Chapter 11: Solid Waste Generation & Disposal.

Where to place a landfill?

- Away from human populations so they don't get affected by leakage or the animals - Not near drinking water, lakes, streams, rivers, etc.

What are some disadvantages to incineration?

- Requires higher tipping fees than landfills - Raises NIMBY issues, makes siting difficult - Creates concentrated ash that is toxic and must be landfilled.

What does the CERCLA do?

- Taxes chemical and petroleum industries - Tax revenue used to clean up abandoned non-operating hazardous waste sites where a responsible party cannot be found.

Disadvantages to sanitary landfill

- Tipping fee: with big construction/operating costs, users of the landfill often have to pay-per-use - Leakage - EPA ensures that virtually every single landfill pollutes the environment through leakage. - Methane often builds up from organic materials in anaerobic decomposition, resulting in explosion hazards. - Decomposition rarely occurs unless under perfect conditions (30:1, C:N)

Which acts authorize which agencies to regulate and oversee hazardous waste?

- Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the EPA is put in charge of protecting human health and the natural environment by reducing the creation and unsafe disposal of hazardous wastes. - Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCA) the EPA is again authorized to tax chemical and petroleum industries. The tax revenue is collected into a "superfund", which pays for the clean-up of hazardous sites across the USA located on the National Priorities List (NPL).

What can be accepted in a landfill?

1. Composite Materials (juice boxes w/ plastic and paper) - YES 2. Aluminum and other metals - NO (they can be recycled) 3. Glass and other plastic - Yes, they are chemically inert so they can't be recycled, great choice to add. 4. Toxic Materials - motor oil, consumer electronics - NO

What is the difference between open and closed-loop recycling?

Closed-loop recycling means that we recycle used objects into the same objects they were. Ex. we take aluminum cans and turn them into aluminum cans again. Open-loop recycling means that we recycle used objects that can be turned into something that wasn't there original state. Ex. we can take plastic water bottles and recycle them into a polar fleece jacket.

According to the EPA, what percentages of MSW can be attributed to residences vs. commercial and institutional facilities?

60% from residences, 40% from commercial and institutional facilities.

How many hazardous waste generators does the USA have?

>20,000

How does the solid waste stream differ between a developed and a developing country?

A developed country on average produces more solid waste than a developing country. However, with developing countries taking more of the manufacturing load worldwide, the amount of waste they're producing is on the rise.

What are some other kind of wastes created in the United States?

Agricultural waste, mining waste, industrial waste (for these waste is often processed on-site rather than being brought to separate location fro disposal).

Incineration

An alternative to landfills, where waste materials are simply burned to reduce their volume and weight while sometimes generating heat/energy.

Throw-away society

Began after WW2, with rising U.S. population and consumer spending patterns, people became less likely to try to fix things if they broke but instead would buy it new. This coined the term "throw-away society". This also inspired the term "planned obsolescence", where manufacturers would

This soil is best when engineering a sanitary landfill

Clay

How are wastes handled in the natural world?

Detritivores (animals that eat dead organic materials) and decomposers recycle waste from other organisms.

What are sanitary landfills?

Engineered ground facilities designed to hold MSW with as little contamination as possible of the surrounding environment as possible. They are wrapped with a clay/plastic lining to stop this from happening.

When or why might incineration be used instead of a landfill?

Landfills often have trouble with materials decomposing since there needs to be a correct amount of gas mixture (30:1, C:N) for it to take place. As a result, space can be used up quickly in landfills. Incinerators can reduce volume and weight of the material by simply burning it.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of landfills and incineration?

Landfills: Advantages - one of the best ways to dispose of nonrecycable trash in a *better* manner than the old system of open dumps. Disadvantages - finding a location (leakage), gas build-up (methane explosions), no decomposition really. Incinerator: Advantages - can reduce volume and weight of objects. Disadvantages - can emit gases into the environment, can be costly to run (needs a lot of waste), concentrating toxicity may not be the best.

What is hazardous waste?

Liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge waste harmful to humans or ecosystems.

Explain the incineration process.

