Persistant vs. Non persistant

Solid Wastes The best way to dispose of waste is recycling, but most waste ends up being thrown away into landfills or burned.

Sanitary Landfill p249

Secure Landfill p250 Secure landfills use a clay liner like other landfills but is overlaid with a layer of gravel, a grid of perforated drain pipes to collect any seepage and a final thick plastic liner backed to soft padding. Sand cushions the plastic liner from the drums of waste which are stacked into the landfill. Thick layers and walls of soils separate the drums if seepage occurs. When the landfill is full it is capped with clay, plastic and soil. Well are drilled outside the site to monitor any possible leakage. Swan hills treatment center

What happens to what we can’t recycle? Landfills are designed to decrease the amount of contaminated ground and water as possible. Garbage is spread out and mixed with dirt to decrease the amount that would blow around or become appealing to scavengers. Some garbage dumps have a plastic liner to prevent garbage leachate from entering ground water. Leachate: liquid that results as waste decomposes filters down through the garbage. It is collected and sent to water treatment centers.

Batteries Halogen light bulbs LED’s with mercury?

What does biodegradable mean? Able to be broken down by bacteria or fungi to produce carbon dioxide or water Table 3.6 p242 4 R’s of recycling – reduce, reuse, recycle, recover

Transport of Pollutants The direction and distance a chemical will travel is determined by pollutants, properties, wind speed, the direction of prevailing winds, precipitation in the air. Often chemicals will travel across borders harming other countries. International agreements are set in place to eliminate other countries.

Wetlands: the Natural water filter Wetlands—Nature’s Water Filters Wetlands are an important feature on Canada’s many landscapes. As part of Canada’s vast water systems, wetlands play the role of nature’s water filter. They have the amazing ability to remove harmful impurities from the water we drink and use every day—long before it reaches the pipes that carry it to our homes. Wetlands exist as part of a watershed. Watersheds are landscape-level systems through which water flows and drains. Lakes, rivers and wetlands—as well as the land that separates them—are all part of these systems. These systems are very large and complex. As a result, there are lots of ways that water can become polluted from human activity along the way. Wetlands, and the plants, microbes and wildlife that inhabit them, are the filters in this process. One way that wetlands clean water is to clean out excess nutrients. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen can enter the water system from agriculture and industrial development and can seriously pollute water and harm the life that depends on it.

Waste water The dissolved and undissolved materials from the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room is called sewage. It moves through the pipes to a sewage treatment plant in cities or a septic tank in rural communities. A septic tank is an underground tank that contains bacteria essential for sewage breakdown before organic material is released into the soil. A sewage treatment plant treats water and returns it to rivers and streams. (Back of Water foldout)

Sewage Treatment Primary Treatment: Filters, precipitate heavy metals, biological breakdown of organic matter Secondary Treatment: Addition of chlorine to kill any dangerous pathogens Tertiary Treatment: Exposure to UV radiation to further kill any dangerous pathogens Testing of effluent before it is returned to the river measures BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) and TSS (Total Suspended Solids)

Septic Tank and Settling Ponds

N.I.M.B.Y. NOT IN MY BACKYARD Human beings produced 1000 billion kg of solid waste every year and it must be removed and stored. Dilution is the solution to pollution! Out of sight…out of mind….

How are oxides removed before they get into the air? Scrubbers Plants Carbon sinks Catalytic Converters

Kyoto Kyoto Protocol – to reduce GHG emission Click on the picture

Monitoring Air Quality Air quality can be determined by Measure levels of pollutants in the air Estimate the amount of emissions from pollution sources (Read: Bee Probes page 224) Beijing air quality…