to tackle this issue, requires collaboration from multiple agencies across the world. some agencies include u.s. epa, taiwan environmental protection administration (taiwan epa), international e-waste management network (iemn), and environmental offices from asia, latin america, the caribbean, africa, and north america. mixed waste mixed waste is a term that has different definitions based its context. most commonly, mixed waste refers to hazardous waste which contains radioactive material. in this context, the management of mixed waste is regulated by the epa and rcra and atomic energy act. the hazardous materials content is regulated by rcra while the radiological component is regulated by the department of energy (doe) and nuclear regulatory commission (nrc). mixed waste can also be defined as a type of waste which includes recyclable materials and organic materials. some examples of mixed waste in this context include a combination of broken glassware, floor sweepings, non-repairable household goods, non-recyclable plastic and metal, and clothing and furnishings. additionally, ashes and soot, residential renovation waste materials are also included under this definition. medical waste this type of waste is typically generated from hospitals, physicians' offices, dental practices, blood banks, veterinary offices, and research facilities. this waste has often been contaminated with bodily fluids from humans or animals. examples of this type of contamination can include blood, vomit, urine, and other bodily fluids. concerns started to generate when medical waste was appearing on east coast beaches in the 1980’s. this forced congress to pass the medical waste tracking act. this act was only in effect for approximately 3 years after the epa concluded the “disease-causing medical waste was greatest at the point of generation and naturally tapers off after that point.” prior to the hospital medical infectious waste incinerator (hmiwi) standard, approximately 90% of the infectious waste was incinerated before 1997. due to the potential of negatively affect air quality, alternative treatment and disposal technologies for medical waste was developed. these new alternatives include: thermal treatment, such as microwave technologies steam sterilization, such as autoclaving electropyrolysis chemical mechanical systems reporting waste generation, measured in kilograms per person per day. there are many issues that surround reporting waste. it is most commonly measured by size or weight, and there is a stark difference between the two. for example, organic waste is much heavier when it is wet, and plastic or glass bottles can have different weights but be the same size. on a global scale it is difficult to report waste because countries have different definitions of waste and what falls into waste categories, as well as different ways of reporting. based on incomplete reports from its parties, the basel convention estimated 338 million tonnes of waste was generated in 2001. for the same year, oecd estimated 4 billion tonnes from its member countries. despite these inconsistencies, waste reporting is still useful on a small and large scale to determine key causes and locations, and to find ways of preventing, minimizing, recovering, treating, and disposing waste. costs environmental costs inappropriately managed waste can attract rodents and insects, which can harbour gastrointestinal parasites, yellow fever, worms, the plague and other conditions for humans, and exposure to hazardous wastes, particularly when they are burned, can cause various other diseases including cancers. toxic waste materials can contaminate surface water, groundwater, soil, and air which causes more problems for humans, other species, and ecosystems. a form of waste disposal involving combustion creates a significant amount of greenhouse gases. when the burned waste contains metals, it can create toxic gases. on the other hand, when the waste contains plastics, the gases produce contain co2. as global warming and co2 emission increase, soil begins to become a larger carbon sink and will become increasingly volatile for our plant life. social costs waste management is a significant environmental justice issue. many of the environmental burdens cited above are more often borne by marginalized groups, such as racial minorities, women, and residents of developing nations. nimby (not in my back yard) is the opposition of residents to a proposal for a new development because it is close to them. however, the need for expansion and siting of waste treatment and disposal facilities is increasing worldwide. there is now a growing market in the transboundary movement of waste, and although most waste that flows between countries goes between developed nations, a significant amount of waste is moved from developed to developing nations. economic costs the economic costs of managing waste are high, and are often paid for by municipal governments; money can often be saved with more efficiently designed collection routes, modifying vehicles, and with public education. environmental policies such as pay as you throw can reduce the cost of management and reduce waste quantities. waste recovery (that is, recycling, reuse) can curb economic costs because it avoids extracting raw materials and often cuts transportation costs. "economic assessment of municipal waste management systems – case studies using a combination of life-cycle assessment (lca) and life-cycle costing (lcc)". the location of waste treatment and disposal facilities often reduces property values due to noise, dust, pollution, unsightliness, and negative stigma. the informal waste sector consists mostly of waste pickers who scavenge for metals, glass, plastic, textiles, and other materials and then trade them for a profit. this sector can significantly alter or reduce waste in a particular system, but other negative economic effects come with the disease, poverty, exploitation, and abuse of its workers. affecting communities people in developing countries suffer from contaminated water and landfills caused by unlawful government policies that allow first-world countries and companies to transport their trash to their homes and oftentimes near bodies of water. those same governments do not use any waste trade profits to create ways to manage landfills or clean water sources. photographer kevin mcelvaney documents the world’s biggest e-waste dump called agbogbloshie in accra, ghana, which used to be a wetland. the young men and children that work in agbogbloshie smash devices to get to the metals, obtain burns, eye damage, lung and back problems, chronic nausea, debilitating headaches, and respiratory problems and most workers die