Waste treatment and disposal encompasses the engineered processes and systems used to manage solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes to minimize environmental and human health impacts. It includes physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods such as sedimentation, filtration, adsorption, oxidation–reduction, incineration, composting, anaerobic digestion, and advanced thermal or physicochemical processes, often integrated with resource recovery (e.g., energy, nutrients, materials). Disposal refers to the final placement of residuals in landfills, deep-well injection, or other long-term containment systems designed with liners, leachate collection, gas management, and monitoring to control emissions, prevent groundwater contamination, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Just 9% of plastic worldwide is recycled. Due to waste mismanagement, nearly three-quarters of it ends up in landfills or the environment.
Environment
Jul 18, 2025
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Scientists are working with microbes found in Australia's unique ecosystem to create bioplastics which break down in land, soil and water. The research aims to tackle one of the most pressing global issues—single-use plastic ...
Environment
Jul 18, 2025
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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30% to 40% of the nation's food supply ends up being wasted. That adds up to billions of pounds every year rotting in landfills and emitting greenhouse gases like methane and ...
Biotechnology
Jul 15, 2025
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51
New research has found increasing levels of artificial sweeteners in wastewater treatment plants, with downstream impacts on the environment.
Environment
Jul 11, 2025
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10
A leading expert in the health impacts of plastic pollution and microplastics is calling on the UN to end the use of toxic chemicals in all plastics, cap and reduce plastic production and argues against a treaty focused on ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 10, 2025
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Urban water bodies—rivers, lakes and oceans—are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don't break down on their own. When they are released ...
Environment
Jul 7, 2025
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There is a glaring lack of tracking for global recycling. Poor waste management is deeply connected to climate change, plastic pollution and global nutrient imbalances globally.
Environment
Jul 2, 2025
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Operators have pumped water to cool the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) since the accident in 2011 and treated this cooling water with the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), which ...
Environment
Jul 2, 2025
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45
Pressures such as population growth, urbanization, and land degradation are straining the global agrifood system, the network connecting all steps of the food supply chain from growing crops in the field to waste elimination ...
Ecology
Jun 23, 2025
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23
Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), UC Irvine, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), have used biology to convert human urine into a valuable product. The team genetically ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 17, 2025
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