BE-103 Introduction to Sustainable Engineering Module 2 Detailed Teaching Note

Introduction to Sustainable Engineering Detailed Teaching Note

Sustainable Engineering Study materials may be useful to the staff and students of all the engineering colleges in Kerala

What are Wastes?
Waste (also known as rubbish, trash, refuse, garbage, junk, litter,
and ort) is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is
any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are
expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea
and sweat.

Basel Convention Definition of Wastes
“substances or objects which are disposed of or are intended
to be disposed of or are required to be disposed of by the
provisions of the law"

Disposal means
“any operation which may lead to resource recovery,
recycling, reclamation, direct re-use or alternative uses
(Annex IVB of the Basel convention)”

Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as Basel
Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the
movements of hazardous waste between nations, specially to prevent
transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries
(LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste.
The convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of
wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as
closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in
environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes
they generate.
The Convention was opened for signature on 22nd March 1989, and
entered into force on 5 May 1992.

The definition…………
Produced by the United Nations Statistics Division (U.N.S.D.):
"Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is
products produced for the market) for which the generator
has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of
production, transformation or consumption, and of which
he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the
extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials
into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final
products, and other human activities. Residuals recycled or
reused at the place of generation are excluded."

• Module II Lesson 1 Air Pollution

              

• Module II Lesson  2 Waste Management

              

• Module II Lesson 3 Global environmental issues

              

• Module II Lesson 4 Carbon trading