Topic :-WASTE MANAGEMENT

Question Very Short type Q/ans-

1
a. What is known as waste?

Answer: Waste is a thing is not required by the producer, processor or

owner. It is generally discarded or thrown away by households, industries,
etc.
b. How many types of waste?

Answer: Wastes are of three types: Solid, liquid, or gaseous.

c. What are sources of waste?

Answer: Waste is generated from a number of sources. The major

sources of waste are domestic waste, industrial waste, agricultural
waste, biomedical waste, municipal waste etc
d. What are the sources of agricultural wastes.

Answer: Fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides and other chemical

agents.
e. What is meant by domestic waste?

Answer: Wastes generated due to domestic activities are called domestic

wastes. Fruits and vegetable peels, paper, polythenes, discarded clothes
etc. are the sources of domestic waste.
f. Define gaseous waste.

Answer: It includes fuel exhausts containing carbon dioxide, nitrogen

oxides, carbon monoxide, etc., and smog which is formed as a hazy
mixture of gases when fuel exhaust reacts with sunlight.
g. What does industrial waste include?

Answer: Industrial wastes include any material that is rendered useless

during a manufacturing process.
e.g. Metals, Chemicals, Gases.
h. What is biomedical waste?

Answer: Biomedical waste generated from hospital activities, pathology,

laboratory and other associated areas. e.g Blades, Needles, Body part etc.
i. What form of waste is generated from the oil refineries?

Answer: Petroleum is found in raw form while refining, it releases a large

 amount of gaseous and liquid waste.

j. What is hazardous waste? How is it generated?

Answer: Hazardous waste is waste material, often in chemical form that

comes from agriculture, radioactive sources, and industries can pose a
long term risk to health and environment.
k. What is segregation?

Answer: Segregation is the initial stage of waste disposal. The waste can
segregated according to their features like sharp edged waste like blades,
knives, plastic glass, bottles, etc.
l. What is open dumping of wastes?

Answer: In these method waste materials is dumped in open low lands far
away from the city. It is a common and cheapest method of disposing
waste on land. Nowadays; this method is improved and is called landfill.
m. How is solid waste disposed of in ah incinerator?

Answer: Solid waste disposal is its reduction in weight and volume. In the
incinerator the waste is burned and if reduces by 90% in weight and
volume.
n. What do you understand by landfill?

Answer: Sanitary landfill is a way of disposing refuse on land without

creating nuisances or hazards to public health or safety. The waste is
packed and dumped at the site and is covered with earth daily to prevent
insects or rodents from entering into the landfill.
o. What is composting?

Answer: Composting is a natural degradation process in which

biodegradable materials are decomposed by microbes and converted into
manure.
p. What do you mean by a scrubber?

Answer: Scrubbers are often used in waste disposal system. Scrubbers

along with condenses and traps are used to contain and collect waste
solvents, toxic vapours or dust.
q. What is recycling?

Answer: Recycling is the process of collecting, separating, processing, and

selling recyclable materials so they can be turned into new products.
Simply put, recycling is taking something old and worn- out and turning it
into something new.
 r. What do you mean by reuse?

Answer: „Reuse‟ of materials in their original form is practiced instead of

throwing them away, or passing those materials on to others who could
use them too!
s. What is „Source reduction‟?

Answer: “Source reduction” is reducing waste before purchasing or by

purchasing products which are not wasteful in their packaging or use.
t. State the main objective of the treatment of gaseous waste.

Answer: The objectives of the treatment of gaseous waste is to drain the

harmful particles and allow clean air to escape through chimneys.
Question Short type of Q/ans-
2.
a. What is pollution? Define.

Answer: Pollution may be described as the unfavourable alteration

of our surroundings which occurs mainly because of human
activities. Pollution created by waste accumulation is mainly of
three types – air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution.
b. What do you mean by spoilage of landscape?

Answer: Spoilage of landscape is directly related to improper

disposal o f wastes. The waste accumulation not only ruins the
natural beauty of the land but also provide a home to rats and
other disease carrying organisms. Sources of these wastes may be
paper mills, fertilizers manufacturing units, and mines etc.
c. What is eutrophication?

Answer: It is the process of depletion of oxygen from water bodies

occurring either naturally or due to . human activities. The process
of eutrophication takes place due to introduction of nutrients and
chemicals through discharge of domestic sewage, industrial
effluents and fertilizers from agricultural field. Algae and
phytoplankton use carbon dioxide, inorganic nitrogen and
phosphate from the water as food. This cause death of most of the
aquatic organisms, draining water of all its oxygen.
d. What is municipal waste?

