ENSCI99 - Chapter 14: Solid & Hazardous Waste

Which of the following are benefits of using compost? (Mark all that apply.)

Improved crop yields Soil enrichment Reduced soil erosion

The recycling rates ______ in areas that have deposits on beverage containers.

increase dramatically

The amount of solid waste created per person per day has remained steady over the past 20 years in the United States, but the total amount of solid waste created each year has ______ over the same time frame.

increased

Some of the ways to shrink the waste stream include recycling, reusing, and _______ the wastes we produce. (Hint: think of the three Rs.)

reducing

Historically, landfills were the cheap and easy way to deal with solid waste. Because of rising land prices and increasing costs of ________ to move the waste, this is no longer the case.

transportation

The ________ stream describes the steady flow of varied refuse and garbage that humans produce.

waste

Rank the following substances according to how much they contribute to municipal solid waste in the United States, with the largest on the top.

1. Paper 2. Food 3. Plastics 4. Metals 5. Wood

What is the recycling rates of single-use water bottles?

20%

Approximately how much aluminum is recycled in the United States?

50%

Plants, bacteria, and fungi can be employed to treat hazardous waste in a process called ________

Bioremediation

What is the trend of recycling in the United States over the past 20 years?

Both the percent of materials recycled and the overall tonnage have increased.

Which of the following are examples of item reuse? (Mark all that apply.)

Bringing a mug to work for daily coffee Salvaging bricks from an old house Purchasing used items at a thrift store

______ is the biological degradation or breakdown of organic matter under aerobic (oxygen-rich) conditions.

Composting

________ is a major obstacle in plastics recycling, because a single PVC bottle mixed in with PET bottles can ruin the whole batch.

Contamination or Mixing

Where is e-waste shipped for recycling?

Countries with weak environmental regulations

What "ingredients" are helpful in creating compost from your own organic waste? (Mark all that apply.)

Fallen leaves Wood chips Lawn clippings Vegetable waste

True or false: International shipments of hazardous waste no longer occur.

False

Where does most e-waste go for (informal) recycling? (Choose all that apply.)

Ghana India

The ______ was discovered in 1997 by a sailor and is the best-known plastic debris field in the ocean.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The country of _______ is currently the best large-scale recycler; even large cities there have 10 categories of recyclables including used clothing.

Japan

From the list of waste disposal methods, choose the one by which most municipal waste in the United States is disposed?

Landfilling

What is the status of international shipments of hazardous waste?

Most stopped 30 years ago, but it still occurs.

_________ solid waste is a combination of the household and commercial refuse that amounts to more than 250 million metric tons per year in the United States.

Municipal

Why is the cost of waste disposal on the rise? (Mark all that apply.)

New landfills have strict regulations to protect public health, so the construction costs are higher. Cities must truck their garbage hundreds of miles to a disposal site.

Match the waste disposal method to its example or description.

Ocean dumping - Receives about 25,000 metric tons of packaging per year Incinerating - Reduces volume of waste and creates energy and air pollution Open dumping - The most prevalent form of waste disposal in developing countries Waste exporting - Shipping waste to less-developed countries

What is the largest component of municipal solid waste in the United States?

Paper

______ is when a type of discarded material is reprocessed into a new product.

Recycling

Which of the following is the cheapest way to manage waste?

Reducing waste

Which of the following is the most energy efficient?

Reusing

The _________ is a revolving pool of funds that was designed to immediately respond to emergency situations and remediate abandoned or inactive polluted sites.

Superfund

Which of the following are examples of recycling?

Taking old tires and shredding them to make rubberized playground surfacing Taking old aluminum cans, melting them, and recasting them into new cans

Why did New York City reinstate recycling programs in the early 2000s?

They realized it was cheaper to recycle materials than to dispose of them in other ways.

True or false: Hazardous wastes can be used as raw materials.

True

True or false: Most hazardous waste is managed properly, i.e. it doesn't become a problem to the public.

True

True or false: The waste stream contains many valuable resources.

True

Since composting is an aerobic process, what do you need to do to create compost from your own organic waste?

Turn it over or stir it every week or so.

Approximately half of the solid waste produced in the United States is ___________waste, which is generally recycled into the ___________ on the farms where it is produced.

agriculture;soil

What lightweight metal is the easiest and most valuable to recycle, as the cost of mining and producing it from its raw state is very energy-intensive and expensive?

aluminum

The United States produces about 11 ______ tons of solid waste each year.

billion

The use of organisms such as plants or bacteria to break down or detoxify hazardous wastes is called _________.

bioremediation

Of the many benefits linked to __________ development, urban revitalization has positive social and economic impacts.

brownfield

Abandoned or underutilized polluted properties are called ______.

brownfields

Many municipalities ________ their solid waste, which creates large amounts of heat that power steam turbines to generate electricity.

burn

The biggest source(s) of toxic and hazardous waste in the United States are _____.

