Chapter 21 Solid and Hazardous Waste

_________ are inefficient because they are expensive to build, discharge toxic emissions, and can produce a toxic ash.

(MRF) Materials-recovery facilities

Plastics are routinely recycled because they are composed of pure resins that can be extracted and used for other plastic products. True False

False

The European Union has an approach to ewaste, known as the cradle-to-grave approach, which requires manufacturers to provide health benefits from cradle-to-grave. True False

False

The National Priorities List identifies hazardous waste sites, with clean up of these sites based on priority and severity. True False

False

The incineration of hazardous wastes is quick, conserves space, and reduces waste volume but is not used because of the increased water pollution that results. True False

False

The world's largest landfill, called _________ __________, outside of New York City closed in 2001; it is being turned into a park and nature preserve.

Fresh kills

Reusing products can be a health hazard for the poor in developing countries who dismantle products to extract usable parts. True False

True

The Basal Action Network says that most businesses that call themselves ewaste recyclers take your recycling fee and ship the waste to China, India, or Nigeria. True False

True

The best and cheapest ways to deal with solid and hazardous wastes are waste reduction and pollution prevention.

True

The ecoindustrial revolution includes the redesign of manufacturing processes to mimic how nature reduces and recycles wastes. True False

True

The fastest growing solid waste problem in the U.S. and in the world is ewaste. True False

True

The products of composting can be used to slow soil erosion, retain water, and improve crop yields. True False

True

Waste reduction is the preferred solution to managing solid wastes because it does not try to avoid the issue of economic growth. True False

True

__________-_____-__________ incinerators produce 38% less CO2 per unit of energy than coal-burning power plants.

Waste-to-energy

Choose the letter that represents rhizofiltration.

a

For each one pound of electronics in a computer, how much solid and liquid wastes were created?

a. 4 tons

What percentage of the hazardous waste produced in the U.S. is regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act?

a. 5%

Which of the following principles does not contribute to a transition to a low-waste society? .

a. Economic growth and free markets reduce waste.

In order for an incinerator to be a safe alternative for waste disposal all of the following must be done, except

a. Find a use for the heat generated.

A disproportionate share of polluting factories, hazardous waste dumps, incinerators, and landfills in the U.S. are located in communities populated by all of the following, except

c. Caucasians

All of the following reflect a low-waste approach, except

c. built-in obsolescence

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using a plasma torch to detoxify hazardous waste?

c. cost

Waste that includes paper, food wastes, cans, bottles, yard waste, glass, wood, and similar items is called

c. municipal solid waste

The top priority when dealing with hazardous waste should be

c. pollution prevention and waste reduction

Taking a refillable coffee cup to the office and using it instead of throwaway cups is an example of __.

c. reuse

At the checkout counter, an environmentalist is most likely to

c. say "I brought my own bag."

Choose the letter that represents phytoextraction.

d

Hazardous waste includes radioactive wastes, which will have to be stored safely for as long as

d. 240,000 years

The recycling and composting rate of U.S. municipal solid waste is about

d. 32%

Currently, the United States recycles about _____ of all its wastepaper.

d. 56%

How much of the waste we mix, crush, and bury could actually be recycled?

d. 75%

The amount of solid waste produced in the United States each year would fill a convoy of garbage trucks stretching around the world almost

d. 8 times

Critics of recycling are most likely to claim

d. It does make sense to recycle if it costs more than landfilling or incinerating.

Source separation differs from materials-recovery facilities in all but which of the following?

d. It encourages higher throughput of matter.

In a low-waste approach, which of the following strategies should be given lowest priority?

d. bury

Partially biodegradable plastics need _____ to be broken down.

d. cool conditions

Which of the following is the most common method of storage of hazardous wastes used in most countries of the world?

d. land burial

With 4.6% of the world's population, the United States produces about _____ of the world's solid waste.

d. one-third

Studies by two soft-drink companies indicate that 21-oz bottles of soft drinks cost _____ in refillable bottles than throw away bottles.

d. one-third less

Consumers of recycled products are most effective when they maximize the amount of _____ waste in the products.

d. post-consumer

Which is the most advanced approach?

d. reducing the amount of materials used

Approximately 70% of the world's electronic waste (ewaste) ends up

d. shipped to China

Compost is most accurately described as

d. soil conditioner and organic fertilizer

Since 1995, Superfund has been primarily funded by

d. taxpayers

Environmentalists say that the best way to handle soft-drink and beer containers is to

d. use reusable glass bottles

The United States produces one-half of the world's ewaste and recycles

e. 10—15% of it

What percentage of liquid hazardous waste in the U.S. is injected into deep disposal wells?

e. 64%

Scientists estimate that in a low-waste society _____ of solid and hazardous waste could be eliminated through reduction, reuse, and recycling.

e. 75-90%

Plastic is not recycled at a high rate for all of the following reasons, except

e. Health concerns exist about continual use of plastic.