Answer: Municipal waste is the waste generated in a municipality

or a local government area. Such waste is produced by shops,
offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals; etc. and is collected from
public waste bins.
e. What is waste disposal?

Answer: Waste disposal is the management of waste to prevent

harm to the environment, injury or long term progressive damage
to health. Disposal of waste is where the intention is to
permanently store, the waste for the duration of its biological and
chemical activity, such that it is rendered harmless.
f. How does an incinerator work?

Answer: Waste material is brought to the incinerator facility where

it is loaded into one of several burn chambers. The waste is burned
for several hours until it is reduced to ashes and molten metal. The
remaining ash is then transported to a landfill for final disposal.
i. How can an incinerator help reduces pollution?

Answer: Incinerators are permitted to emit certain air pollutants

within a range that is not harmful to human health and the
environment. The incinerator must be designed with appropriate
pollution control equipment that removes small particles from the
emissions prior to the discharge into the atmosphere. In burning
the waste, an incinerator reduces the volume of waste material
going to the landfill by 80 to 90%.
j. Can earthworms help in the composting process?

Answer: Earthworms are actually a good sign of healthy soil. Vermi-

composting, which is the use of earthworms in composting, is very
important in the composting process. In fact, earthworms can
greatly speed up the composting process and the castings,
earthworm poop, is high in nitrogen. Also, one pound of
earthworms can devour up to 6 pounds of food waste a week.
k. Is an incinerator good for the environment?

Answer: Incinerators can be good for the environment simply

because they greatly reduce the volume of materials that go to the
landfills. In some cases, incinerators are permitted to bum
hazardous wastes which would otherwise be buried in the ground
in a hazardous waste landfill.
l. What are some items at your home that can be recycled?

Answer: There are many items in your home that can often be
recycled in your community. These items include aluminium and
steel cans, newspapers, corrugated boxes, telephone books, plastic
and glass bottles, used motor oil, large appliances, rechargeable
batteries, automotive batteries and tires, clothing and yard and
food waste.
m. What does the recycling symbol with the three arrows represent?

Answer: The recycling symbol with the three arrows represents the
three steps in the recycling process, (i) Collection and processing of
recyclable materials,
(ii) Manufacturing of those materials into new products, and
(iii) Products Sold to consumers which then starts the process over
again.
n. What are the three R‟s of waste management?

Answer: In the modem industrial world, the waste has become an

environmental and public health hazard. Waste can be effectively
managed by using the following three strategies:
(a) Reducing the waste (b) Reusing the waste and (c) Recycling the
waste.
o. Why are recycled plastic bags considered harmful for the
environment?

Answer: Plastics are recycled by plastic manufacturers. Plastic is

non-biodegradable. The bonds of carbon in plastic are impossible to
break down through a physical or chemical process. They have to
be incinerated, recycled or buried in landfills. The plastic bags
which are extensively used in India are made from recycled plastic.
The recycled plastic bags are harmful because the melting of plastic
and plastic products breaks some polymer chains into smaller
units which are harmful.
p. Is source reduction good for the environment?

Answer: Source reduction is definitely good for the environment. It

is actually a better alternative than recycling, incineration and land
filling. In the case of source reduction, if you don‟t produce the
waste in the first place then there is nothing to recycle, incinerate
or landfill Source reduction means fewer resources are used in the
production of a product.
q. Explains the role of an individual in maintaining environmental
standards.

Answer: The role of every individual in environmental protection is

of great importance because if every individual contributes
substantially, the effect will be visible not only at the community,
city or national level but also at the global level. Each individual
should change his or her life style in such a way as to reduce
environmental pollution. It can be done by following ways:

(i) Use carry bags made of paper or cloth instead of polythene.

 (ii) Use eco-friendly products.
(iii) Use CFC free refrigerators.
(iv) Use organic manure instead of commercial inorganic fertilizers.
(v) Plant more trees, as trees can absorb many toxic gases and can
purify the air by releasing oxygen.
Question 3 Long type of Q/ans-
a. How is soil pollution caused?

Answer: Soil pollution usually results from the disposal of solid and
semi-solid wastes in agricultural practices, industrial processes
and insanitary habits.
Some Major Causes of soil pollution:
Industrial waste: Industrial wastes are mainly discharged from coal
and mineral mining, metal processing and engineering industries.
Agricultural practices: Though fertilizers are used to increase the
fertility of soil, they often contaminate the soil with impurities
present in them. When the fertilizers are contaminated with other
synthetic organic chemicals, the soil water gets polluted.
b. Defines the effect of waste accumulation on human health.

