Waste Management and Resources in The 21st Century

Abstract

Laws of waste recycle have been established in recent years. As the result, waste recycle is on the considerable increase. However, there is a limit to recycle of waste, because even the recycled products become wastes at the end of their lives.
In our country, the life span of the industrial waste's disposal site was 3.7 years, and the life span of general waste's disposal site was 12.3 years at 1999.
Industrial waste was about 400 million tons, and general waste was about 54 million tons in fiscal 1999. Then, the final disposal amount of industrial waste was about 50 million tons, and that of general waste was about 11 million tons.
Nowadays, plastics and incinerated residue are major wastes, which are dumped at the final disposal site. These wastes do not contribute to the stabilization of final disposal sites. These wastes eternally occupy the final disposal sites, and prevent the utilization of these areas. Moreover, leachate treatment facilities are essential for the final disposal sites, and the treatment of the leachate is required throughout the long term.
However, the waste plastics are available as an urban energy source, and the incinerated residue has potential value as urban metal resources.
If these wastes are reproduced,it will contribute to prolonging life of the final disposal site, and also contribute to mining quantity control of natural resources.
The point of waste management in the 21st century is to reduce final disposal waste and to convert it to resources.