More than ever, we must be careful now with how we get rid of our garbage. It isn’t enough to just toss it wherever. Both the gathering and the disposal of waste have major consequences for the environment and our entire population. In the past, we haven’t practiced proper waste management and saw a decline in our environment.

Now, we’re educated and we know better. We have an entire industry that works passionately to store, find purpose to recycle, or destroy waste. These people, with your help and a little knowledge, protect the world from environmental decline.

What Is Waste Management?

Waste management is simply the process we take to ensure that we properly handle garbage, whether we recycle or destroy it. Not everyone knows about waste management, so this is a good opportunity to learn a little bit about what you can do to help.

But first, let’s go over some key details about the waste itself.

Different types of garbage

Garbage is mainly defined as solid waste. It’s the solid waste we produce every day when we toss something—whether small or large, it adds up to a large conglomerate of garbage. However, once it’s gathered, professionals classify each object as one of the following: recyclable, reusable, or other. That determines what action must be taken with the waste next.

The waste will be separated into those categories and then collected into the appropriate disposal areas.

There are two different categories that garbage can fall into. Although that might sound a little strange, it will help you with managing waste. The first one is Total Solid Waste (TSW) and that’s the total amount of solid waste that we produce every year in America.

Then, there’s the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), which is the amount of garbage each municipality produces every year.

The Phases of Waste Management

The phases of waste management revolves around garbage collection. This is the part of waste management that is a six-stage process:

  1. Generation

  2. Storage

  3. Collection

  4. Transport

  5. Processing

  6. Disposal

It’s interesting to know these steps, as it doesn’t just involve the process of getting rid of waste, but also recycling them into things that you could be using in everyday life.

 

Let’s take a look.

Generation

In the first stage of waste management, people generate trash. Not only that, but it concerns how we gather up the waste as well. Anything we throw out before it’s expired or if it’s still considered useful is still garbage, but how it’s categorized will be different.

Storage

Any of those objects that aren’t expired or are still seen as useful are carefully considered when storage takes place. They are put into those different categories of recycling, compost, and an extra category for things that don’t fit into the first two. You’ll see that there are different bins for different materials: plastics, papers, etc.

Collection

There are two different ways professionals handle collection. The first option is where consumers take their waste to collection facilities, recycling centers, or landfills. The second option is the one where your city offers a service of picking up your garbage at your home, or a nearby dumpster.

Transport

This is when the waste is moved to the appropriate facilities after they are separated. They are usually transported by large garbage trucks.

Processing

This is when recycling happens. After the trash has arrived at its designated location, it is separated into different groups where it’s processed back into raw materials, i.e. glass bottles melted down to regular glass they can use later.

Disposal

Any material that is unable to be converted or repurposed is then directed to landfills or incinerators. Since they are useless, they are disposed of for good.

Morris County Dumpster Rentals

At Montella, Inc., we’re all about safe waste management. For that, you should check out our dumpster rental in Morris County, NJ.