1. Waste Management 19
CHAPTER
Placeholder opening page, but maybe we can duplicate the look of the SE chapter opener page by using the same fonts and colors (and maybe that Ch 14 icon?)

2. 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.
Talk About It Which should play a greater role in reducing the waste we generate—personal choices by consumers or government regulation?

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
It pollutes water, air, and soil
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. Municipal Solid Waste
The average American generates 1643 lbs of waste per year.
A large portion of waste comes from:
packaging (bubble wrap, Styrofoam, packing peanuts)
nondurable goods or goods we use for a short period of time such as pens, disposable cameras, clothing, and furniture
Plastic products

6. Industrial Wastes Includes neither hazardous nor municipal solid waste
Includes wastes from factories, farms, mines, and refineries, material from construction sites, medical wastes such as gloves, and needles
Each year the U.S. industrial facilities generates 7.6 billion tons of waste, 97% is wastewater the rest is solid
Mostly collected by private companies

7. Methods of Solid Waste Disposal
Current solid waste disposal methods are based on ancient practices of dumping, burying, or burning waste
In many nations people still burn garbage
In response to health and environmental hazards countries now bury wastes in landfills or incinerate it.

8. Methods of Solid Waste Disposal: Sanitary Landfills
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.

9. Sanitary landfills
Waste partially decomposed by bacteria and compressed under its own weight to take up less space
Waste is layered with soil to speed decomposition, decrease odor, and decrease infestation by pests
To much rainwater can cause some contaminants to escape so U.S. regulations require landfills to be located away from wetlands and earthquake prone faults, and be 6 meters above the water table

10. Sanitary landfills
Must contain a system of pipes, collection ponds and treatment facilities to collect and treat leachate
Leachate is the liquid that results when substances from the trash dissolve in water as rainwater percoaltes downward.
Landfill managers are required to maintain leachate collections for 30 years after the landfill is closed and groundwater must be monitored regularly

11. Closing a landfill
Must be capped with an engineered cover that must be maintained.
Cap consists of a hydraulic barrier of plastic that prevents water from going in, a gravel layer that drains water, and a soil barrier 24 inches thick that stores water, a top soil barrier 6 inches thick to encourage plant growth and prevent erosion
Today thousands of landfills lie abandoned because trash has be consolidated into larger landfills
In 1988 the U.S. had 8000 landfills, but today it has fewer than 1700.
Some are converted to recreational areas

12. Benefits and Costs of Landfills
Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste
Benefits and Costs of Landfills
Benefits
Costs
Decomposition yields methane, which can be used like natural gas.
Leachate may eventually escape and contaminate the groundwater.
When full, landfills are capped. The land can be used for recreation.
Trash decomposes very slowly.
Few communities are willing to host landfills (NIMBY-not in my backyard).
A power company in Hull, Massachusetts installed a large wind turbine on a site that had previously been a landfill.

13. Incineration
Controlled process in which mixed garbage is burned at very high temperatures
Pollution control technology removes most but not all the pollutants from emissions
Waste gets sorted and metals are removed.
Incineration reduces weight by up to 75% and volume by 90%
Scrubbers chemically treat the gases produced in combustion to remove hazardous compounds and neutralize acidic gases, such as sulfur dioxide and hydrochloric acid, turning them into water and salt.
Particulate matter is removed in a system of huge filters called a baghouse

14. Benefits and Cost of Incineration
Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste
Benefits and Cost of Incineration
Benefits
Costs
Incinerating waste reduces its weight by up to 75% and volume by up to 90%.
Toxic ash must be disposed of.
Heat from burning trash can be used to generate electricity (WTE waste-to-energy).
Dioxins, heavy metals, and PCBs can be created and released by burning waste.
Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator The only U.S. facility permitted to burn certain hazardous wastes

15. Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste
Incineration

16. 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.

