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Waste Management

This chapter explores the debate on what should play a greater role in reducing waste—personal choices or government regulation. It also discusses the transformation of New York's Fresh Kills Landfill into a public park.

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Waste Management

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  1. Waste Management 19 CHAPTER

  2. Talk About ItWhich should play a greater role in reducing the waste we generate—personal choices by consumers or government regulation? Transforming New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill • Fresh Kills, on New York’s Staten Island, is the largest landfill in the world. • It closed in 2001, forcing New York City to find other places for its trash, at great expense to taxpayers. • Today the landfill is in the process of becoming a public park.

  3. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste Of all the solid waste produced in the United States, 33.9% is made up of paper.

  4. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste What Is Waste? Did You Know?The average American generates more than 4.5 pounds of trash per day. • Any unwanted material or substance that results from a human activity or process • Municipal solid waste: From homes and businesses • Industrial waste: Resulting from manufacturing, agriculture, and mining • Hazardous waste: Toxic, reactive, flammable, and corrosive • Wastewater: Includes used, discarded water and runoff

  5. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste Methods of Solid Waste Disposal: Sanitary Landfills • Waste buried in the ground or carefully piled into mounds • Designed to prevent groundwater contamination and minimize soil and air pollution Did You Know?Regulations require that landfills be at least 6 m above the water table.

  6. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste Benefits and Costs of Landfills A power company in Hull, Massachusetts installed a large wind turbine on a site that had previously been a landfill.

  7. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste Incineration

  8. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste Benefits and Cost of Incineration Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator The only U.S. facility permitted to burn certain hazardous wastes

  9. Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste In 2007, Americans recycled or composted nearly 1/3 of municipal solid waste, saving energy equivalent to 10 billion gallons of gas.

  10. Waste Reduction Methods Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste • Substitute disposable goods with reusable ones. • Donate unwanted items. • Minimize packaging. • Reduce use of nonbiodegradable plastic. • Design goods to last. • Use financial incentives such as “pay as you throw” garbage disposal and “bottle bills.” Did You Know?States with “bottle bills” (consumers receive a refund per returned bottle or can) have reduced their beverage container litter by 69–84% and total litter by 30–64%.

  11. Waste Recovery: Composting Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste • Conversion of organic waste into mulch or humus by decomposition • Currently 3800 municipal programs in the U.S. • Has many benefits, including soil enrichment Did You Know?About 20% of U.S. waste is made up of organic material that could be composted.

  12. Waste Recovery: Recycling Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste • Collection and reprocessing of waste materials • Recycling rates among U.S. communities vary from 5 to 50%. • Many programs run at a financial loss, but that doesn’t take into account the effects of not recycling.

  13. Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste Common sources of hazardous waste include batteries, cleaning agents, paints, and pesticides.

  14. What Is Hazardous Waste? Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste • Ignitable: Can catch fire • Corrosive: Can damage or destroy metals • Reactive: Chemically unstable; can explode or produce fumes when combined with water • Toxic: Harmful or fatal when inhaled, ingested, or touched

  15. Sources of Hazardous Waste Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste • Industry produces the most hazardous waste, but it is usually highly regulated. • Household hazardous waste is unregulated. Did You Know?The average American home contains about 100 pounds of hazardous waste in different products.

  16. Types of Hazardous Waste Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste Did You Know?U.S. households threw out about 304 million electronic devices in 2005—most were still in working order. • Organic compounds: Can act as mutagens, carcinogens, teratogens, and endocrine disruptors • Heavy metals: Many cause neurological damage over time. • E-waste: Contains heavy metals and toxic chemicals, but mostly treated as conventional solid waste

  17. Hazardous Waste Disposal Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste • Landfills: Specifically designed to keep hazardous waste contained • Surface impoundment: Liquid waste poured into shallow lined pits; water evaporates and solid waste is transported elsewhere • Deep-well injection (see diagram on right): Wastes injected into deep, confined porous rock layers

  18. Radioactive Waste Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste • Waste that gives off harmful radiation • Low-level: Less harmful; produced by hospitals, labs, uranium mines • High-level: More harmful; produced by nuclear power plants • Difficult to dispose of safely due to long half-lives Did You Know?As of March 2010, the Obama administration has ruled out Yucca Mountain for long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste.

  19. Hazardous Waste Regulation Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Sets standards for hazardous waste management by states; requires industry to track hazardous material “cradle to grave” • Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), or “Superfund” Act: Federal program for cleaning up sites polluted by hazardous waste; culprits held liable for damage caused by their pollution Did You Know?As of 2007, 1354 of the 1569 Superfund sites have been cleaned up.

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