Solid waste refers to any type of garbage, trash, refuse, or discarded material. It can be categorized according to where the waste is generated, such as municipal solid waste, health care waste, and e-waste. Solid waste includes everyday items that are discarded by the public, such as food waste, market waste, yard waste, plastic containers, and product packaging materials, and other miscellaneous solid wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial sources. Solid waste can come from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations, and from household and community activities. Solid waste can be physically solid, liquid, semi-solid, or a container of gaseous material. However, solid waste does not include wastes such as solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by federal law.
It is important to note that the definition of solid waste is not limited to wastes that are physically solid. Many solid wastes are liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material. A solid waste is any material that is discarded by being abandoned, burned, incinerated, or sham recycled. Several materials are excluded from the definition of solid waste, including hazardous waste, sewage sludge, and radioactive waste.
Improper disposal of solid waste can lead to adverse health outcomes, such as water, soil, and air contamination. Hazardous waste or unsafe waste treatment such as open burning can directly harm waste workers or other people involved in waste burning and neighboring communities. Vulnerable groups such as children are at increased risk of adverse health outcomes. Poor waste collection leads to environmental and marine pollution and can block water drains, resulting in flooding and other standing waters in waste items that favor cholera and vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue.