Answer: Several incidents around the world have demonstrated the

potential harm of accumulation of waste to human health. Some
materials are as follows which harm people every day:
Lead: affects blood system, behavioural disorders and can also
cause death.
Cadmium: cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, kidney
damage Mercury: Nerve and brain damage, kidney damage.
c. Explain the effect of accumulation of solid waste on aquatic and
terrestrial life.

Answer: (i) Ammonia seems to be an internal poison to fish as it

gets into the body through the gills.
(ii) Bio-accumulation in sea-birds and marine mammals has been
linked to reduced breeding success.
(iii) In aquatic ecosystems, cadmium can bio-accumulate in
mussels, oysters, lobsters and fish.
(iv) Air contaminated with ozone has irritant qualities and is
responsible for pulmonary changes, edema and haemorrhage in
dogs, cats and rabbits.
(v) Oil is reported to coat the gills of fish which affects their
respiration.
d. What is incineration? Give advantage and disadvantage of
incineration.
 Answer: Incineration is the process of destroying waste materials by
burning. Incineration is carried out both on a small scale by
individuals, and so on a large scale industries.
Advantages:
(i) It is a useful technology to deal with large quantities of organic
hazardous wastes that have high calorific value and cannot be dealt
with by other methods.
(ii) Incineration kills pathogenic organisms and reduces the volume
of the waste up to 50 percent.
Disadvantage:
(i) Incineration equipment has high maintenance requirements.
(ii) Incineration consumes significant amount of energy to achieve
high temperature.
e. Explain the role of government in waste management.

Answer: The government is hot just the protector of the country‟s

environment but also has a major responsibility for sustaining
environmental conscience. The government‟s environmental policy
focusses on the following areas:
(i) The check degradation of land and water through wasteland
management and restorations of river water quality programmes.
(ii) To monitor development through environmental impact
assessment studies of major project proposals; and
(iii) To make laws and acts for environment protection and to
initiate penal measures against those who violate these laws.
f. What happens to the garbage after it is put into a landfill?

Answer: After the garbage is buried in the landfill it will begin to

breakdown as aerobic and anaerobic micro-organisms decompose
the garbage. This activity causes methane gas to be created, which
is collected and burned off at one or more points on the landfill.
Over time most biodegradation slows down dramatically. This
happens because the anaerobic micro. organisms act much more
slowly on materials. If these same materials were exposed to
oxygen, water and sunlight the aerobic micro-organisms would
decompose the waste materials much faster.
g. How does composting work?

Answer: When grass, leaves, food waste, manure and woody

material are placed of the ground, micro-organisms from the
ground begin to eat the material. The breakdown of this material is
speed up with assistance from air (oxygen), water, and sunlight.
Generally it will take several months for the material to become
compost and that will also depend on how often you turn the pile of
material.
i. Discuss the functioning of air scrubber.

Answer: The air scrubbers are the anti pollution devices which are
visible as metal pipes which are used to trap the particles from the
emissions of gaseous waste. The scrubbers prevent these pollutants
from entering into the atmosphere. In the air scrubber the
pollutants are removed from the gas emissions by spraying the
scrubber liquid directly into the emissions. The dirty particles are
surrounded by the scrubbers liquid which are then carried with the
gas emissions into the cylinder. As the gas is cycled upwards
through the cylinder the liquid covered particles drop from the gas
in the contaminated liquid reservoir.
j. Explain Why is it so important to recycle?

Answer: Recycling is important for several reasons:

(i) Recycling conserves natural resources. Some of these natural
resources such as oil, natural gas and minerals are non-renewable
resources. Simply put, they don‟t get replaced as we pull them out
of the ground. Once they‟re gone, they‟re gone forever.
(ii) Recycling conserves landfill space. Landfill space will last longer
if we only put items that are not recyclable into them. It costs a
great deal of money to build a landfill and we need to be careful
how much and how fast we fill them up.
(iii) Recycling employs people. Recycling employs people who (a)
collect the recyclable material, (b) process the material or get it
ready to sell to a manufacturer, (c) transport the materials to
factories where it will be turned into new products, (d) take the
material and manufacture it into new products, (e) manufacture
equipment and products used by the recycling industry, and (f)
manage local, state and federal government recycling programs and
private and non-profit recycling programs.
(iv) Recycling conserves energy. Without question, recycling
conserves the energy that would be necessary to create the same
product from its raw resource.
(v) Recycling reduces our dependence on overseas natural
resources. This is important in two very important ways, (a) it
reduces our dependence on overseas oil and gas which has national
security implications and (b) it reduces our foreign trade deficit
which is important to the strength of our economy.
k. Discuss the processes of common recyclable items.

