Waste Treatment

Hazardous and nonhazardous wastes must be grouped by their physical form, chemical content, degree of hazard to the environment, or source in order to be treated by waste managers. These groupings also allow environmental scientists to learn about the trends in our society's waste and in society itself. Waste types can change dramatically in a period of less than 100 years. For example, waste from electronic products poses a big problem in the world today but this was not considered a serious threat in the early 1900s.

The waste treatment industry plays a role in removing, treating, and disposing of human, household, and industrial wastes, either by burning, decomposing, or chemically transforming them so that the Earth's activities can continue. Beginning with a look at the global waste problem, Waste Treatment defines the different classifications of materials that are treated today in waste management, including one of the most important concepts - waste stream. Waste streams are all the sources of various wastes as they move through the environment toward a final disposal. The control of waste streams is the central theme throughout this new, full-color book.