Abstract:
Waste management encompasses management of all
processes and resources for proper handling of waste materials,
from maintenance of waste transport trucks and dumping
facilities to compliance with health codes and environmental
regulations. Public awareness is key to successful waste
management. A critical component in any waste management
program is public awareness and participation, in addition to
appropriate legislation, strong technical support, and adequate
funding. Waste is the result of human activities and everyone
needs to have a proper understanding of waste management
issues, without which the success of even the best conceived waste
management plan(s) becomes questionable. (NCBI, 2015) The
need to manage waste in such a way that it does not affect our
health and our environment is quite a new concept in many
countries, especially in the rapidly growing urban centres of the
developing world. The lack of awareness can be immense in some
cases, and this is reflected in the lack of resources allocated to set
up robust waste management systems (WHO, 2015). Rapid
population growth especially puts an enormous strain on the
sanitation and solid waste management capacities of cities, more
so in the developing world where such infrastructure is already
weak or stretched (WHO, 2016). According to the WHO (2016)
report, all stakeholders need to work together at global and local
levels for advocacy and project implementation as well as for
raising awareness on urbanization in order to maintain
environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability
involves the capability to maintain the qualities that are valued in
the physical environment such as human life, living conditions for
people and other species (e.g. clean water and air, a suitable
climate), the quality of life for all people as well as the live-ability
and beauty of the environment. Threats to these aspects of the
environment mean that there is a risk that these things will not be
maintained (Sutton, 2004). The goal of the environmental
sustainability is to promote sustainable engineered systems that
support human well-being and that are also compatible with
sustaining natural (environmental) systems. These systems
provide ecological services vital for human survival.
