, what do you do with it? Instead of throwing them away, you can turn them into useful shopping bags. Take the t-shirt, cut the sleeves and make it in the handle shape of the bag. You can make these bags look even fancier by adding small elements and sparkles.    

21. Matchbox Robot

Take some empty matchboxes and cover them with a grey sheet. Add the robotic hands and eyes using popsicles or sketch pens. The square shape of the matchbox makes it look like a robot. It is an excellent way to transform a simple waste product into an attractive toy.

22. Paper Cup Lights

Like we did with tins, we can do it with paper cups. Take a few paper cups and make a beautiful pattern by pricking holes in them. You can make a bigger hole at the base of the cup to insert small lights in it. Use the string to tie a few cups with lights installed in them. Switch the lights on and see the beauty.

23. Recycled Paper Out of Waste Paper

When there is a heap of waste papers, the best way to use them is to recycle them. Soak the paper in water and let it get pulpy. Later set the paper pulp on a drainer, press the sheet as thin as possible and let it dry overnight. You will be amazed to see the recycled paper. This is one of the best out of waste ideas.

24. Bottle Cap Peacock Fridge Magnet Idea

The caps always go to waste whenever we open a glass bottle or beer bottle. There is a way where you can use the caps as well. Take a bottle cap, and stick two buttons on the inside of the cap. On top of the button, stick a magnet.  Your bottle cap fridge magnet is ready, but if you wish to beautify it, you can add your art like a peacock o top. Present this gift to your favorite teacher Teacher’s day and they will surprised by your creativity.

Best Out of Waste Ideas for Competitions

25. egg carton tulips.

If you buy eggs, you will get an egg tray cardboard that never gets used. Now you can turn this waste into a beautiful decorative piece. Simply cut individual egg holders and gather many such pieces. You can paint it vibrant colors and make a hole at the base. Insert the tuning series bulbs in individual pieces. Attach a stick to it like a flower and put the light on. This beautiful decorative piece will make your sitting area look beautiful. Gift this to your mother on next Mother’s day to make her feel special.

26. Milk Carton Bird House

A milk carton can be used in multiple ways; one can be used to make birdhouses. Cut the front of the carton to make a window for birds. Decorate the carton with fancy lights and painting. Hang these birdhouses in the garden and beautify your place.

27. The Beach in a Bottle Idea

It looks gorgeous when we see creative art inside the bottle. You can use an old glass bottle and put sand at the bottom of a flat glass bottle. Add little seashells and more oceanic elements to add details to it. Finally, close the bottle with the cork and fix it with a cork at the bottom.

28. Mason Jar Snow Globe Idea

Use a mason jar to make another decorative item. Stick a tree on the bottom of the cap and add the small cotton flakes and thermocol balls. Close the jar cap and keep it inverted. Your DIY snow globe is ready. You can also decorate it with fairy lights and more exciting elements.

29. Candles Out of Crayon

It is interesting to make candles out of crayons. Take a few plain candles and melt them overheat. Add colorful crayons to it and set it in the glass jar. You can make beautiful candles by playing with different colors and patterns. To make it more special, you can add essential oil when you melt. This will act as a room fragrance whenever you light a candle. This is a unique gift to present to your loved ones.

30. Paper Bag Luminaries

Take paper bags of various colors and put the light in them to let them shine. That’s the main idea. There are many ways you can do it. Take a large dark brown paper bag and a smaller white paper bag. Place a light bulb at the center, cut the white bag’s top, and place it inverted to cover the light. Now cover the larger bag with a brown bag. To make it stable, add sand at the bottom and place it in rows. You can also put these paper bags on height and let them beautify the room. You can use it for any party decoration.

In this age of multiple options and easy availability of products, we tend to throw away things very easily. Kids need to be involved in the best out of waste projects to inculcate sustainability and optimize the use of products. Many schools have taken up this project and involved the kids in out of waste ideas competitions. This encourages the kids to be creative by making useful products. This blog has listed the 30 best out of waste ideas for school kids. The blog is segregated by different class-wise creative ideas. You will find it very interesting and worth trying ideas with your kids. So go ahead and read the blog and make beautiful things out of waste.

You can do many exciting things from waste material. You can make beautiful paper lights using regular shopping paper bags or tulip lights with an egg cardboard tray. Go through the blog and learn more best out of waste ideas.

Newspapers can be used in many creative ways. You can create a pen stand with it or recycle it to make new handmade paper. You can follow the ideas in the blog to learn more ways to reuse newspapers.

Use paper cups, plastic spoons, or egg trays to make exciting home decoration products. There use these raw materials and convert them into hanging lights, illuminating flowers, or fancy flower vases. Read many such home decoration ideas mentioned in the blog.

Glittery fish using an old CD, tin can chime, and shoebox maze is some of the best out of waste ideas for class 5. Go through the class-wise waste reusing ideas in the blog.

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