chemical and petroleum industries

The benefits of producting and using ________ include better water retention, less erosion, and better crop yields, as well as saving landfill space.

compost

The biological degradation or breakdown of organic matter under aerobic conditions is called _________

composting

One of the issues with electronic waste is that much of the ______ is carried out in the developing world where workers have little or no health protection.

disposal and recycling

The Superfund was designed to provide money for immediate response to ________ events that pose imminent hazards without having the lengthy court processes that would delay cleanup.

emergency

The recycling of plastics and metals saves a lot of _______, which decreases our dependence on foreign oil supplies.

energy

Hazardous waste is any discarded material that contains substances known to be ______. (Choose all that apply.)

fatal to humans or lab animals in low doses corrosive toxic, carcinogenic, or mutagenic to humans or other life-forms

Refuse-derived ______ incinerators have the majority of recyclable and nonburnable refuse removed before burning.

fuel

The majority of hazardous waste is ______.

handled properly

Any discarded material that is explosive, or contains explosive substances, is considered to be a(n) _________ waste.

hazardous

Ash from incinerators has high levels of dioxins, furans, and other ________ materials, which is a point of concern for the population surrounding the incinerator.

hazardous

Forty million metric tons of toxic and _______ wastes are released in the U.S. every year. The biggest culprits are the chemical and petroleum industries.

hazardous

Debates against incinerator cost-effectiveness include _________, higher fees charges to garbage haulers, and the concentration of toxic materials that results.

high initial construction costs

Landfilling costs are dramatically reduced when waste is ________, reducing waste volume by 80 to 90 percent.

incinerated

Landfilling costs are dramatically reduced when waste is _________ , reducing waste volume by 80 to 90 percent.

incinerated

The amount of e-waste is ______ rapidly every year, and therefore is adding to the amount of hazardous materials exposed to the environment.

increasing

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch ______. (Mark all that apply.)

is driven by a vast circulating ocean current known as a gyre is composed mostly of materials disposed improperly or accidentally on land has captured 100 million tons of plastic debris

Recycling reduces the stress on __________ for disposal by removing that material from the waste stream.

landfills

Buying products with ______ is one of the best ways to reduce the volume of trash produced.

less packaging

Everything smaller than sofas and refrigerators are dumped into a giant furnace and burned in a ________ burn furnace.

mass

The combination of household and commercial refuse is termed ______.

municipal waste

Issues with wildlife, such as seabirds and turtles, eating plastic and other trash are the result of littering and _______ dumping.

ocean

__________ dumps are inexpensive but have many problems such as smell, fires, vermin, and people scavenging in this hazardous area.

open

____________ dumps are inexpensive but have many problems such as smell, fires, vermin, and people scavenging in this hazardous area.

open

Some of the actions you can take to reduce waste include buying foods or products with less ________ , or using your own containers.

packaging

The recycling of ________ means less trees are cut down.

paper

Ocean dumping results in widespread issues with sea life, such as seals being drowned in discarded nets and seabirds starving because their stomachs are filled with ________.

plastic

Brownfield sites are areas that have been, or have been suspected of being, __________ and therefore are abandoned or underutilized.

polluted

Hazardous waste is dangerous and expensive to deal with; therefore, the best solution is to not _________ it (in the first place).

produce

It takes less energy to ______ than to make it new from raw materials. (Choose all that apply.)

produce aluminum from scrap make steel from scrap recycle plastic

Recycling reduces the need for ______ to make a certain product, thereby reducing pressures on the areas where those materials are mined.

raw materials

A successful way to eliminate hazardous waste is to ________ the waste and use it in another industry. This way the producer of the waste does not have to pay for disposal and the user gains raw material for little cost.

recycle

Instead of building a large incinerator, the city of Philadelphia is investing in waste collection facilities that will _________ about 600 tons every day.

recycle

Newspapers processed into insulation and steel cans turned into new construction materials are both examples of _____.

recycling

One of the largest obstacles for the recovery rate of plastics is that many beverage bottles are designed to be used "on-the-go" and many do not make it to a _______ bin.

recycling

The reprocessing of discarded materials into new, useful products is

recycling

Among the "three Rs," ________ waste is the cheapest option for waste management because it saves the most energy, materials, and money.

reducing

Some of the strategies that can shrink the waste stream include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

reducing recycling reusing

The best way to reduce hazardous waste is by ________.

reducing production

Some of the benefits of using brownfield sites include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

reducing the destruction of open green space for development (sprawl) helping to rebuild urban areas

Although recycling glass bottles is more energy efficient than using virgin material, _________ is even more efficient because no energy is needed to melt down and reform the bottles.

reusing

Salvaging construction materials from old buildings and then including them in new construction is an example of ______ materials.

reusing

A ________ landfill compacts and covers solid waste with dirt in order to decrease odors and discourage vermin populations.

sanitary

A sanitary landfill is used for ______ waste.

solid

Some of the issues with open dumps include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

the amount of waste oil poured into them smell the spread of waste and pollution by wind and rain