ENV 122 CH21

According to Canada's National Packaging Protocol, what is the preferred order of packaging options listed below? (Put the most environmentally-friendly option at the top.)

1 No packaging 2 minimal packaging 3 reusable packaging 4 recyclable packaging

Rank the producers of hazardous waste in the U.S.; place the sector that produces the most at the top.

1 chemical and petroleum industries 2 metal processing an mining 3 all other industries

Determine relatively how much of municipal solid waste is landfilled, recycled, and incinerated by ranking them, with the highest amount on top.

1 landfilled 2 recycled 3 incinerated

Match the way municipal waste is handled to the correct number. Sent to landfills - Recycled - Incinerated -

54% 33% 13%

What is the trend of recycling in the United States over the past 50 years?

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

processing can detoxify hazardous materials so they are no longer toxic, such as removing chlorine from PCBs.

Chemical

What sector produces the most hazardous waste in the U.S?

Chemical and petroleum industries

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

Composting

Energy, water, and raw materials are often sold to companies below their cost to the government granting the rights or access in order to stimulate economic growth. What effect does this have on recycling?

It discourages recycling since it makes raw materials seem cheaper or much cheaper than recycling.

Why would setting the prices of natural resources at their true cost increase recycling rates?

It would make the recycling of materials a more economically attractive choice compared to the extraction of raw resources.

__________________waste is a combination of household and commercial refuse that amounts to approximately 250 million metric tons per year in the United States.

Municipal

What two types of waste in marine settings are relatively new and of growing concern because we aren't exactly sure what the health and ecological effects of them will be?

Nanoparticles Microplastics

_________________dumps are inexpensive but have many problems such as smell, vermin, and poor people scavenging in this hazardous area.

Open

______ treatments are one of the ways in which hazardous wastes can be disposed of. These treatments isolate or tie up substances in glass or concrete but still require storage.

Physical

Which of the following correctly describes the cost of recycling compared to landfill disposal?

Recycling is cheaper.

Match the federal legislation with its regulatory function. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act - Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act - Toxic Release Inventory -

Requires testing and monitoring of hazardous substances Rapid containment, cleanup, and remediation of abandoned waste sites; also known as Superfund Requires industry to disclose the toxins they produce

Generally speaking, why can some plants often effectively remove toxins from soil?

Some plants absorb toxins in order to make themselves less attractive to insects and other animals that attack them.

What are ways in which hazardous waste is dealt with in an attempt to protect the public?

Stored Recycled Converted to nonhazardous forms

The ___________ is a revolving pool of funds that was designed for immediate use in response to emergency situations for the remediation of abandoned or inactive polluted sites.

Superfund

What is a biogas?

The gas produced by fermenting organic waste in air-tight, liquid-filled containers

True or false: Some hazardous waste can be converted to nonhazardous forms.

True

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

True because Much of the waste in the waste stream could be used by others if they were not mixed with garbage and other nonusable wastes.

What is bioremediation?

Using living organisms to break down hazardous materials

Regarding waste, what is energy recovery?

Using waste as an energy source to produce electricity

What is the main concern with the microplastics and nanoparticles that are building up in marine ecosystems?

We aren't sure what the ecological or health effects are.

Recycling waste is cheaper than landfilling, ______.

and sales of the recycled materials often brings a profit

Some of the issues with open dumps include ______.

bad aesthetics the spread of waste and pollution by wind and rain

Brownfields are industrial sites that have ______.

been abandoned because they are polluted

Methane is a type of ______ produced by fermenting organic waste in airtight, liquid-filled containers.

biogas fuel

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

bioremediation

Abandoned or underutilized polluted properties are called ______.

brownfields

Physical treatments tie up hazardous wastes into substances such as ______ so that they cannot enter the environment.

cement ceramics glass

Neutralization and oxidation are two ______ means of processing hazardous wastes.

chemical

The biological degradation or breakdown of organic matter, such as lawn clippings and leaves, under aerobic conditions is called _________ .

composting

Hazardous waste is any discarded material that contains substances known to be ______.

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

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 ______ that pose imminent hazards without having the lengthy court processes that would delay cleanup.

emergency situations

Because plants are effective at ____________ nutrients and minerals from their surroundings, this may make them effective tools for bioremediation, although we still have a lot to learn about how they do this.

extracting

Orphan waste is waste that ______.

has been abandoned by companies that have gone out of business

Any discarded substance that is fatal in low doses or toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic to humans is defined as ____________ being.

hazardous

Any discarded substance that is fatal in low doses or toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic to humans is defined as_________ being.

hazardous

The combination of household and commercial refuse is termed ______.

municipal waste

The waste that companies leave behind after they go out of business is called ______ waste.

orphan

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

packaging

Incineration, where the produced heat runs boilers to generate electricity, is an example of energy ______, or waste-to-energy.

recovery

Steel is melted from a junkyard car and used to create a steel park bench. This is an example of ______.

recycling

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

reducing

The total amount of solid waste created each year has generally ______ for the past 10-15 years.

remained steady

A glass soda bottle is returned to a factory, cleaned, and refilled. This is an example of ______.

reusing

Some of the strategies that can shrink the waste stream include ______.

reusing reducing recycling

RCRA is the program that requires rigorous testing and management of ______.

toxic and hazardous substances

True or False: Much of the e-waste that is shipped overseas is handled by children and adults with inadequate protection from the associated health risks.

true

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

waste