EOH Case 4 Solid Waste Disposal and Management Health, Medicine Essay

Solid Waste Disposal and Management
[First Name, Last Name]
[Institutional Affiliation]
[Date]
Solid Waste Disposal and Management
Population growth, rapid urbanization, legislation, and affluence have made solid waste management a severe issue today. Several landfills across the US are within 5-10 years of closing unless the authorities both state and local expand the existing landfills, open new ones, or find alternative methods of managing and disposing of solid waste. Unfortunately, urban centers are running out of space for new landfills. This current situation prompts us to change our basic premise of solid waste management by considering new, innovative, and sustainable options that will ensure our survival for the next fifty years (Shin, 2014). Therefore, this paper compares and contrast two alternatives for the disposal of the county’s solid waste and provides a rationale for the best method of solid waste management.
Landfill Vs. Incineration
For decades, sanitary landfills and incineration had been the preferred approaches of disposal and management of Municipal Solid Waste until legislation such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act came into play. The two methods have been effective in waste disposal in the past but also demonstrated adverse impacts on the environment and human health.
Similarities
Although landfills are designed to “concentrate and contain,” they also release gases such as CH4 (Methane) and H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide) which pollute air thus contributing to global warming. Liquid pollutants such as leachate from landfills that are near water bodies pollute the water, thus affecting both marine life and human health. The list of contaminants that affect both the ecosystem is endless (Shin, 2014). Similarly, incineration is effective in reducing the volume of waste but has negative environmental and health impacts. Although technological advancements are trying to equip modern incinerators with filter technologies for reducing emissions, we still see pollutants released to the atmosphere. Studies indicate that incinerators release more contaminants to the air than coal plants (Movall, 2015). Additionally, the white ash from this process contains dangerous metals are often deposited in landfills, thus hazardous to air, water, and soil. Breathing in the gases emitted from both these methods causes respiratory diseases with the potential of causing death.
Another similarity ...