Ecology: Solid and Hazardous Waste

How much of the Superfund is currently funded by corporate taxes?

0%

1. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ----------- 2. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act------------------ 3. Toxic Release Inventory--------------------------

1. Requires testing and monitoring of hazardous substances 2. Rapid containment, cleanup, and remediation of abandoned waste sites; also known as Superfund 3. Requires industry to disclose the toxins they produce

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

20%

Approximately how much aluminum is recycled in the United States?

50%

solid

A sanitary landfill is used for ______ waste.

What "ingredients" are helpful in creating compost from your own organic waste?

Fallen leaves. Lawn clippings. Vegetable waste. Wood chips.

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

False.

Where does most e-waste go for (informal) recycling?

Ghana India

______ is a quick way to dispose of hazardous wastes by heating the waste to over 1,000οC for a sufficient period of time. When done incorrectly, it may lead to pollution.

Inceneration

What is the purpose of a biogas digester?

It converts organic waste to gas that is used to generate heat and electricity.

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

Japan

disposal and recycling

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.

How much have municipal recycling rates increased in the United States in the past 60 years?

Over 100%

______ plastics break down when exposed to ultraviolet radiation (light).

Photodegradable

______ 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

______ is when a type of discarded material is reprocessed into a new product. The reprocessing of discarded materials into new, useful products is______. Newspapers processed into insulation and steel cans turned into new construction materials are both examples of _____. 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

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

Reducing waste

Which of the following is the most energy efficient? Salvaging construction materials from old buildings and then including them in new construction is an example of ______ materials.

Reusing

Which of the following are examples of item reuse?

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

Some of the issues with open dumps include ______.

Smell. The spread of waste pollution spread by wind and rain. The amount of waste oil poured into them.

Which of the following are benefits of using compost?

Soil enrichment. Improved crop yields. Reduced soil erosion.

Which of the following are examples of recycling?

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

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 false question.

True

True.

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

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.

Most stopped 30 years ago, but it still occurs.

What is the status of international shipments of hazardous waste?

Countries with weak environmental regulations.

Where is e-waste shipped for recycling?

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.

Why is the cost of waste disposal on the rise?

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

Sites on the NPL are those that ______.

are most in need of remediation

Plastics that are composed of or incorporate materials, such as cornstarch, that can be decomposed by microorganisms are termed ______.

biodegradable

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

bioremediation

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

The incineration of hazardous waste is relatively quick and easy, yet ______.

can be expensive

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

chemical

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

chemical and petroleum industries

Neutralization and oxidation are two examples of how hazardous waste can be treated ______.

chemically

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

compost

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

composting

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 ______.

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

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

fuel

The majority of hazardous waste is ______.

handled properly

The Superfund was established for NPL sites that ______.

have been orphaned

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. Any discarded material that is explosive, or contains explosive substances, is considered to be a(n) ______ waste. RCRA, CERCLA, NPL, SARA, and TRI are all concerned with legislation that regulates ________ waste management.

hazardous

Some of the benefits of using brownfield sites include ______.

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

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

high initial construction costs

Permanent retrievable storage is extremely expensive and is usually reserved for ________ materials such as spent uranium fuel rods and dioxins.

highly toxic

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

incinerate

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

incinerated

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

increase dramatically

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

increasing

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

landfills or incinerators

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

less packaging

New plastic is often cheaper than recycling plastic, leading to ______ recycling rates.

low

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

mass

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

What category of waste has lead in amount (tons) recycled for the past 60 years?

paper

__________ retrievable storage is technical and expensive and is usually reserved for the most toxic waste types such as radioactive wastes.

permanent

Physical treatments tie up hazardous wastes into substances such as glass, ceramics, or cement so that they cannot enter the environment; the waste also needs to be stored ______.

permanently

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.

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

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

recycle

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

recycling reducing reusing

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

reducing

The best way to reduce hazardous waste is by ________.

reducing production

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

redusing

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

A landfill that has a thick plastic liner, compacted clay, impervious layers, monitoring wells, and is used for hazardous waste is called a(n) ________ landfill.

sanitary

A(n) ______ landfill is the most popular solution for hazardous waste.

secure

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

superfund

The Superfund was paid for by a tax levied on the producers of toxic and hazardous wastes, but because of the actions of Congress in 1995, public ______ dollars now completely pay for the cost of toxic waste cleanup.

tax

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

toxic

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

A biogas digester on a dairy farm ______.

turns manure into fuel