Chapter 16 Solid Waste Generation and Disposal

1. Chapter 16 Solid Waste Generation and Disposal

3. Raw materials and energy are used to create products • Products are used and reused • Waste: anything that is produced but is not useful or is not consumed and therefore discarded when not needed.

4. In the natural world, detritivores and decomposers recycle wastes from other organisms • Only humans generate wastes that cannot be used by other organisms

5. Municipal Solid Waste Refuse collected from households, small businesses, and institutions such as schools, prisons, municipal buildings, and hospitals.

6. People from the depression, have learned to never throw out anything My grandma used to reuse her calendars every 8 years.

7. Three Things affect amount of waste an American Produces. • How much money do you make? More money = more waste (usually, buy new rather than fix old. • Geographic Location (Think about purchasing before ebay and Amazon.com • Time of year. How much trash do you have after Christmas?

8. Waste StreamHow long does it take before it is in a landfill? Which does not belong?

9. Composition by weight before recycling in 2008 Sources by weight 1/3 is from packaging our items.

10. MSWHousehold v Industry 60% Residential 40% Commercial

11. Composition of Municipal Solid Waste • 31% - paper • 33% - organic materials (yard waste, food scraps, wood) • 12% - plastic • 18% - durable goods (appliances, tires)

12. Planned obsolescence Labor saving devices, newer technology Used and then thrown away.

13. E-Waste Electronic waste (E-waste): For example, TVs, computers, and cell phones that contain toxic metals

14. E-Waste • Little E-waste is recycled (<20% of discarded computers and TVs in USA in 2007). • E-waste that is recycled is often exported to other countries. • Workers in those countries are exposed to serious health hazards.

17. Developing countries are producing more waste because they still have growing populations and some of the mass produced goods created in developed countries is accessible.

18. The three R’s and composting divert materials from the waste stream.

19. ReduceReuseRecycle

20. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Reduce through: • Waste minimization (buy in bulk) • Waste prevention • Source reduction(e.g., print on both sides of a page) Lunchables produces a lot of waste.

21. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Reuse: • Reusing something more than once • Examples include reusing a disposable cup and refillable beverage bottles Homemade lunchable

22. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Recycle: • Materials are collected and converted into raw materials used to produce new objects. The best way to reduce the waste stream (going into landfills) is to reduce input by waste prevention. Can you use it over again? Can you use something you already have? Do you really have to throw it out or can you save it just in case? Don’t become a hoarder though. Problem with Recycling: Sometimes there is not a market for the recycled products, such as glass.

24. Polar Fleece Jacket!

26. Composting Compost: organic material that has decomposed under controlled conditions

28. Currently, most solid waste is buried in landfills or incinerated.

29. Landfills • Landfills have replaced open dumps in the developed world. • Open dumps are still common in less-developed nations.

30. Open Landfills can:Attract pests and diseasesBe harmful to children working in landfillsPollute water and chemical hazards

31. Landfills • Sanitary landfills: engineered ground facilities that hold MSW with minimal contamination of the environment • Leachate: water that becomes contaminated by traveling through solid waste and picking up various chemical compounds

32. Leachate:

33. Many landfills are located near poor neighborhoods with little political power.

37. A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. what volume infiltrates landfill annually? A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. the leachate collection is 80% effective at collecting cadmium and other toxins. What volume of leachate that is treated annually?

38. A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. what volume infiltrates landfill annually? .75m rain/year, .37m soaks in. .37m X 10,000m 2 = 3,750 m3 A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. the leachate collection is 80% effective at collecting cadmium and other toxins. What volume of leachate that is treated annually? .75m rain/year, .37m soaks in. .37m X 10,000m 2 = 3,750 m3 3,750 m3x .80 = 3000m3 treated leachate.

39. Incineration: process of burning waste materials to reduce volume and mass, sometimes also generating electricity and heat Incineration

40. Incineration • Requires higher tipping fees than landfills • Raises NIMBY issues, making siting difficult (not in my back yard). • May release air pollutants • Create concentrated ash that is toxic and must be landfilled. Safe ash can be made into roads, toxic must be treated before going to landfill.

41. Hazardous waste requires special means of disposal.

42. Hazardous Waste Hazardous waste: liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge waste harmful to humans or ecosystems The United States: • has >20,000 hazardous waste generators • annually produces 40 million U.S. tons of hazardous waste

43. Hazardous Waste • More expensive to handle than MSW • Collection sites for hazardous waste must be staffed with specially trained personnel • Often materials of unknown composition must be processed

44. Hazardous Waste • Hazardous waste must be treated before disposal. • By EPA definition, treatment means making the waste less environmentally harmful. • No good solution to the hazardous waste problem exists except to create less of it in the first place.

45. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(RCRA): enacted to reduce or eliminate hazardous waste • Provides “cradle-to-grave” tracking • RCRA ensures proper disposal of hazardous waste

46. Laws • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA): also know as “Superfund” • Taxes chemical and petroleum industries • Tax revenue used to clean up abandoned and non-operating hazardous waste sites where a responsible party cannot be found

47. 1200 Superfund Sites Idaho has 7 sites an 3 proposed 3 cleaned up Red current Yellow proposed Green cleaned up

48. Blackbird Mine Groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment contamination bycopper, cobalt andarsenic. Acid rock drainage from mine tunnels and waste has decreased water quality in local creeks, affectingchinook salmon and other threatened and endangered species.[10][11] Eastern Michaud Flats Contamination Groundwater and surface water contamination by arsenIc and phosphorus from phosphorus ore processing plants. Off-site soil contamination from airborne release offluoride, radium-226 and cadmium; on-site soil contamination bycadmium,chromium, copper,lead, nickel, silver,vanadium, zinc, radium-226 and fluoride.[14][15] Coeur d'Alene River basin contains millions of tons of mine tailings, waste rock and ore concentrates. Soil, sediments, groundwater and surface water are contaminated with heavy metals including cadmium,lead and zinc from former mining and smelting operations.[12][13] IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY Groundwater contamination byhexavalent chromium, iodine-129, strontium-90,technetium-99,tritium, carbon tetrachloride andTCE; soil contamination byheavy metalsincluding lead andmercury, by VOCs, and byradionuclides, including cesium-137, strontium-90, andplutonium.[16][1

49. Laws • CERCLA (Superfund) requires a direct federal government response to the release of any substances that may pose a threat to human health or the environment.

50. Contaminated industrial or commercial sites that may require cleanup before they can be redeveloped or expanded • Old factories, industrial areas and waterfronts, dry cleaners, gas stations, landfills, and rail yards are some examples.