Q.Why is segregating solid waste at source into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories considered an important first step in solid waste management, and what typically happens to each category afterwards?

Segregating solid waste at source into biodegradable and non-biodegradable streams is an important first step because the two streams have to be handled in completely different ways afterward, and mixing them makes both processes far less efficient. Biodegradable waste -- food scraps, garden waste, paper -- can be composted, broken down by micro-organisms into a nutrient-rich soil conditioner, or processed anaerobically on a larger scale to recover biogas as a fuel. Non-biodegradable waste -- plastics, glass, metal -- cannot be composted at all; instead, a useful fraction of it can be recovered and recycled into new material, while whatever genuinely cannot be reused typically ends up in a sanitary landfill or is burnt in a controlled incinerator as a last resort. If the two streams are mixed together at source, food waste contaminates and fouls otherwise-recyclab …

Explain what happens to each stream separately after segregation, then explicitly state why mixing …

Assuming all non-biodegradable waste must go to landfill -- a significant fraction (glass, metal, many plastics) is instead recovered for recycling; landfill/i …