Chapter 19 Waste Environmental Science Test 5/13/16

What percentage of the energy needed to make aluminum cans from ore is needed to make recycled aluminum cans from used aluminum cans?

5 percent

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), what percentage of the approved or proposed Superfund sites have been cleaned up?

75 out of 1,200

Creating steel from scrap instead of from ore uses about _________ less energy.

75%

Superfund and RCRA are administered and enforced by the United States __________________________.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The ____________ allows for owners who illegally dump hazardous waste to be sued and forced to pay for the cleanup of their sites.

Superfund Act

An example of something that is biodegradable is

a leaf in a compost pile

Some hazardous wastes can be __________ treated with bacteria that can break down toxic substances.

biologically

Manufacturers could reduce waste and conserve resources by making products that are more ________.

durable

International trade agreements have allowed some countries to _________ hazardous waste to other countries for disposal, treatment, or recycling.

export

An advantage of _______ plastic is that its production uses 20 to 50 percent less fossil fuel than does the protection of regular plastic.

green

Wastes containing toxic, corrosive, or explosive materials are considered ____________.

hazardous

An advantage of solid waste __________ is that it reduces the amount of trash destined for landfills.

incinerators

From 1970 to the present, the percentage of waste that is recycled has

increased from 6.6 percent to 28 percent

A material is biodegradable if

it can be broken down by biological processes

Which of the following is not a requirement for a landfill built today?

it must be a specified distance from a city or other populated area

Problems associated with ________ include leachate, methane gas, and inadequate space.

landfills

A modern landfill has a plastic liner to prevent _________ from seeping into the soil and contaminating the groundwater.

leachate

Which of the following are problems associated with landfills?

leachate and methane production

According to the text, what is the most helpful thing that a consumer can do to make sure that more materials are recycled?

make an effort to buy products made from recycled materials whenever possible

More than half of the solid waste produced in the United States comes from ____________.

manufacturing

Which of the following produces the most solid waste?

manufacturing

Which of the following statements does not describe a problem associated with modern landfills?

materials buried in landfills decompose in three years

The methane found in landfills is a gas that

may be captured and used to produce energy

Some landfills generate electricity by burning the _______ that is produced by decomposing garbage.

methane gas

Composting provides _________ to the soil while keeping organic wastes out of landfills.

nutrients

Making products from recycled materials

often saves energy and other resources during the manufacturing process

The main problem with so-called biodegradable plastics is that

only its organic portion actually decomposes

Which items make up the largest percentage of waste produced by households and businesses?

paper products

You can use your consumer buying power to reduce solid waste by using __________ batteries.

rechargeable

Which of the following is not considered hazardous waste?

rotting meat and other food waste

The steps involved in the recycling of materials are _________, cleaning, and crushing.

sorting

Reducing solid waste by using less material is called __________ reduction.

source

Some hazardous waste is disposed of by deep-well injection. This procedure

stores wastes in layers of dry rock below the water table

Polyester is a(n) _______________ and therefore non-biodegradable, material commonly used in clothing.

synthetic material

Under the Superfund Act,

the EPA may sue companies that dump hazardous waste illegally

Which regulation requires producers of hazardous wastes to document how their wastes are handled?

the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

An example of source reduction is

using canvas shopping bags

Which of the following is a true statement about recycling?

after they are collected, recyclable materials are cleaned and processed

Which of the following correctly describes biodegradable plastics?

all of the above

Which of the following is not a method of reducing hazardous waste?

allowing fungi to break down petroleum sludge

A common characteristic of all hazardous-waste land-disposal facilities that they

are long-term storage sites

Materials that are formed naturally are _____________.

biodegradable

Decomposing yard waste and fruit and vegetable trimmings can be broken down by bacteria to form __________, which reduces the need for fertilizers.

compost

Which of the following correctly describes the disposal of waste by composing?

composting could reduce the amount of waste that restaurants, food-processing plants, and animal feedlots send to landfills

The process of composting

could effectively handle a variety of wastes

biodegradable plastics never completely ___________.

decompose

Disposing of hazardous wastes by pumping them into the ground below groundwater level is called _______________.

deep-well injection

More companies will use recycled products if consumers buy recycled products and create an increased _________ for such products.

demand

The total amount of solid waste generate in the United States in the last 40 years has

doubled