MSW is tipped into a bunker, transferred to a furnace (ash is collected), gases are filtered in the baghouse filter before being released into atmosphere as co2 and h20.

What are the main sources of waste?

Main sources of waste are durable goods (18%), nondurable goods (25%), food and yard waste (26%), and containers and packaging (31%).

Waste

Material outputs from a system that are not useful or consumed

This landfill component is extracted and used as fuel or burned off

Methane

What happens currently to most solid waste?

Most solid waste is buried in landfills or incinerated.

Why is disposal of hazardous waste a challenge?

- every aspect and treatment of disposal is more expensive than that of MSW. - No real collection sites - you have to hold onto the items and wait for a pop-up one (inconvenience) - really no good way to dispose of it, countries try to sell it to each other in fact.

Disadvantages to hazardous waste

- more expensive to handle than MSW - Collection sites for hazardous waste must be staffed with specially trained personnel - Often materials of unknown composition must be processed

How much hazardous waste does the U.S. produce annually?

40 million tons

Why is composting an important activity in waste management?

Composting is an important activity as it provides an outlet for safely disposing of organic materials. In a landfill, organic materials can decompose and will turn into hazardous methane gases. Composting allows people to turn their food and yard waste into something useful - nutrient-rich soil.

What is the CERCLA?

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

What is the definition of hazardous waste, and what are its main sources?

Hazardous waste is "liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge material that is harmful to humans or ecosystems." It's main sources come from the by-product of industrial processes such as textile production, cleaning of machinery, and manufacturing of computer equipment (but also comes from small businesses)

How is holistic waste management different from other approaches to waste management?

Holistic waste management is different from other approaches to waste management as it seeks to combine that other approaches into one. It employs several waste reduction, management, and disposal strategies in order to reduce the effect of MSW on the environment.

What is Integrated Waste Management?

IWM seeks to develop as many plans as possible to reduce environmental harm and cost. - Begins with an analysis and planning process that starts with source reduction and ends with waste reduction.

What are some examples of superfund sites?

Old factories, industrial areas and waterfronts, dry cleaners, gas stations, landfills, rail yards.

What comprised MSW?

Organic items, fibers, metals, and plastics, made fromm petroleum.

What is compost?

Organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as an organic-rich material that enhances soil structure, cation exchange capacity, and fertility. This is the best alternative of disposing organic material, where putting it in a landfill or incinerator will release toxic gases.

The major component of MSW in the U.S.

Paper

What are good waste materials to be thrown in an incinerator?

Paper, plastic, yard materials, food waste, as they contain a high amount of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

A big contributor to the throw away society

Planned obsolescence

What is the relationship between availability of and access to resources and the production of waste?

Population growth and higher standards of living (seen after WW2) results in a need for more resources. With more resources available, so it waste.

The most desirable of the 3Rs

Reduce

What is reduce?

Reduce means to simply use less resources so they don't eventually enter the waste stream. An example is with a teacher printing homework double-sided rather than on 2 sheets. Out of the 3 R's, this is probably the most efficient means as it simply keeps things from even needing to be reused or recycled. Reusing and recycling have their downsides, where reducing doesn't really.

What are the 3 R's?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The phrase was coined in the 1990s as a way of encouraging America to be more environmentally friendly.

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Refuse collected by municipalities from households, small businesses, and institutions such as schools, prisons, municipal buildings, and hospitals.

bottom ash

Residue collected at the bottom of the combustion chamber in a furnace.

What is the RCRA?

Resource Conversation and Recovery Act: enacted to reduce or eliminate hazardous waste.

What is reuse?

Reuse is the act of making an object able to be used again. For example, if you rip your jeans, you can sew a patch on and then reuse it. This is the 2nd best option behind reuse, but it still requires some energy to repair.

A term applied to increasing the residence time of an object

Reusing

What are some of the economic issues to consider when making waste disposal decisions?

Some economic issues to consider are whether taxes cover waste disposals. In some municipalities it is, but in others businesses and individuals have to pay for it themselves. The state of the business market can also affect waste disposal decisions, as seen with the Japanese demand for newspapers ex.

