|
Dr.Fatemah Salem Bahabri  Dr.Najat Tawfiq Abas
__________________________________________________
Many people wrongly imagine that the term refuse is a negative term. In fact the opposite is true as the refuse has commercial and industrial importance especially so as the natural resources are progressively being depleted and their prices are rising continually. It is possible to make use of refuse instead of disposing of them. It is, therefore, necessary the process of re-use of municipal refuse should be among their development plans and extracting them to use them as a natural source of cheap industries. Islam calls for the preserving the environment and for cleanliness among which is refuse management and recycling when the Prophet PBUH said "removing refuse from the road is as a donation" and also said " Faith is of 70+ items the highest of which is "La Ilah Illallah" and the lowest removing waste from the road". Dealing with refuse, therefore, in an improper way is a major offence and culprit commits an offence. On the other hand, removing refuse and making use of it by recycling for example is considered as a benefactor donation and the person who did so will be rewarded by Allah. Moreover, investment in the form of recycling is considered as a comprehensive strategy in which the private and the governmental agencies concerned with refuse such as: public cleaning, refuse, public health, environment protection, economic offices must participate with the purpose of treating the refuse and utilize it. Furthermore, studies in the field of recycling and re-use of refuse should be continued. In this connection, the private sector is considered to be more capable and qualified to invest in utilizing refuse in manufacturing. In this regard, the investor, the capital and the costs are some of the important standards which must be taken into consideration from the financial point of view. It should be note that the high costs are results of ineffective use of resources due to squandering the costs of raw materials and energy in addition to inefficiency of operation and treatment and the costs of legal cases.
Benefitting from refuse
There are several ways to benefit from solid wastes and re-using them. Some of them are:
Magnets: the refuse is put in a belt which passes near the magnet which attracts the metal parts.
Air segregation: Refuse is thrown into the air by the force of air and then separated according to denseness and size. Sometimes, they are segregated according to size as the largest are thrown to a farther distance. Refuse is also segregated according to the components after compressing them so that they may recycled. Old cars may be sent to the iron and steel factories; glass to glass factories; wood to compressed wood factories; paper and celluloid materials are sent to paper factories; aluminum cans and biological refuse to power generation and compost units; waste fats can be used in producing soap, candles and lubrication oil; bones, fats and feather can be used to feed animals after treating them; household bulky furniture items can be re-used by specialized companies and individuals.
The recovering of wastes can be done in four processes which sometimes are referred to as 4Rs as follows : Reduction, Re-use, Recycling and Recovery. These include compost and recovery of energy. Presently, the strategy of refuse in many countries, especially the advanced ones, is represented more in minimizing instead of disposing whenever it is economically, technically and environmentally feasible. The benefits of recovery of refuse are represented in minimizing refuse, economizing in the consumption of raw materials, provision of energy. In the developed countries, recovering refuse from the landfills is widespread more in the developed countries instead of getting them from the source.
The recovery of materials from refuse faces two main problems, namely: preference of using raw materials instead of recovered materials and the high costs of segregating, collection and transporting of the recycled materials. In some instances refuse is used without taking into account their effect on health . As for example : using newspapers to wrap food items, use if cardboard boxes for different purposes; use of recovered fabrics in stuffing furniture; re-use of used bottles for other purposes, use of plastics in wrapping, some biological items are used as food for fish and other animals after crushing them.
|