Answer: Aluminium: Many beverage containers are aluminium

made which can be melted and recycled. They are crushed and
baled before sending them to the reclamation plant. Here they are
put into furnace and melted to form ingots or sheets.
 Glass: scrap glass is called „cullet‟ which melts at lower
temperature than other raw materials thus saving fuel and money.
Scraped glass is sorted by colour and made free from impurities.
The cullet is melted in a furnace to make new glass.
l. What is made from recyclable materials?

Answer: (i) Aluminium cans are melted down and recycled into new
aluminium cans and other products made of aluminium.
(ii) Newspapers and telephone books are ground up and made into
newsprint, cereal boxes, cellulose insulation for keeping homes
warm, paper egg cartons, and ceiling tiles.
(iii) Glass bottles are crushed, melted and recycled into more glass
bottles, or used along with sand and gravel in asphalt roads.
(iv) Automobile scrap tires are generally chipped and burned as a
fuel in place of or in addition to coal. Scrap tires are also
manufactured into numerous rubber products including rubber
mats and rubber bumpers.
(v) Yard and food waste can be composted in your backyard. Since
the compost contains plenty of nitrogen and other organic
nutrients, it is great in gardens and flower beds.
Question 4. Give Geographical Reasons-
a. What are the reasons for spoilage of landscape?

Answer: Spoilage of landscape is due to improper disposal wastes,

especially solid waste, it may include slag heaps from paper mills,
waste from mines, fertilizer, etc. Even our household contributes a
large no. of solid wastes like paper, plastic, vegetable waste, etc.
b. Why is composting important?

Answer: Composting is important because it puts organic materials

back into the ground which is necessary for a naturally healthy
lawn and garden. In addition, composting is important because it‟s
a better alternative then sending these natural organic materials to
the landfill.
c. Why do we have landfills and are they really necessary?

Answer: The garbage that is disposed of each day by municipalities,

counties, government, business and industries must be done so in
an environmentally safe way in order to protect human health and
the environment. Landfills are one way to dispose of our solid waste
in a safe way. We have landfills because not every item thrown out
or discarded can be recycling or reused.
Question Differentiate between the following -
5.
 a. Biodegradable and Non-biodegradable waste.

Answer:
Biodegradable Non-biodegradable
The biodegradable wastes break
Non-biodegradable waste includes
down and decompose by
that material which does not
microorganism like bacteria and
breakdown or decompose in the soil.
fungi in the soil. e.g. Wood, Paper
e.g. Plastics, Poly- bags etc.
etc.
Question Name the following-
6.
a. Name three diseases which occur because of waste accumulation
on land.

Answer: Diarrhoea, cholera, viral hepatitis.

b. Name the methods for disposal of solid, liquid and gaseous waste.

Answer: Solid waste disposal methods: dumping, incineration,

composting.
Liquid waste disposal methods: grit chamber, sedimentation,
digestion and drying.
Gaseous waste disposal methods: air scrubbers and electrostatic
precipitators.
c. Name two common diseases caused as a result of gaseous
pollution.

Answer: Two diseases are lung cancer and asthma.

Question Multiple Choice Questions-

7.
a. The process of converting wet waste into manure is called-
i. Incineration
ii. Composting
iii. Segregation
iv. Recycling
Ans- ii. Composting
b. Which one of the following is a hygienic way of disposing solid
waste and is more suitable if the waste contains hazardous
material and organic content?
i. Oxidation
ii. Incineration
 iii. Subgrading
iv. Composting
Ans:- ii. Incineration
c. Which of the following is done on an individual level?
i. Burning
ii. Disposal
iii. Recycling
iv. Source reduction
Ans- iv. Source reduction
d. The organic material of the solid waste will decompose-
i. By the flow of water
ii. By the soil particles
iii. By the action of microorganisms
iv. By oxidation
Ans- iii. By the action of microorganisms
e. When the organic matter present in the sanitary landfill
decomposes, it generates-
i. Methane
ii. Nitrogen
iii. Hydrogen
iv. All of the above
Ans- i. Methane
f. Hospital waste such as body fluids and cloth soiled with blood is
termed as-
i. Toxic Waste
ii. Soiled Waste
iii. Recyclable Waste
iv. None of the above
Ans- ii. Soiled waste
g. Which of the following method is used to seperate solid waste from
liquid waste?
i. Incineration
ii. Segregation
iii. Precipitation
iv. Composting
Ans- iii. Precipitation