Solid waste has been produced since the beginning of civilization.
During the earliest periods, solid wastes were conveniently
and unobtrusively disposed of in large open land spaces, as the
density of the population was low. However, today, one of the consequences
of global urbanization is an increased amount of solid
waste. About 1.3 109 t of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated
globally in 1990 (Beede and Bloom, 1995), and, at present,
the annual generation is approximately 1.6 109 t. The urban population
in Asia generates around 760 103 t of MSW per day, and
this is expected to increase to 1.8 106 t by 2025 (Pokhrel and
Viraraghavan, 2005).