Challenges in Waste Management
The essay is prepared to discuss about the lack of education elated to the management of wastes and how it can give rise to various issues, furthermore affect the environment negatively as well. As it is an argumentative essay, it will discuss about the opinions and responses of multiple authors and researchers who have acquired knowledge and information on the essay subject. This will not only help in representing the both sides of the essay along with its positives and negatives (Thyberg & Tonjes, 2016).
According to Guerrero, Maas & Hogland (2013), there are various waste management challenges experienced in the developing countries nowadays and this has been one of the major causes of pollution and unhealthy environment. Thus, it is essential for gaining proper knowledge on the management of wastes and ensures keeping the environment clean, furthermore maintain an ecological balance in nature with ease and effectiveness (Guerrero, Maas & Hogland, 2013). Guerrero, Maas & Hogland (2013) also stated that the lack of education and knowledge mainly has been caused due to lack of efforts put by the municipalities and waste management workers, due to which, there have been more challenges associated with the providing of an effective waste management system for the people living in Australia. Lack of education is facilitated furthermore due to the lack of proper financial resources and inability to promote necessary aspects related to the management of wastes (Zuo & Zhao, 2014). The Integrated Sustainable Waste Management model can be helpful for studying about the various aspects of the complex and multi-dimensional system, furthermore create scopes for people to gain education and knowledge regarding the management of wastes during the urban environment and development.
As stated by Bolden, Abu-Lebdeh & Fini (2013), people often are involved in activities that generate wastes in larger amounts and it is beyond their knowledge due to lack of education on waste management. It is important to make them aware and promote waste management programs for making them accustomed with the ways of managing wastes, furthermore learn to utilize the waste materials or may even recycle those to prevent further generation of wastes (Bolden, Abu-Lebdeh & Fini, 2013).
Thyberg & Tonjes (2016), on the other hand, stated that the drivers of food wastes are needed to be identified, which can facilitate education and knowledge about the management of wastes, furthermore create scopes for the development of sustainable policy. This has been aimed at reducing the generation of wastes and focus on sustainable measures undertaken to prevent land pollution and water contamination through reduction of carbon emissions and managing natural gas fueled power plants and machineries too (Thyberg & Tonjes, 2016). Thyberg & Tonjes (2016) also argued that there are evidences that showed that the replacement of raw materials with the materials that could be recycled should assist in reducing the dependence on the raw materials, furthermore enhance the rates if reusable and recycled waste materials.
Lack of education has made many people unaware of the potential negative impacts that might be created due to the generation of wastes and this has resulted in polluting the environment and degrading the environmental conditions too (Licy et al., 2013). Thus, lack of education and knowledge on the management of wastes could be inappropriate considering its negative impact on the environment and even making people unaware of the negative effects that might be created in the future as well. Nagaraju et al. (2013) argued that the knowledge and practice on bio-medical waste management are also required to be promoted among the health care service providers to prepare informational reports that are to be transferred to the care workers within a health care organization (Nagaraju et al., 2013).
Generating Awareness About Waste Management
As stated by Zuo & Zhao (2014), the lack of education on management of wastes could also contribute to lack of implementing the right green approaches that might prevent sustainability management too. It is important to manage green buildings and at the same time, manage sustainable green strategies to make sure that the wastes are not only generated in lesser amounts, but also adopt the greener and environment friendly strategies to keep the environment clean and safe by dumping lesser amounts of wastes (Zuo & Zhao, 2014). According to Licy et al. (2013), though awareness is created about the management of wastes, still due to lack of practices related to the management of wastes, people often neglect it all throughout.
