Lead Pipe Disposal

Overview Background and Project Requirements Top 5 Designs Detailed Final Design Social and Environmental Factors Testing of Design and Economics Conclusion

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS: The Problem: City of Toronto's "Lead in Drinking Water Mitigation Strategy" generating water pipes every year. An initiative to mitigate the ill health effects of lead on human beings, especially young children. There exists a "gap in the universe" of the ideal disposal method for these pipes.

Functions: What the design will do: Dispose lead pipes Transport Modify Functional Decomposition Primary Function

Objectives Goals the design should meet: Should be Safe Should limit the amount of lead exposure to all people involved. Should be Environmentally sustainable Should maintain safe level of lead emission into the environment. Should be Cost effective Compare different costs of transportation and disposal mean.

Stakeholders City of Toronto Council Interested in citizens' health and well being. The Public Interested in safety of young children. Workers Interested in their own safety. Lead manufacturing/recycling factories Interested in maximizing their profits.

Based on our objectives and after group voting, we produced ten solutions and then reduced that to our top five

Recycling lead into lead-acid batteries Large industry already in place Lead key to producing electrodes Can monetize operation Costs associated mostly with transport

Put pipes in an underground container Safe for environment and public Expenses include cost of land, storage containers, and transport

Reusing the pipes as waste transport pipes Cheap Less impact on the environment No precedent, deemed unfeasible

Refining the lead for use in laboratories or industry Lead compounds used in many electronic devices and some steel products Smaller industry than lead-acid car battery

Recycling lead to produce radiation shielding products Requires high quality lead, may discount many pipes Smaller industry than lead- acid car battery

Proposed Design Recycling Lead Pipes Into Lead-Acid Batteries Already being done, easy to implement Meets functions, objectives, constraints

Recycling Most successfully recycled product worldwide, with a recycling rate of 96% About 90% of lead is purchased by automobile industry. Market for lead-acid batteries expected to reach $35.7 billion by 2013

Detailed diagram of a lead-acid battery. Over 70% of the battery is lead by weight.

Transportation Lead pipes will be transported using semi-trucks Many lead recycling and smelting plants neat Toronto Lead pipes must be properly secured and truck must be covered with tarp

Life Cycle and Environmental Impact During transportation: Low fuel efficiency of semi-trucks

Lead exposed to the environment in the forms of: solid lead fumes dust

Lead Participation into Environmental Cycles Damage on animals, plants and soil o Lead is hard to decompose o Bioaccumulation o Hindering the growth of plants

Human factors At physical level - Eliminate physical contact Reduce the number of workers Using machines with close cabs o Forklifts with close cabs in warehouse o Semi-trucks with close cabs during transportation

Human factors At psychological level: Implementing the lead exposure control o Education o Lead-blood testing o Air-lead level monitoring o Ventilation o Providing the personal protective equipment

Human factors At team level: Work on the shift periods At political level: Mitigate the public concern of transporting hazardous material o Proper transportation under the Highway Traffic Act.

Social impact Air pollution and lead dust emission from lead recycling could lead to o Absence in work causing lower income and poor living standard o Increase medical issues and expenses Lower lead ore demand o More lead ore are conserved for future generations

Testing Several testing methods will be applied to achieve the main objectives. Our main design objectives: Ensure the safety of workers Minimize the damage to the service environment Minimize the cost of the design

Ensure the safety of workers Blood test Zinc test Follow OSHA rules to keep track of lead in the workplace

Minimize the damage to the environment The sample of water and soil from service environment will be collected, sent to laboratory to analyze lead level, and compared to the standards (Water: 1 ppb)

Minimize the cost of the design To control the cost of design, the team will conduct negotiations with the certain contractors to minimize the cost.

Economic Concerns Cost of transportation: pieces of pipes per year Unit weight of the lead pipes is around 8 lbs per feet Unit length of the lead pipes is 20 feet/piece The total weight of the pipes is around 240, 000 lbs to 320, 000 lbs.

Cost of transportation One allowed load of a trailer is around 40, 000 kg load. Therefore, we need 3 or 4 trailers to transport the pipes to our destination. The average price for transportation is 1800 Canadian dollars for one trailer per trip. The total cost for transportation is from 5,400 dollars to 7,200 dollars

Cost of safety clothing To protect worker from contacting lead directly, the design requires: Glove o $27/pair Respirator o $100/each The total expense for clothing is the number of workers times of the total price of clothing.

Potential Income Based on Mayco (a USA company) price quote, $0.25/lbs The total income by selling these pipes is around 60,000 to 80,000 Canadian dollars.

Summary Design meets constraints, objectives and considers stakeholders interests Existing industry make design ideal Design minimizes lead being released into the environment Reduces amount of lead being mined Potential income

Conclusion Design has ability to meet stated constraints, while minimizing negative impact on the public and the environment Proposed design will provide the lead disposal industry with a safe and cost effective solution.

Recommendation Group recommends that the lead pipes be transported to New Alta recycling facility where they will be recycled into lead acid car batteries.