Solid and Hazardous Waste Management (Exam 3)
How does the "Cradle to grave system" within the RCRA protect public health?
(1) defining what wastes are hazardous; (2) tracking wastes to the point of disposal; (3) assuring that treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities meet minimum national standards; (4) making certain TSDs are properly maintained after closure, and that facility owner/operators are financially responsible for hazardous waste releases that may occur at their facility.
What are the benefits of landfill gas to electricity facilities? (MSWMD)
- Landfil gas is the most controllable greenhouse gases -Captures more than 9000 tons of methane per year, removing emissions equivalent to 33760 vehicles -CO2 offset from avoiding use of fossil fuels more than 27000 tons per year -Project revenue, tax credits -Cali. Energy commission Renewable Energy Credits -US Dept. of Energy Renewable Energy Production Incentives
What is the RCRA landfill design?
- You dig a pit, put in clay, plastic on top of that (want it to be impermeable), and then trash, and then you make "landfill cells"/cover it with dirt so that animals don't come in (why they aren't open every day) - Will also have ground water wells to test water quality - And are starting to put in infrastructure to capture methane, call sell it to power companies
MSW can also be controlled for with combustion. What are some key points about combustion?
- combustion with the production of energy is called waste-to-energy (WTE) - combustion of MSW without energy recovery is called incineration - WTE plants are generally mass burn, although many incorporate recycling activities that remove noncombustible items such as metals and glass prior to burning. - The facility is designed in stages to minimize emissions -paper, wood products, cardboard burn very effectively
How do we dispose of hazardous waste? What are some concerns with how we dispose of it?
- landfills - deep well injection: if an operator can prove that waste won't migrate from the injection zone for 10,000 years the company can inject hazardous waste without treating it this is a concern because can we really prove there won't be harmful effects in 10,000 years. Where were we 10,000 years ago? Humans were literally nomads. Not safe.
What are some concerns revolving recycling today?
-People don't wash out what they use and so it's just put in the trash or sent back -China rn isn't taking out trash -As an individual consumer you can do stuff right but doing little stuff on a big scale isn't economically viable -Mixed waste - sorting: many people say they'd recycle if they didn't have to sort it
What are some issues associated with poor waste management tools?
1) Leads to pests (insects and rodents) 2) can contaminate ground water 3) can lead to air pollution if burned/combusted 4) spread of debris throughout areas near dump site 5) lowers property value 6) promotes spread of disease, microorganisms, toxic waste around site
What are the three main ways we manage hazardous waste?
1) reducing the production of waste by reducing the amount generated or recycling/reusing the hazardous material after its generation; 2) reducing the volume and/or hazard off the waste; & 3) long-term storage or disposal
Thinking of the solid waste management hierarchy: What is the most preferred to least preferred types of management styles?
1) source reduction 2) reuse 3) recycling 4) resource recovery (waste to energy) 5) incineration 6) land filing
How has USEPA tried to control for municipal solid waste (MSW)
1) source reduction --> don't make waste in the first place. Composting of lawn trimmings or reuse of products. Packaging of products is a big topic of discussion in source reduction. So many things have a lot of use less packaging which creates more waste. 2) recycle (compost) --> Consumerism is bad for MSW, everything is flashy but useless. We don't need it. 3) burn it --> if done properly not a bad option. But to produce fewer biproducts has to be done at specific temperature, which can be more expensive. So, many places don't do it properly and create air pollution.
How much waste does the U.S. produce in a year and what are its sources?
11 billion tons of solid waste/ year 75% of waste is from petroleum and mining 15% is from agriculture waste 8% is industrial waste Municipal waste is only 1% !!!
What are the percentages of MSW waste by management type?
55% is landfilled about 27% is recycled about 17% is combusted 9% is composted
What are the waste management styles used in developing countries
Developing countries look similar to how the US looked in the 70s in terms of waste management. There is no formal management style. It is unorganized and includes rummaging from people and animals. Formal collection is uncommon in developing countries, and waste is usually dumped in various "central locations" around the city. Developing countries have poor waste management techniques.
What are examples of institutional sources of MSW?
Food waste and paper from offices. Paper towels from bathrooms. Disposable tableware and napkins. Yard trimmings (institutional places include, schools, hospitals, prisons, and nursing homes)
What is a transfer station?
It is a place where solid waste is concentrated before being taken to a processing facility or sanitary landfill usually involves compaction
in 1984 the RCRA was amended to widen its regulatory powers. What were the amendments?
Known as the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWM) focuses on protecting ground water: Why is it important to protect ground water? groundwater can protect the entire system. Once contaminants are in the ground water it is hard and inefficient to get out. actual amendments: (1) restricting the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes in land management facilities; (2) mandating stricter requirements for landfills accepting hazardous waste; (3) requiring a schedule for determining if the landfilling of untreated hazardous waste should be phased out; (4) increasing the numbers of people who fall under RCRA regulations by including small quantity generators; and (5) creating a new program for the detection, control, and management of hazardous liquids (primarily petroleum) in underground storage tanks.
The products that get recycled the most frequently also vary. What are some commonly recycled materials and why?
Lead batteries. They are worth something. Steel cans. They are easy and inexpensive to sort (magnet). where as other plastics can be difficult to sort and mixed with non-recyclables and harder to clean
What are some historical instances of improper handling of hazardous waste?
