A man goes through waste materials scattered along the Nairobi River. Through collaboration, waste materials and substances can be put to use, increasing their economic functionality, and also decreasing their immense effect on the environment, health, aesthetics, and the whole ecosystem in general. (Photo by: Abdi Latif ()

Wastes have been one of the greatest challenges facing humanity at this epoch of time.
In almost every city in the world, especially among the developing ones, heaps and loads of uncontrolled garbage, roadsides littered with refuse, streams blocked with junk, disposal sites constituting a health hazard to residential areas and inappropriately disposed toxic wastes, have been epitomizing the whole environment; causing environmental degradation, and disrupting the harmony and the balance of the whole ecological system.

Even so, all these waste materials and substances can be put to use, increasing their economic functionality, when as well, we reduce the wastes’ immense effect on the environment, health, aesthetics, and the whole ecosystem in general.

One of the most beneficial ways of extracting resources from wastes is in the production of food. With the increase in food shortage on a world level, increase in agricultural production can be met through the conversion of crop, cotton, paper mills and even animal wastes to food.

In Indonesia, for instance, an agricultural residue like the peanut presscake is soaked into water and then steamed on fire. By allowing mold to grow on the peanut presscake for about 40 hours, a food know as Oncom or Ontjom is produced, that is used in the daily diet of 25 million people living in Indonesia.
In Taiwan, rice straws serve as a fertilizer for mushroom growth, providing an income for local farmers from agricultural residues normally being discarded. Yeast production is also made possible through the use of waste substrates like whey and molasses.

Another cost-effective way of making living from wastes is the production of Methane gas from excrement of humans, animals and also garbage from the kitchen. When moisture and heat are added to these waste substances and into a container that keeps out air, they begin to rot and Methane gas is produced that has hot flame, and can be used as a fuel in everyday living- allowing us to conserve firewood, coal, and other fuels.

Ethanol is another type of fuel that can be made from starch, sugar or cellulose containing wastes. These wastes can either be whey from cheese making; molasses from sugar production; the preparation of cellulose pulp by the sulfite process; or can even obtained from nuts (In Brazil one ton of nuts has been concluded to yield about 90 liters of ethanol as well as 35 kilograms of oil).

Banana wastes have also been vital in the production of vinegar and alcohol, especially in countries that have large exports of bananas like Costa Rica, Panama and the Philippines.

Returning wastes to farm lands as fertilizers and stimulants is another gainful way of utilizing wastes while attaining minimal costs. This is because, since the introduction of chemical fertilizers, many farmers have ignored the importance of maintaining soil fertility by the restoration of organic materials. However, not all of them have done this, because in China, about ‘two-thirds of the total soil nutrients are reported to be derived from organic wastes,’ such as animal manure.

Composting, a biological process in which decayed organic matters such as food and plants are added to the soil to help plants grow, is also very essential. This method generates monetary benefits because the wastes are not worth any or a lot of money, compared to the amount of money farmers have to spend on fertilizers.

Wastewater has also been asserted to contain essential plant nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, trace elements, and humus colloids. If applied, these nutrients transmit to the soil sustaining its fertility, increasing the agricultural production, and decreasing the vast amount of capital investment used in irrigation.

Crop residues like straws and a number of agro-industrial wastes like pineapples, overripe bananas, coffee wastes, mustard wastes are used as animal feed; thus reducing wastes and providing economic advantages for farmers who are providing these materials to animal custodians.

Not to be forgotten is the third component of the Four Rs hierarchy (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse).
Recycling is a key concept of modern waste management, which involves the reprocessing of old materials into new usable products, with the aims of averting the waste of potentially useful materials, reducing energy usage, air and water pollution. This method has been a lucrative and money-spinning deal for many people for quite some time. For example, old newspapers are being taken back by companies to produce new papers that are compatible for use by the printing press; hence profiting economically.

Supposition: Managing wastes and taking them to level of not only managing them, but also wheedling out some live supporting economic benefits, is a matter that needs not only individual contributions, but also governments and industries’ subvention to avert serious global environmental problem.

In short, it’s a matter of ‘shared responsibility.’
Mark my words.