Define the composition of solid waste. How has the consumption of plastics and paper products changed in the last 30 years? State possible reasons for such changes. Why do the estimates of municipal...

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1. Define the composition of solid waste.
Waste may be defined as; combination of such stuffs which are no longer required by an
individual, organization or industry therefore; these are also considered as; by-products or
terminal products of the production and consumption procedure respectively. Since; the sources
of waste may vary therefore; its composition can also differ according to them for instance; in
context of Municipal Solid Waste of New York city following composition has been estimated
by researchers: Paper 33%, Glass 4%, Wood 3%, Plastics 14%, Metals 7 %, Organics 23%,
textiles 5%, and other 11%.
Above waste chiefly includes those materials which have been contributed by residential
and commercial sectors. On the other hand, if we would consider waste generated from another
sources such as; educational institutes then its composition and/ or proportion might show a
discrepancy. To conclude, it can be said that we may define waste’s composition only in an usual
way, but not distinctively.
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2. How has the consumption of plastics and paper products changed in the last 30 years?
State possible reasons for such changes.
In last 30 years, due to modernization, the application of plastic products has been
increased up to a significant extent due to which these can be termed as; a powerful symbol of
human disbursement and negligence. According to researchers, approximately 100 billion plastic
bags are only used by Americans per annum hence; it can be estimated that what would be the
scenario throughout the world? Situation can be termed horrible in context of environmental
preservation since; such bags are produced by using trees as raw material. Further, these...