from cancer in their 20s (mcelvaney).in mcelvaney’s photos, kids in fields burning refrigerators and computers with blackened hands and trashed clothes and animals, such as cows with open wounds, in the dumpsite. there are piles of waste used as makeshift bridges over lakes, with metals and chemicals just seeping into the water and groundwater that could be linked to homes' water systems. the same unfortunate situation and dumps/landfills can be seen in similar countries that are considered the third world, such as other west african countries and china. many advocating for waste management, stop waste trade, create wastewater treatment facilities, and ultimately provide a clean and accessible water source. the health of all these people in landfills and water are human necessities/rights that are being taken away. management this section is an excerpt from waste management. a specialized trash collection truck providing regular municipal trash collection in a neighborhood in stockholm, sweden waste pickers burning e-waste in agbogbloshie, a site near accra in ghana that processes large volumes of international electronic waste. the pickers burn the plastics off of materials, and collect the metals for recycling. however this process exposes pickers and their local communities to toxic fumes. containers for consumer waste collection at the gdańsk university of technology a recycling and waste-to-energy plant for waste that is not exported waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. this includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, economic mechanisms. waste can be solid, liquid, or gases and each type has different methods of disposal and management. waste management deals with all types of waste, including industrial, biological, household, municipal, organic, biomedical, radioactive wastes. in some cases, waste can pose a threat to human health. health issues are associated throughout the entire process of waste management. health issues can also arise indirectly or directly: directly through the handling of solid waste, and indirectly through the consumption of water, soil and food. waste is produced by human activity, for example, the extraction and processing of raw materials. waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on human health, the environment, planetary resources and aesthetics. the aim of waste management is to reduce the dangerous effects of such waste on the environment and human health. a big part of waste management deals with municipal solid waste, which is created by industrial, commercial, and household activity. waste management practices are not uniform among countries (developed and developing nations); regions (urban and rural areas), and residential and industrial sectors can all take different approaches. proper management of waste is important for building sustainable and liveable cities, but it remains a challenge for many developing countries and cities. a report found that effective waste management is relatively expensive, usually comprising 20%–50% of municipal budgets. operating this essential municipal service requires integrated systems that are efficient, sustainable, and socially supported. a large portion of waste management practices deal with municipal solid waste (msw) which is the bulk of the waste that is created by household, industrial, and commercial activity. according to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc), municipal solid waste is expected to reach approximately 3.4 gt by 2050; however, policies and lawmaking can reduce the amount of waste produced in different areas and cities of the world. measures of waste management include measures for integrated techno-economic mechanisms of a circular economy, effective disposal facilities, export and import control and optimal sustainable design of products that are produced. in the first systematic review of the scientific evidence around global waste, its management and its impact on human health and life, authors concluded that about a fourth of all the municipal solid terrestrial waste is not collected and an additional fourth is mismanaged after collection, often being burned in open and uncontrolled fires – or close to one billion tons per year when combined. they also found that broad priority areas each lack a "high-quality research base", partly due to the absence of "substantial research funding", which motivated scientists often require. electronic waste (ewaste) includes discarded computer monitors, motherboards, mobile phones and chargers, compact discs (cds), headphones, television sets, air conditioners and refrigerators. according to the global e-waste monitor 2017, india generates ~ 2 million tonnes (mte) of e-waste annually and ranks fifth among the e-waste producing countries, after the united states, the people’s republic of china, japan and germany. wastewater facilities main article: wastewater treatment wastewater treatment facilities remove pollutants and contaminants physically and chemically to clean water to be returned to society. the south gippsland water organization breaks down the three steps of waste-water treatment. the primary treatment is to sift through the water to remove large solids to leave oils and small particles in the water. secondary treatment to dissolve/remove oils, particles, and micro-organisms from the water to be prepared for tertiary treatment to chemically disinfect the water with chlorine or with uv light. “for most industrial applications, a 150,000 gpd capacity wwts would cost an estimated $500,000 to $1.5 million inclusive of all necessary design, engineering, equipment, installation, and startup”. with such a simple solution that has been proven to clean our water to be reused and is relatively inexpensive, there is no excuse why there should not be a waste-water treatment facility in every country, every state, and every town. benefits “right now, according to a nasa-led study, many of the world’s freshwater sources are being drained faster than they are being replenished. the water table is dropping all over the world. there’s not an infinite supply of water”. there is a need to preserve every resource, every finite water source that we do have left to maintain our lives and lifestyles. able countries helping under-developed countries with their creation of wastewater treatments benefits society. with the addition of wastewater treatment facilities with spending a few million dollars and infrastructure to clean our areas and freshwater to reuse instead of over-using our land and water supply, which would be the greatest cost. another cost of not adding wastewater treatments in countries is that people have no choice but to clean