Solid waste management is a term that is used to refer to the process of collecting and treating solid wastes. It also offers solutions for recycling items that do not belong to garbage or trash. As long as people have been living in settlements and residential areas, garbage or solid waste has been an issue. Waste management is all about how solid waste can be changed and used as a valuable resource. Solid waste management should be embraced by each and every household including the business owners across the world. Industrialization has brought a lot of good things and bad things as well. One of the negative effects of industrialization is the creation of solid waste. Download The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016

Various sources of Solid Wastes:

1. Residential
Residences and homes where people live are some of the major sources of solid waste. Garbage from these places include food wastes, plastics, paper, glass, leather, cardboard, metals, yard wastes, ashes and special wastes like bulky household items like electronics, tires, batteries, old mattresses and used oil. Most homes have garbage bins where they can throw away their solid wastes in and later the bin is emptied by a garbage collecting firm or person for treatment.
2. Industrial
Industries are known to be one of the biggest contributors of solid waste. They include light and heavy manufacturing industries, construction sites, fabrication plants, canning plants, power and chemical plants. These industries produce solid waste in form of housekeeping wastes, food wastes, packaging wastes, ashes, construction and demolition materials, special wastes, medical wastes as well as other hazardous wastes.
3. Commercial
Commercial facilities and buildings are yet another source of solid waste today. Commercial buildings and facilities in this case refer to hotels, markets, restaurants, go downs, stores and office buildings. Some of the solid wastes generated from these places include plastics, food wastes, metals, paper, glass, wood, cardboard materials, special wastes and other hazardous wastes.
4. Institutional
The institutional centers like schools, colleges, prisons, military barracks and other government centers also produce solid waste. Some of the common solid wastes obtained from these places include glass, rubber waste, plastics, food wastes, wood, paper, metals, cardboard materials, electronics as well as various hazardous wastes.
5. Construction & Demolition Area
Construction sites and demolition sites also contribute to the solid waste problem. Construction sites include new construction sites for buildings and roads, road repair sites, building renovation sites and building demolition sites. Some of the solid wastes produced in these places include steel materials, concrete, wood, plastics, rubber, copper wires, dirt and glass.
6. Municipal Services
The urban centers also contribute immensely to the solid waste crisis in most countries today. Some of the solid waste brought about by the municipal services include, street cleaning, wastes from parks and beaches, wastewater treatment plants, landscaping wastes and wastes from recreational areas including sludge.
7. Treatment Plants & Sites
Heavy and light manufacturing plants also produce solid waste. They include refineries, power plants, processing plants, mineral extraction plants and chemicals plants. Among the wastes produced by these plants include, industrial process wastes, unwanted specification products, plastics, metal parts just to mention but a few.
8. Agriculture
Crop farms, orchards, dairies, vineyards and feedlots are also sources of solid wastes. Among the wastes they produce include agricultural wastes, spoiled food, pesticide containers and other hazardous materials.