The school students and college students are the individuals who are needed to be made aware of regarding management of household wastes, which can not only contribute to the well being of the houses and management of wastes in a structured manner, but will also allow them to make other people aware through word of mouth and prevent generating wastes to the utmost level possible (Licy et al., 2013). It is a major global issue and the management of wastes, if not done properly, can also lead to critical health related diseases caused due to the wastes. Torretta et al. (2013) also argued that the management of wastes generated from the use of electrical and electronic equipments could further contribute to the successful management of greener approaches supported with the use of innovative technologies. The new and innovative technologies could further promote effective educational activities and identify the relevant and most appropriate actions to be undertaken for helping the people and making them aware of collecting wastes regularly to prevent pollution (Torretta et al., 2013). This has also been supported by effective information campaigns and educational scopes provided to children and people have efficiently made people less susceptible to risks associated with the generation of wastes. The preventive measures should be undertaken to ensure that the waste reduction processes could be managed with much convenience and effectively as well.
Waste management is one of the major concerns that are faced by businesses and communities. Therefore, suitable knowledge on the waste management practices helps in enhancing the operations of the same while operating in diverse economies. Guerrero, Maas and Hogland (2013) stated that knowledge plays a major role in maintaining the efficacy of the waste management procedures. Different non- governmental organizations have taken up the initiative of making the communities aware of the practices that might be undertaken by the same in order to mitigate environmental issues relating to wastes. The identification of the outcomes of the activities of waste management helps in enhancing the operations. Zaman (2014) stated that the different practices yield diverse outcomes which might be beneficial or harmful for the environments. Lack of formal education on the waste management practices has affected the results dynamically, which has resulted to environmental degradations.
Certain institutions like SUEZ take the initiative of making the businesses, governments and communities aware of the different waste management practices to protect and optimize the utilization of natural resources. Sampaio, Thomas and Font (2012) stated that the impartation of knowledge based on waste management practices helps in enhancing the operations of the stakeholders while actively involving them in the environment friendly measures. However, Udawatta et al., (2015) argued that knowledge that is imparted to the individuals on the waste management practices is insufficient until it is implemented on the practices undertaken by the same. Therefore, it might be stated that the knowledge of knowledge management helps communities through the safe implementation of the procedures in practical fields.
The Role of Knowledge in Waste Management
The knowledge of waste management makes the individuals, businesses and communities aware of the different policies that are imposed by the government on the nation in order to avoid situations of environmental degradations. Zaman (2014) stated that the proper identification of the policies and regulations that are imposed by the government helps the communities and businesses in monitoring over the processes that are undertaken by the same in order to enhance the environmental protection objectives. However, Brunner and Rechberger (2015) argued that meager understanding of the policies is insufficient for supporting environmental sustainability until the measures are implemented on the operations. Marshall and Farahbakhsh (2013) stated that the introduction of the waste management practices to businesses and communities helps in reducing the costs that might be incurred by the same during the processes. Guerrero, Maas and Hogland (2013) negated the notion by stating that the initial investments that are required to be undertaken by the organizations and communities for following the waste management practices might cause disruptions in the process.
Conclusion:
Therefore, the lack of knowledge might affect the waste management practices that are undertaken by businesses or communities. However, the identification of the outcome that would be encountered by the stakeholders through the practice is one of the major criteria that helps in boosting the environment friendly measures in the organizational context. The involvement of the organization in the waste management practices through the knowledge that is imparted to the same will be helping in reducing the levels of waste in the nation. However, the identification of the outcome of the practices will be helping to maintain the efficacy of the functions that are planned by businesses and communities.
References:
Bolden, J., Abu-Lebdeh, T., & Fini, E. (2013). Utilization of recycled and waste materials in various construction applications. American Journal of Environmental Science, 9(1), 14-24.
Brunner, P. H., & Rechberger, H. (2015). Waste to energy–key element for sustainable waste management. Waste Management, 37, 3-12.
Guerrero, L. A., Maas, G., & Hogland, W. (2013). Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste management, 33(1), 220-232.
Guerrero, L. A., Maas, G., & Hogland, W. (2013). Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste management, 33(1), 220-232.
