Municipal Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is also known as urban solid waste. It originates mostly from households. It is fairly obvious that MSW could consist of a wide range of different materials!
In the United Kingdom, as in many countries, most recyclable materials (paper, glass, plastics, tins etc.) are collected separately so the amount of these materials in the MSW should be minimal.
In some areas the biodegradable waste, which includes garden waste and food waste, is also collected seperately.
Commercial waste is usually collected seperately but MSW can also potentially include commercial waste which complicates the handling of the MSW because potentially hazardous industrial waste complicates the disposal or reprocessing of the material.
Recycling is important these days. We cannot keep throwing away expensive materials such as plastics, metals, batteries etc.
By reusing materials we are saving the energy necessary to recreate the materials from scratch and the cost of producing the materials again.
And of course we are disposing of less materials which reduces the amount being dumped in landfill sites.
MSW is also used as a fuel in WTE plants (Waste to Energy) to generate electricity; preferably after removing as much of the recyclable material as possible.
There are some potential complications in burning MSW including the fact that the MSW contents are not known and could contain poisonous substances which should not be released into the atmosphere. There are also concerns with disposing of the remaining ash which could contain toxic chemicals and metals and other posionous substances.
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