The Application of FT-IR Spectroscopy in Waste Management

This synopsis of FT-IR spectroscopic applications in waste management covers relevant issues regarding monitoring, process and quality control. Quality in this context means low reactivity, low gas forming potential and compliance with limit values of materials to be landfilled, appropriate compost ingredients and improvement of the stable carbon pool by humification of compost organic matter. The division into sections was carried out according to specific materials and processes and the related questions to be answered. Waste materials have not posed a problem in the past, as long as they were returned to the natural cycle. The higher degree of utilisation, the long lasting life cycle of goods and their re-use caused minor waste amounts and contributed to the balance of input and output streams. As natural materials were the basis for good production, waste was integrated in the natural cycle. Organic waste materials only escaped degradation if they were preserved under particular conditions. Inorganic residues from ore mining have led to local contamination by heavy metals. In contrast, fragments of ancient pottery or ruins have gained in importance as historical witnesses. The economical and social increase in prosperity and urban development has been paralleled by strongly rising amounts of organic and inorganic waste and the acceleration of turnover rates. These have led primarily to sanitation problems, especially in expanding urban areas. Disposal of these wastes by spreading them over the surrounding countryside or filling dumps were only temporary “solutions”. Natural waste such as foliage falling in autumn can be considered as an intermediate product in a closed circle. Except for natural disasters, turnover rates and the related contents of substances are subjected to regulations. Anthropogenic waste is in most cases the end of a one-way street that causes system imbalances. Therefore new approaches and waste management strategies aim at copying natural cycles. The amount, changes in the chemical composition of our goods, the use of hazardous substances and the careless landfilling of waste in dumps have caused serious environmental problems and demonstrated the need for action. The awareness of this issue emerged when soils and groundwater were contaminated by leachate emissions. Due to the missing separation of hazardous waste, landfill remediation has often implied a complete excavation of the landfilled material. Discussions on climate change, the role of waste management in the global carbon cycle and its contribution to the carbon budget have drawn attention to relevant gaseous emissions from landfills with a global warming potential, especially of methane.