Discuss The Extent To Which Sustainability Can Be Achieved
With reference to waste management, discuss the extent to which sustainability can be achieved. (40 marks)
Waste management is all about the need to change our attitude to waste. The four methods of managing waste at the moment are: landfill, composting, recycling and energy recovery (incineration). To be sustainable, waste must be managed in a way that is maintainable for the foreseeable future and will not be hurtful to the environment or the population. Waste is a problem at the moment because the amount of waste we use is increasing and therefore so is toxicity along with the time that the rubbish is toxic for. We are also running out of landfill sites. Therefore, another method of waste management must be found that will solve these problems.
The most harmful way of dealing with waste is through sending it to landfill. This proves to take up huge spaces of land and is therefore extremely unsightly to individuals living close by. It is also a threat to groundwater and river quality as polluted substances can leak out of the landfill sites and find their way down into the ground or into nearby rivers and lakes. Another environmental impact is that decaying matter will produce methane gas, which is explosive and a greenhouse gas. This decaying matter will take ages …show more content…
Composting is when waste is converted into something that is easier to manage, such as fertiliser. It means that waste can be converted into a saleable product and so the process does partly pay for itself. However, it is extremely expensive on a large scale and requires huge amounts of resources and time to manage. There is a lot of benefits involved with composting, mostly on the land. This is why it is considered the most sustainable processes, as well as the fact that the waste is being used and therefore does not sit around taking up
Waste management is all about the need to change our attitude to waste. The four methods of managing waste at the moment are: landfill, composting, recycling and energy recovery (incineration). To be sustainable, waste must be managed in a way that is maintainable for the foreseeable future and will not be hurtful to the environment or the population. Waste is a problem at the moment because the amount of waste we use is increasing and therefore so is toxicity along with the time that the rubbish is toxic for. We are also running out of landfill sites. Therefore, another method of waste management must be found that will solve these problems.
The most harmful way of dealing with waste is through sending it to landfill. This proves to take up huge spaces of land and is therefore extremely unsightly to individuals living close by. It is also a threat to groundwater and river quality as polluted substances can leak out of the landfill sites and find their way down into the ground or into nearby rivers and lakes. Another environmental impact is that decaying matter will produce methane gas, which is explosive and a greenhouse gas. This decaying matter will take ages …show more content…
Composting is when waste is converted into something that is easier to manage, such as fertiliser. It means that waste can be converted into a saleable product and so the process does partly pay for itself. However, it is extremely expensive on a large scale and requires huge amounts of resources and time to manage. There is a lot of benefits involved with composting, mostly on the land. This is why it is considered the most sustainable processes, as well as the fact that the waste is being used and therefore does not sit around taking up