Important Information On Waste Disposal Houston TX Residents Need To Know

By Brenda Cox


It is estimated that close to 250 million tons of trash are produced across the United States every year, the highest by any single country in the world. The trash has a varied number of sources that may be either domestic or industrial. As you can imagine, the disposal of this amount of garbage is no mean task. There are a number of methods of waste disposal Houston TX residents need to be aware of.

The main options that are used include recycling, source reduction, reuse, animal feeding, the use of landfills, fermentation, and land application to mention but a few. The use of landfills is, without a doubt one of the most commonly used. As the name suggests, this method entails burying of solid refuse in land. Before this is done, the refuse is first taken through a process that helps reduce odor and eliminate environmental dangers.

The use landfills has reduced significantly in the last few decades. One of the reasons as to why this is the case is the advent of more environment friendly options. Among the unwanted effects of land-filling is the production of greenhouse gases such as methane. Landfills are also known to pollute water sources and agricultural land hence are banned or highly regulated in some areas.

Combustion or incineration is another widely used form of disposal. The manner in which this is done varies from one place to another. There are differences in the techniques that are employed at household level and at municipal level. The main downside of combustion is the release of harmful fumes into the environment. This is why some countries tightly regulate the practice.

Recovery and recycling have been highly advocated for by many conservationists. The recovery process involves identifying items that can be put into other use from a heap of garbage. Another option is to convert them into various forms of energy (heat, electricity or fuel). On the other hand, recycling entails converting the refuse into new products or using them as a raw material in energy production. Recycling has greatly helped in reducing environmental pollution.

Plasma gasification is the use of electrically charged gases in converting refuse from one state of matter to another. Commonly the solid and liquid refuse is changed from its state to a gaseous state known as syngas. Syngas is a source of renewable energy. The main disadvantage of this method is that the necessary technology cannot be used at household level.

Composting is a method that can easily be used by anyone. Here, various types of waste are disposed of into a pit (compost pit) and allowed to undergo natural bio-degradation only turned periodically to ensure the process is uniform. The materials that can be disposed of in this manner include animal and plant remains. Compost is a rich source of organic manure.

Reducing the release of waste into the environment is the most effective option of dealing with pollution. This calls upon everyone to ensure that they recycle and reuse items at every available opportunity. The use of disposable items should be kept at the very minimum. When dealing with biomedical waste, expert advice is highly recommended because of the risk involved.




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