In 1989 an international treaty called the Basel Convention banned developed countries from shipping hazardous waste to developing countries. Which of the following countries has not ratified the treaty?

e. United States

As a form of waste reduction, reuse does all of the following, except:

e. costs money

Japan embraces resource exchange, and most of the country's municipal solid waste is sent to __________-_____-__________ _____________ to produce steam.

waste-to-energy incinerators

*Use the Figure above to answer the following questions.* Choose the letter that represents photostabilization.

B

__________ utilizes bacteria and enzymes instead of plants to filter or destroy hazardous substances.

Bioremediation.

Large beverage industries have used their political and financial clout to force most U.S. states to pass bottle bills. True False

False

No country has yet to institute a ban on persistent organic pollutants.

False

Most scientists think that waste management should be the last priority for dealing with material use and solid waste. True False

True

Ponds, pits, or lagoons into which liners are placed and liquid hazardous wastes are stored are called __________ __________.

surface impoundments

Trash production, by weight, in the city of New York reached its peak between 1920 and 1940. True False

true

We should mimic nature by reusing, recycling, or composting at least _____% of the solid wastes we produce.

75

__________-_____-__________ laws require companies to take back various consumer products instead of having them put in landfills or incinerated.

Cradle-to-grave

__________ is the fastest-growing solid waste problem in the United States and in the world.

Ewaste

Burial or long-term storage of hazardous waste is the first priority for environmental scientists. True False

False

__________ __________ __________ is the combined solid waste produced by homes and workplaces.

Municipal solid waste

The call to drastically reduce toxic and hazardous waste, at least by 75%, is part of a concept called NOPE, which stands for

Not On Planet Earth

13. __________ systems charge consumers for the amount of garbage picked up but do not charge for the amount of materials separated that can be recycled.

Pay-as-you-throw

__________ involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants.

Phytoremediation

__________ occurs when waste is made into new products of the original type.

Primary, or closed-loop, recycling

*Use the second chart to answer the following questions.* Why is recycling an output approach for environmental concerns?

Recycling deals with wastes already produced and harmful to the environment. The wastes are the outputs. Prevention of waste production or reduction of wastes is the best approach. Recycling usually reduces pollution and waste production.

Explain how recycling reduces energy demand and makes fuel supplies last longer.

Recycling uses oil products like tires for other applications. Waste generated in manufacturing a product, for example heat, can be used to warm the manufacturer's water, etc.

In the United States, the __________ __________ _____ __________ __________ regulates only a small percentage of all hazardous waste.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

__________ are sites where waste is isolated from the environment until it is safe.

Sanitary landfills

NOPE calls for drastically reducing production of toxic and hazardous wastes by emphasizing pollution prevention and using the precautionary principle. True

True

At sanitary landfills, consideration of leachate is of most importance as far as environmental preservation is concerned. True False

True

Each day the average American produces about 2.0 kilograms (4.5 pounds) of municipal solid waste, three-fourths of which is dumped in landfills. True False

True

Integrated Waste Management involves combining several different waste management methods into one single strategy. True False

True

Which of the following is not true of plastic materials?

a. They decompose readily in landfills.

Garbage produced directly by households and businesses accounts for _____% of the solid waste produced in the United States.

a. less than 2

Which of the following methods uses natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from soil and water?

a. phytoremediation

The most energy-efficient beverage container on the market is

a. refillable glass

_____ has a beverage-container deposit fee that is 50% higher than the cost of the drink, to encourage use of refillable bottles.

b. Ecuador

____ percent of the solid waste produced in the United States is buried in landfills.

b. Fifty-four

Of the following methods of reducing hazardous wastes, the most desirable is

b. conversion to less hazardous materials

All of the following are means of detoxifying hazardous and toxic wastes, except

b. crushing and grinding

Which of the following is not a type of ewaste?

b. discarded computer printer paper

Of the following materials, the most difficult to recycle is

b. plastic

The U.S. has passed laws to facilitate the cleanup of abandoned, contaminated industrial sites, known as __________.

brownfields

Choose the letter that represents phytodegredation.

c

How many U.S. states have bottle laws?

c. 11

Which of the following is the least desirable from an environmental standpoint?

e. recycle

One way to attempt to deal with the solid wastes we create is to attempt to reduce the environmental impact without trying to reduce the amount of waste produced. This is called

e. waste management

In the __________ __________ manufacturing processes are being redesigned to mimic how nature reduces and recycles wastes.

ecoindustrial evolution

Since 1990 the annual production of municipal solid waste has doubled. True False

false

Most analysts call for using __________ __________ __________—a variety of strategies for both waste reduction and waste management.

intergrated waste management

The two largest classes of hazardous wastes are __________ and ___________.

organic compounds; toxic heavy metals

Incinerators

produce toxic substances in fly ash and bottom ash

From an environmental standpoint, the first two Rs, __________ and __________, are better alternatives because they are input or prevention approaches.

reduce; reuse

Tires being shredded and converted into surfacing for public roads is an example of __________

secondary recycling

Sanitary landfills typically have problems with

traffic, noise, and dust