17. Waste degrades the environment
Water quality, soil quality, air quality degradation can affect human health and the environment.
Waste is a measure of inefficiency
Waste is ugly!

18. Waste Reduction Methods
Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste
Waste Reduction Methods
Reduce, reuse, recycle
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%.

19. Waste Reduction Other ideas: Bring your own coffee cups
Reusable cloth bags at the grocery store
Have a yard sale
Buy in bulk
Buy goods packaged with recycled material

20. Waste Recovery: Composting and Recycling
In 2007 we recovered almost 1/3 of our municipal solid waste through recycling or composting and prevented the release of 190 million metric tons of CO2 that 35 million cars release each year!

21. Waste Recovery: Composting
Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste
Waste Recovery: Composting
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.

22. Waste Recovery: Composting
Can put materials in compost piles, underground pits, or special containers
As wastes are added heat from microbial action build up the interior, and decomposition proceeds
Ex: (anything organic) banana peels, coffee grounds, grass clippings, autumn leaves

23. Waste Recovery: Recycling
Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste
Waste Recovery: Recycling
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.

24. Step 1:Many communities have curbside pick up or locations to drop off recyclables
Step 2: recyclables go to a material recovery facility (MRF) where they are collected, sorted, and prepared for processing
These places use magnetic pulleys, optical sensors, water currents and air classifiers to separate items by weight and size. After that they are cleaned and shredded
Step 3:Industry uses post-consumer waste to make new goods

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

26. What Is Hazardous Waste?
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
What Is Hazardous Waste?
Ignitable: Can catch fire (natural gas, gasoline, waste oils from auto shops and restaurants, oil based pants and solvents, alcohol)
Corrosive: Can damage or destroy metals (strong acids or bases)

27. What Is Hazardous Waste?
Reactive: Chemically unstable; can explode or produce fumes when combined with water (ammunition or fireworks, lithium-sulfur batteries, wastes containing cyanides or sulfides, chlorine bleach and ammonia)
Toxic: Harmful or fatal when inhaled, ingested, or touched

28. Sources of Hazardous Waste
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
Sources of 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.

29. Types of Hazardous Waste
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
Types of Hazardous Waste
Organic compounds: Can act as mutagens, carcinogens, teratogens, and endocrine disruptors
Heavy metals: Many cause neurological damage over time. (lead, Chromium, Mercury, arsenic, copper, cadmium, tin)used in industry for wiring, electronics, metal plating, metal fabrication, pigments, and dyes.
Did You Know? U.S. households threw out about 304 million electronic devices in 2005—most were still in working order.

30. Heavy metals enter the environment when paints, electronic devices, and other materials are disposed of improperly
E-waste: Contains heavy metals and toxic chemicals, but mostly treated as conventional solid waste
Computers, printers, VCR’s, fax machines, cell phones, MP3 players, gadgets.

31. Hazardous Waste Disposal
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
Hazardous Waste Disposal
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

32. Radioactive Waste Waste that gives off harmful radiation
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
Radioactive 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.

33. Hazardous Waste Regulation
Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste
Hazardous Waste Regulation
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.

34. The EPA is also responsible for cleaning up Brownfield's or land whose reuse or development are complicated by the presence of hazardous materials.
Two most publicized superfund events:
Love Canal, Times Beach

35. Superfund Process 1. Site is identified
2. EPA evaluated how close the site is to human habitation, whether wastes are confined or spread, and whether the site threatens drinking water supplies
3. Sites are listed by priority according to the risk of human health
4. cleanups proceed according to funds
5. EPA holds public hearings to inform residents and receive feedback.

36. Superfund
The objective was to charge the polluting parties for cleanup but many parties cannot be found or held liable.
Clean-ups are covered by taxpayer funds.
As of 2007, 1354 of the 1569 sites on the priority list have been cleaned up.
some chemicals cannot effectively be cleaned up so they are excavated and put into industrial strength containers or shipped to a hazardous waste facility