Environmental management is significant part of life since every activity that people get involved in results in production of various forms of waste. Main characteristics of hazardous waste are that they can be easily ignited, tends to be corrosive, reactive, and toxic. Hazardous wastes have a higher risk to the environment as compared to the municipal solid waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW), otherwise known as “garbage” or “trash,” consists largely of waste discarded by households, businesses, and institutions. Besides hazardous waste, municipal solid waste does not include construction and demolition debris, municipal sludges, combustion ash, and industrial nonhazardous process wastes that might be disposed of in municipal landfills (Smith, 2007).

A reactive compound presents features of instability and aggressive reaction while not causing detonation. The reactive waste also reacts aggressively with water forming a potentially explosive mixture.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011), one of the main ways to reduce amount of municipal solid waste is use of economic incentives. Economic incentives raise the cost of one unit and the financial rewards for decreasing waste, and increasing decomposing and recycling of waste. Examples of incentive structures are user charges depending on the amount of waste, subsidizing the cost of recycling, and decreasing the costs of disposal. This motivates the industry to keep the environment is clean. Establishing affordable recycling plants is another way to reduce amount of solid waste polluting the environment.

References

Smith, K. V.(2007). Methods for Estimating the Social Benefits of EPA Land Cleanup and Reuse Programs. Summary Report of Workshop 9/28-9/29, 2006.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2011). Handbook on the Benefits, Costs, and Impacts of Land Cleanup and Reuse. EPA-240-R-11-001. October.