Solid Waste

Trash Facts  The average person produces about 2 kilograms of trash daily.  Every hour, people throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles.  Every year, people throw away enough white paper a year to build a wall 4 meters high that stretches from coast to coast.

Municipal solid waste: waste generated from residential, commercial and industrial sources

What happens to solid waste?  Landfills  Incineration  Recycling

Landfills  trash is placed in a large hole in the ground that is lined with plastic or an impermeable layer of shale  trash is covered daily with a layer of soil

Leachate collection at Frey Farm Landfill

Problems with Landfills  require a lot of space  hard to find safe places for them  no one wants them in their backyard  landfills fill up quickly  biodegradable materials are unable to decompose

Biodegradable : capable of decomposing through a natural biological process ex. banana peels

Incineration  definition: burning of solid waste

The Good:  burning facilities do not take up a lot of space  do not pose a risk of polluting groundwater  heat produced from burning can be used to generate electricity

The Bad:  Even the best incinerators still release some pollution into the air  some waste still remains (about 10% of original)  much more expensive than landfills

New System at Frey Farm

Solutions to the Trash Problem  Reduce  Reuse  Recycle  Compost

Reduce: create less waste ex. Buy products that contain less packaging

Reuse: find another use for items instead of discarding ex. donate used clothing to Goodwill

Recycling Definition: reclaiming raw materials and turning them into something new

4 Major Categories of Recycling  metal  glass (easiest)  paper  plastic

Recycling of Plastic  plastic containers are labeled with a number or letters to identify the type of resin from which they are made

Examples:  PETE (polyethylene terephtalete) - soft drink bottle, some peanut butter jars  HDPE (high density polyethylene) - milk and water bottles, shampoo and laundry detergent bottles  PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - some water, cleanser and shampoo bottles

Composting: helping natural decomposition processes break down many forms of waste ex. making a compost pile in your backyard for yard or food waste