Presently, much of the biodegradable waste is disposed of in an unsafe manner–burning, unscientific dumping, discharging into water bodies, throwing waste in open dumpsites. Bio-resources such as animal dung cakes, crop residue, and firewood are commonly used/burned as cooking fuel, causing indoor air pollution. The organisms involved in the stabilization of organic matter use about 30 parts of carbon for each part of nitrogen. A C/N ratio below 25:1 results in the production of a foul smell, and a higher C/N ratio will cause impeding the decomposition of the process.

Analysis of chemical reaction at a dumpsite

Dumping sites emit a foul smell because of the disposal of mixed waste. In a Decomposition reaction, organic waste will be decomposed into methane gas and hydrogen sulphide gas by microorganisms. Landfill gas contains different gases. Methane and carbon dioxide makes up 90 to 98% of landfill gas. The remaining 2 to 10% includes nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, sulfides, hydrogen, and various other gases. Landfill gases are produced when bacteria break down organic waste. The amount of these gases depends on the type of waste present in the landfill, the age of the landfill, oxygen content, the amount of moisture, and temperature. So gas production will increase if the temperature or moisture content increases. Though production of these gases reaches a peak in five to seven years, a landfill can continue to produce gases for over 50 years!

Problems in Specific

The Environmental Protection Agency in the United States has highlighted the following ways in which hazardous waste can have serious short-and-long-term effects on the body:

• Eye and skin irritation
• Chemical burns
• Difficulty breathing
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Behavioral abnormalities
• Cancer
• Genetic mutations
• Physiological malfunctions (kidney failure, reproductive impairment)
• Physical deformations
• Birth defects

So, is there a solution to this stinky mess?

According to cleanwater.com.au, there are a few solutions to this problem. You can either go for surface treatments, misting systems,s or vaping systems. Let’s understand how each of these systems works.

1. Surface treatments

Surface treatment is used as a blanket to cover decomposing waste. In this way, the odors released by decomposition are suppressed within the solid waste, often ly, used at the end of a shift in order to prevent odors from being released overnight while the solid waste site is dormant. In this way, it makes the most sense to prevent the release of odors compared to treating them once they are in the air.

With Surface treatments, there’s an added advantage of containing micronutrients. These shift the bacterial processes of an organic waste breakdown away from odor-forming compounds to more neutral compounds.

      2) Misting Systems

Misting Systems are made from essential oils and organic plant compounds. The reactant is mixed with potable water and then converted to a mist through a nozzle. As the mist drifts through the air, the misting agent bonds molecularly to the odor compound. Through this process, odor compounds are converted to non-volatile compounds.

Misting systems can be portable, allowing them to be moved to active parts of a solid waste site as needed. However, their disadvantage is that they use a precious and expensive resource in potable water.

      3) Vapour Systems

Vapour Systems disperse a vaporized chemical into the atmosphere, where it drifts in the air. It has a longer contact time with odor compounds because of the way it suspends in the atmosphere. The most effective configuration for vapor systems is to run it along the solid waste site fence line. Vaporized chemical compounds enter the air stream, leaving the solid waste site and providing effective and continuous odor treatment.    

Conclusion

There’s a limit to what anyone can do in their daily lives to go out of their way and be a part of something bigger than themselves but with a few easy and small contributions like keeping a check on where you are disposing of your waste can help in a manner than might probably feel less but we assure you that with just one person making an effort, earth’s survival and eventually humanity’s survival becomes a little less of a “stinky mess” than it already is.

 By Aryaman