Switching from laundry detergent in plastic bottles to pouches with 84% less packaging

Source reduction

In the United States, how much of generated waste ends up being recycled? a. <23 percent b. <33 percent c. <43 percent d. >53 percent e. >60 percent

b. <33 percent.

What is the NPL?

The National Priority List is the list of superfund sites in order of priority for remediation.

This act reduces source hazardous waste

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Siting

The designation of a landfill location, typically through a regulatory process involving studies, written reports, and public hearings.

What is a life-cycle analysis and how is it useful?

The life-cycle analysis is a tool that looks at the materials used & released through the lifetime of a product. From the procurement of raw materials through their manufacture, use, and disposal. Useful in determining economic and energy considerations, but a little sketchy when trying to use it to determine the overall environmental impact.

What are the features of a modern sanitary landfill? How does a modern landfill compare to the older practice of putting MSW in holes in the ground?

The modern sanitary landfill is lined with a clay, plastic protective layer to reduce the amount of leakage that occurs. The selected waste that goes into the sanitary landfill is compacted into cells, which reduces the volume of the waste and thus makes room for more waste. Also, they are capped with a clay/soil. The modern landfill is different from the older practice as there is more of a concern for safety. Location is always taken into account with landfills today.

Ash

The residual nonorganic material that does not combust during incineration

What are the three Rs? What are the benefits and disadvantages of each?

The three Rs are reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reducing has it's obvious benefits where it prevents resources from entering the waste stream. Simply printing double-sided rather than printing on 2 sheets saves resources. A down-side to reducing is that the break-even point may take many uses of a certain object (ceramic mug > throw-away cup). Reusing has its benefits in where we are able to reuse objects rather than make new ones. The downside is that it sometimes takes more time/energy to reuse/repair something than make it again. Recycling has its purposes where we are able take objects that have been used and make new ones. This can be done through closed & open-loop recycling. Recycling sometimes has its drawbacks when it there isn't as much economic gain for recycling (ex. NYC)

Leachate

The water that leaches through the solid waste and removes various chemical compounds with which it comes into contact with. Very bad near human population, river streams, etc.

What is recycling?

This is the least desired and 3rd option of the 3 R's. This takes an object and turns it literally into a new object, whether the same object it was before (closed recycling) or a completely new one (open recycling). This is the least desired option because of the energy that is required to complete this.

This is the most optimal way to reduce MSW production

Waste Prevention

9. It is produced by anaerobic decomposition in landfills. a. Benzene b. Dioxin c. Methane d. Hydrochloric Acid

c. Methane

Containers and packaging

What category of MSW is the greatest amount?

When using an efficient incinerator, how much can you reduce the volume and weight of waste?

You can reduce volume by 90%, and weight by approximately 75%.

Of the following, which contributes most to the weight of MSW? a. Packaging b. E-waste c. Compact discs d. Tires e. Ores such as gold and silver

a. Packaging

1. It is important to keep household batteries out of landfills because all of the following except... a. they can leach toxic chemicals. b. their decomposition can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. c. they can be recycled, which would reduce the need for new raw materials. d. they can be recycled, which would reduce the need for additional energy. e. they take up space in landfills and we have a finite supply of landfill space.

c. they can be recycled, which would reduce the need for additional energy.

2. All of the following are desired outcomes of MSW incineration except a. extracting energy b. reducing volume c. prolonging life of landfills d. increasing air pollution e. generating electricity

d. increasing air pollution

The legislation that imposes a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to generate funds to pay for the cleanup of hazardous substances is a. RCRA b. Cradle-to-Grave Act c. the National Priorities List d. HSWA e. CERCLA

e. CERCLA

In 2008, which of the following materials comprised the largest component of municipal solid waste? a. metals b. yard waste c. food scraps d. discarded electronic devices e. paper

e. Paper

E-Waste

electronic waste, it accounts for 2% of the waste stream.

fly ash

residue collected beyond the furnace

Waste stream

the flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, placed in a solid waste landfill, or disposed of in another way.