**5. Municipal solid waste management**

In parallel to the increase of population and economic activity, solid waste management is turning into a severe issue for almost all municipalities. Public health, odor disturbance, hazardous gas emissions, air pollution, or particulate matter formation are typical phenomena prevailing in urban regions. For smart management, municipal solid waste disposal requires proper environmental monitoring during

*Introductory Chapter: Municipal Solid Waste DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84757* 

**Figure 2.**  *Schematic of solid waste management system [12].* 

the entire waste treatment chain from waste collection to its ultimate disposal, and, finally, a regular control of disposal sites is needed [11].

To manage solid waste in an efficient fashion, the interrelationships of four functional elements have to be taken into account before a decision about an ultimate disposal strategy can be made. As reported by Shah [12], the first function element refers to the material generated at the source. Materials to which no more value is added are referred to and disposed as waste; quantity and nature of different types of waste are dependent on the waste source. The second function element encompassed the handling, separation, and storage at site of waste. In this context, waste has to be subjected toward separation before being placed into suitable storage containers. Paper, cardboard, packaging plastics, glass, ferrous metals, aluminum cans, and organic waste are those components, which typically are separated and stored individually. This step is crucial before moving to the next point. During the collection process, solid waste is picked up and placed into empty containers, which have separate compartments for recyclable materials [13]. Subsequently, the refuse collection staff collects the waste around the disposal centers manually before disposing it at the disposal sites. **Figure 2** illustrates the individual steps involved from waste material generation at its source until the final functional element for ultimate waste disposal.
