1. Reducing Solid Waste

2. Source Reduction  Any change in the design, manufacture, purchase, or use of materials or products to reduce their amount or toxicity before they become MSW.  In the 1990’s McDonald's replaced styrofoam sandwich clamshells with paper wraps and light-weight recycled boxes  Changed from bleached to unbleached paper carry-out bags  Eliminated 150,000 tons of packaging  Purchased more than $3 billion worth of products made from recycled materials

3. How can you reduce your impact?  Use both sides of paper  Say NO to unnecessary bags  Don’t take unnecessary napkins at a restaurant  Buy products with less packaging (buy bulk)  Use dish towels instead of paper towels  Use rechargeable batteries  Buy items that are re-useable or last longer  Avoid single use items. Ex. Paper plates, plastic cups  Don’t buy things you don’t need

4. Recycle as a last resort  Recycling – reusing materials or recovering valuable materials from waste or scrap.  Making products from recycled materials uses less energy, resources and water.  It still takes energy (from fossil fuels) to recycle!

5. What can you recycle?  Cans – uses 95% less energy than mining ore  Paper – more than 30% of waste businesses send to landfill is paper that could be recycled  Our school uses …  Take your name off Junk mailing lists  Glass

6. The plastic recycling myth  When plastic is recycled the quality of the plastic is reduced  Plastic is recycled into non-recyclable secondary items (carpets, insulation, toys, fiberfil)  The life of the plastic is extended, but it ultimately still ends up in landfill  Recycling plastic does not significantly reduce the consumption of natural resources

7. Open Loop Plastic Recycling

8. Composting  Yard waste can take up 15% of landfill space  All this can be broken down at home and used as a garden fertilizer  Oxygen and moisture help microbes break down waste to produce compost

9. Hazardous waste  Ignitable: easily catches fire  Corrosive: corrodes metals in storage tanks  Reactive: Chemically unstable  Toxic: harmful to human health if inhaled, ingested or in contact with skin  Households produce the largest amount of unregulated hazardous waste  Paints, batteries, lubricants, cleaners, pesticides

10. E-Waste  130 million cell phones are thrown away each year  130 000 computers are thrown away every day in the U.S.  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/ 06/60minutes/main4579229.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/ 06/60minutes/main4579229.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/ 06/60minutes/main4579229.shtml  First aired: Nov. 9 th 2008

11. Hazardous Waste  Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976) requires producers of hazardous waste to keep a record of how their waste is handled and disposed of from “cradle to grave.”  If it causes a problem in the future then the company is legally responsible.  The high cost of disposal has led to illegal dumping…in developing nations despite the Basel Convention designed to prevent such cases.

12. The Love Canal “One of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American History” EPA 1979

13. Hazardous waste management  Bacterial bioremediation  Phytoremediation (plants)  Hazardous waste landfills (stricter standards than on ordinary landfill)  Surface impoundments for liquid waste (shallow ponds lined with plastic and clay) Liquid evaporates, solid is removed and disposed of

14. Hazardous waste management continued:  Deep-well injection: waste deposited beneath the water table into porous rock  BUT: it is expensive, waste may leak from the well shaft into groundwater, wells can corrode

15. The Superfund Act (1980)  AKA: Comprehensive Environmental Response and Liability Act (CRECLA)  Goal: to clean up sites polluted with hazardous waste from past activities using the polluter pays principle  Created a tax on chemical and petroleum companies…this has since expired  Finding the responsible parties has not been easy  Cleanup costs around $25M and takes 12-15 years!!!