The Physics of Waste Management
Waste management is one of the foremost development problems plaguing low and
middle income countries around the world. Physics holds the answers to solutions of
many of the worlds problems, and this is no exception. Examining a community of
landll scavengers in the Thai village of Kumbon sheds light of the ways in which
physics can alleviate the health problems associated with poor waste disposal for scav-
enging communities worldwide. Here, the specic technologies explored are waste in-
cineration and associated emissions monitoring and treatment, waste-to-energy plants,
and methods of sorting single-stream recycling. All of these technologies could make
life in struggling landll communities safer.