Garbage in Garbage Out- Disposal of waste

In this article, we will be studying the wastes, their types and sources.  How to manage or dispose of waste? What exactly do we mean by the garbage in, garbage out process?

Let us start by understanding the meaning of waste.

Wastes or garbage are substances that are no longer useful to us. The garbage in garbage out process constitutes the creation of wastes by various works to the dumping of waste in the landfills for its decomposition.

TYPES OF WASTE:

There can be mainly two types of waste:

1) Biodegradable: Wastes that can be disintegrated by the action of microbes.  These kinds of wastes are eco-friendly. For example, Plant products and organic wastes.

2) Non- biodegradable: Wastes that cannot be decomposed by the action of microbes. These kind of wastes are not eco-friendly and creates pollution in the environment. For example, plastics.

SOURCES OF WASTE:

Broadly there can be four main sources of waste:

1. Domestic: Various household wastes are collected during cooking and other household work. For example, vegetable leaves, excreta, ashes, etc.
2. Commercial: Waste produced at commercial places like shops and offices.
3. Industrial: Waste created by industries. Industries dump their wastes in river water or land, causing pollution in the environment. For example glass, smoke, plastics etc.         
4. Agricultural: Various garbage substances in agricultural fields like husk, weed, and cattle waste.

Now that we know the various sources of waste, we should also know how to dispose of waste to get a clean atmosphere. Below are some of the ways in which we can dispose of waste.

Reduce: Lessen the use of non-biodegradable materials.

Reuse: Use the materials multiple times.

Recycle: Reprocess the materials.

• Landfills and composting: The process of converting organic materials, including plants and animal waste, into manure is called composting. The garbage from our houses is dumped on a low-lying open area.  This waste disposal method is very common. And this process is the main phase of the garbage in, garbage out process.
• Vermicomposting: Red worms are used in the preparation of compost.

PLASTICS:

Plastics are the semi-synthetic material that are generally non-biodegradable in nature.

In this article, you understood the term waste, its types and sources, meaning of the word garbage in, garbage out, plastics and plastic pollution. To know more about it, download BYJUS – the learning app.