Licy, C. D., Vivek, R., Saritha, K., Anies, T. K., & Josphina, C. T. (2013). Awareness, attitude and practice of school students towards household waste management. Journal of Environment, 2(6), 147-150.
Marshall, R. E., & Farahbakhsh, K. (2013). Systems approaches to integrated solid waste management in developing countries. Waste Management, 33(4), 988-1003.
Nagaraju, B., Padmavathi, G. V., Puranik, D. S., Shantharaj, M. P., & Sampulatha, S. P. (2013). A study to assess the knowledge and practice on bio-medical waste management among the health care providers working in PHCs of Bagepalli Taluk with the view to prepare informational booklet. International Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Research, 2(1), 28-35.
Sampaio, A. R., Thomas, R., & Font, X. (2012). Small business management and environmental engagement. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(2), 179-193.
Thyberg, K. L., & Tonjes, D. J. (2016). Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 106, 110-123.
Initiatives for Waste Management
Torretta, V., Ragazzi, M., Istrate, I. A., & Rada, E. C. (2013). Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in two EU countries: a comparison. Waste Management, 33(1), 117-122.
Udawatta, N., Zuo, J., Chiveralls, K., & Zillante, G. (2015). Improving waste management in construction projects: An Australian study. REsources, conservation and Recycling, 101, 73-83.
Zaman, A. U. (2014). Measuring waste management performance using the ‘Zero Waste Index’: the case of Adelaide, Australia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 66, 407-419.
Zuo, J., & Zhao, Z. Y. (2014). Green building research–current status and future agenda: A review. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 30, 271-281.
The reflection is based on the feedbacks provided in the assignment and it shows that the academic information was not provided at all, which has been a major mistake from my side. The global issue was not identified properly and it should have been linked with the arguments made. While assessing the argumentative essay, it was found that introduction part of the essay was not provided with proper thesis statement while I understood my weaknesses in gaining the most relevant sources and doing multiple grammatical mistakes. Though I have tried to deal with the grammatical errors to the utmost level possible, still some areas were left ignored, which should be dealt with the use of proper approaches and ensure that plagiarism does not occur. I should have used the grammarly website to prevent the grammatical mistakes largely, furthermore should encourage critical thinking about the topic and ensure preparing arguments while discussing about the topic with ease and effectiveness. Several weak sentences presented in the essay shows that I need to improve myself and ensure that the thesis statement is represented clearly with focus on achieving the goals and objectives of the research associated with the lack of education on the management of wastes. This has also resulted in lack of planning, which has further contributed to the emergence of various issues such as the sentences prepared were not coherent with the topic sentences and thus the issues were neglected related to the waste management. Proper training and development sessions should be arranged to make the waste management workers careful about checking the amount of wastes on a regular basis, furthermore ensure maintenance of a cleaner environment and making people more aware of the ways of managing wastes. By obtaining the knowledge, it will not only help in progressing in my professional career, but shall even allow me to grow and develop in terms of my skills and expertise in the future as well.
From the feedbacks, it could be understood that this was not done and the major cause had been the lack of critical analysis, which further created complexities in researching on the topic as well. The article or essay lacked certain aspects of sentence punctuation and re-organizing. It could also be seen that the DOI was not provided, which could have helped in evaluating the resources properly and analyze the research aspects effectively too. Based on the existing literature presented in the essay, the argumentative essay has been prepared again and it shows that the lack of education about waste management has made many people unable to get accustomed with the practices associated with the management of wastes. This has also resulted in pollution and created a negative impact on the environment, which should be overcome and it would be possible with the help of spreading awareness among people through educational campaigns and social awareness programs too. I have managed to understand my mistakes and hope not to rectify any such errors again for ensuring that the grammatical mistakes are overcome and successful research could be done. By assessing the various aspects of waste management, I have also understood that not only education on waste management is essential, but also need for understanding and adoption of greener approaches is important to foster an environment friendly environment and keep the environment clean and safe all throughout.