1. Chapter 19-1
Solids Wastes

2. Solid Waste Solid waste - any discarded solid material
Garbage, refuse, or sludges
Coffee grounds to cars

3. The Numbers!
Every year, the United States generates more than 10 billion metric tons of solid waste.

4. Solid Waste
The amount of solid waste each American produces each year has more than doubled since the 1960s
One time use!

5. Take my garbage – please!
a barge was loaded with 3,200 tons of garbage and left the town of Islip, New York, in search of a place to unload its waste.
Sailed for more than five months but no one would accept the garbage.

6. Homeless Garbage
The garbage was finally burned in New York, and the 430 tons of ash sent to Islip to be buried.

10. Waste Disposal Getting harder to dispose of the waste we create
Human population continues to grow
Available land decreases.

11. Solid Waste
Today, the average person living in the United States produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste per day.
Over 311 million people in the U.S.

13. Biodegradable
Biodegradable material - material that can be broken down by biological processes.

14. Nonbiodegradable
Nonbiodegradable - material cannot be broken down by biological processes.

15. Biodegradable Plant and animal matter
Products made from natural materials
Newspapers
Paper bags
Cotton fibers
Leather

16. Not Biodegradable
Synthetic compounds are not biodegradable.

17. Nonbiodegradable
Nonbiodegradable:
Polyester
Nylon
Plastics

18. Plastics Made from petroleum or natural gas
Consist mostly of carbon and hydrogen

19. Plastics Combine elements in molecular chains
not found in nature.
Microorganisms - have not developed ways to break down the molecular structures

20. Plastics
Some plastics may accumulate and last for hundreds of years.

21. Municipal Solid Wastes
Municipal solid waste - waste produced by households and businesses
Growing much faster than the amount of mining or agricultural waste

23. Landfills
Landfill - area of land or an excavation where wastes are placed for permanent disposal

24. Landfills
More than 50% of the municipal and manufacturing solid waste in the United States ends up in landfills

25. Landfills
Waste must not come into contact with the soil and groundwater surrounding the landfill.
Cover wastes each day with a layer of soil and plastic

26. Leachate Leachate - liquid that has passed through solid waste
Extracts dissolved materials from waste
Pesticides in the soil.

27. Leachate Problem for landfills
May contain chemicals from paints, pesticides, cleansers, cans, batteries, and appliances

28. Methane and Landfills Methane - forms from organic wastes decomposing
no oxygen.
Can be be pumped out
Can seep through the ground and into basements of nearby homes and cause explosions

31. The Problem
Landfill materials are not decomposing as fast as we can fill landfills.
Even biodegradable materials take several years to decompose

33. Incinerators
the U.S. had 102 operational incinerators that were capable of burning up to 94,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste per day.
Incinerated materials do not disappear
Weight of solid waste is reduced.

35. Incinerators
Can release small amounts of poisonous gases and particles of toxic heavy metals into the air