Week 6

Refuse Disposal System

What is Refuse Disposal System?

Is a technique for the collection, treatment, and disposal of the solid wastes of a community. The development and operation of these systems is often called solid-waste management. Solid waste disposal, disposal of normally solid or semisolid materials, resulting from human and animal activities, that are useless, unwanted, or hazardous.

Sources of waste

There are many type of waste defined by modern system of waste management, notably including

1.      Domestic waste

Domestic waste is waste that is generated because of the ordinary day-to-day use of a domestic premise and either it taken from the premises by or on behalf of the person who generated the waste or collected by or on behalf of a local government as part of a waste collection and disposal system. For example, ashes, food, paper, bottles, tins, rags, hairs, cardboard, rubber.

2.      Commercial waste

Commercial waste is any waste generated because of carrying out a business, including        associated lawn and garden clippings from normal maintenance of the business premises.  Commercial waste also includes rubbish produced by customers such as food wrappers and  containers. So, any waste that comes from a commercial activity is commercial waste.

3.      Industrial waste

Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that  is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as toxic.

4.      Municipal waste

Municipal waste is any substances or scarp materials which the holder discards or intends to discard within the area of municipal. The sources of municipal waste are varied which include household waste, commercial waste and demolition waste.

5.      Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste includes industrial waste

6.      Biomedical waste

Biomedical waste includes clinical waste

7.      Special hazardous waste

Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste, explosive waste and electronic waste.

In our lesson, we are more focusing on municipal waste which includes household waste, commercial waste and demolition waste.

What is the requirement for disposal system?

System that is used for refusal disposal system need to be considered in terms of nature of waste, nature of premises and location of the point of generation.

1. Nature of waste

The waste need to be identified whether it is perishable or unperishable. The term of ‘perishable’ means that the waste is likely to decay quickly. Therefore, the method of disposing of the waste is different.

2. Nature of premises

Different premises have different types of disposal method. For domestic, like residential area, bin is normally use for collection. However, for industrial area, a certain chemical is needed to treat the waste beforehand.

3. Location of the point of generation

The location can be taken the height from the ground and the position on the floor layout.

Solid Waste Disposal System

Figure 1 

Figure 2

Figure 3

Disposal of Waste

1. Composting

It involves decomposition of organic wastes by microbes by allowing the waste to stay accumulated in a pit for a long period of time. Organic materials such as fruit rind, onion peel and shredded paper can be added to the soil to provide nutrients which will aid the growth and quality of your plants. This type of disposal will effectively be a form of recycling if you grow your own fruits and vegetables. It also helps in preventing soil erosion by keeping the soil covered and reduce the adverse effects of excessive alkalinity and the excessive use of chemical fertilizer. However, the process is slow and consumes a significant amount of land. 

2. Open dumps

Open dumping is the disposal of solid waste at any location. This activity will affect the environment when chemicals and other contaminants that found in solid waste seep into groundwater. Besides, these contaminates can also carried by rainwater to rivers and lakes that provide essential wildlife habitat. In the end, our sources for drinking water will become less due to these contaminates and poses a great risk to public health. In addition, the location can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, harbouring diseases, inviting animals, and emitting unpleasant odour.

3. Sanitary landfill

This involves the dumping of wastes into a landfill. The protective lining is prepared for the base, which serves as a barrier between wastes and ground water and prevents the separation of toxic chemicals into the water zone. Waste layers are subjected to compaction and subsequently coated with an earth layer. Furthermore, landfills should be created in places with low groundwater level and far from sources of flooding. Microorganisms act on the organic matter and degrade them and the rate of waste degradation depends on various factors, and generally takes several years for the process to complete. 

4. Incinerators

Incineration features combustion of wastes to transform them into base components, with the generated heat being trapped for deriving energy. This method is suited in crowded cities where sites for land filling are not available. Incineration can reduce the waste volume by about 90% and the remaining residual ash will go to landfill.

Incinerator consists of two chambers that is primary chamber that designed to facilitate rapid desiccation of moist refuse and complete combustion of refuse and volatile gases while secondary chamber is between the primary chamber and the stack that all unburnt and semi burnt material are completely burnt here.


Case study
The quantity of waste produced from Dewan Sultan Iskandar is lesser than other places such as residential area, commercial centre, institutional area and factories. Moreover, there are a lot of bins around the compound to provide comfort and clean zone for the University Teknologi Malaysia. The following below shown the type of simple storage for solid waste disposal at Dewan Sultan Iskandar:

Bin 

Bin 

Paladins