Love Canal: hazardous waste was buried, and later an elementary school was build on top of it Chemical plant used hazardous waste and oil to suppress dust on roads hazardous waste brings about concerns of environmental justice
What does into subtitle D landfills?
MSW Municipal Sludge Industrial non-hazardous waste Demolition Waste, construction waste Agriculture waste, oil and gas waste Some mining waste
Municipal waste does not make up a large amount of waste produced each year, but we spend a lot of money and time controlling for it. Why?
MSW is 1% of 11 billion tons so still like 100 million tons additionally, we worry about it because its (1) hardest to get rid of, (2) it's correlated with population growth & the population is rising so if we don't control for it then it will rise a lot, (3) it's also the trash we are going to see if we don't clean it up, (4) it's most likely to cause imminent public health threats, and (5) it has long term impacts, and we need to think of future generations / big picture
The Great Pacific Garbage patch
Microplastics make up 94% of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch (that is only 8% of total trash) Most is from abandoned fishing gear (79000 metric tons)
What's the deal with fracking waste?
No one will say what's in it bc there's a lot of money and intellectual properties built into compounds, and don't want competitors to know. But we don't really know what's in it, what's going into the ground water, what they impacts are...
What are examples of residential sources of MSW?
Non durable paper items such as magazines, newspapers and flyers. Plastic and glass bottles. Aluminum and steel cans. Packaging, food waste, and yard trimmings.
Pollution waste: oceans
Oceans are "ultimate" sinks for many forms of pollution
Why is per capita use technically lower than it has been historically?
Past generations owned life stock, and live stock create a lot of waste for each individual.
What is source reduction?What are types of source reduction?
Source reduction removes some of the toxicity of waste before it enters the waste stream. Examples include packaging reuse, package or product redesign that reduces toxicity in the first place, and reducing use by modifying practices
Under the superfun - How did they decide some place was a hazard?
The USEPA had a hazard ranking system (HRS) based on the estimated hazard potential of the hazardous waste site The factors used to make this estimate include the waste characteristics; the distance to the local population, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water supplies. the superfund process took a long time, potentially decades
Recycling varies a lot by state. What are some examples of variations?
The south has the least amount of curbside pickup The west and northeast have the most curbside pickup California, Oregon, Michigan, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, VT, ME, and IA are the only states with deposit/ redemption legislation despite variations, recycling is pretty common throughout the US now. 92% of cities with greater than or equal to 125,000 people had curbside recycling
How many landfill locations are there? What does this number mean?
There are 2400 MSW landfills today The northeast has the fewest (208), and the fewest years left of capacity This is important because they have no where to put their trash. They try to export there trash. NYC started sending trash to North Carolina, but north carolina refused to accept it. The trash floated down the coast all the way to Beliz and eventually ended up back in NYC where they burned it. Made the news. Was a big deal. What will happen when we run out of places to put trash?
How many superfund sites are there?
There are nearly 33,000 hazardous waste sites that have come under Superfund authority. More than 1300 of these sites are on the USEPA's National Priority List (NPL).
What countries produce the most waste per capita?
US, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Guyana, New Zealand
Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations
Vary
How does changes in waste per capita and total waste compare to each other since 1990?
Waste per capita has been relatively stable, but total waste has continued to rise. This is because our population has grown so more waste is still being produced, but people aren't using more things.
Recycling waste and actual recycling rates both were increasing, but are starting to level off. Why?
We have better management practices, but we stopped after we finished the easy stuff. What is left to fix is harder. For example, the plastic parts on envelopes.
What are examples of industrial packaging and administrative waste?
Wooden pallets, office paper, corrugated and paperboard, plastic film, and food waste
What was the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (CERCLA) or "superfund" of 1980
authorized the US government to spend 5 billion on emergency clean up of hazardous waste sites (super fund sites) Under CERCLA the US EPA identifies Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs): - The liability rules applied include: retroactive liability, joint and several liability, and strict liability - liability if owners, CEO's, etc. knew or "should have known"; can't claim ignorance if it was their job to know! in 1986, dems/ citizens felt that it was strict enough or enforced well enough and additional amendments were passed: the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), which increased the program's funding and provided new and stricter standards. (both superfund and this happened under republican presidents)
What can landfill covers be disturbed by?
burrowing animals vegetation roots precipitation; freeze - thaw cycles; wind uneven settling migration of chemicals or objects exposure to sunlight
What is toxic waste? How much does the US generate? And what industries generate the most toxic waste?
discarded solids or liquids with substances that are fatal in low concentrations, toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic. This could be corrosive, explosive, reactive, or flammable materials. US produces about 265 metric tons of it each year chemical and petroleum industries are the biggest source there is as much hazardous waste produced as MSW
What are some examples of commercial MSW?
food waste, paper waste from offices, restrooms, and serving tables. Disposable tableware. Corrugated and paperboard product. Yard waste. (commercial sources include restaurants, office buildings, and stores)
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 & subtitle D
forbade open dumping and introduced the concept of the sanitary landfill. Subtitle D: Land fill siting /environmental justice and "NIMBY"
How does The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 define hazardous waste?
includes any discarded material that may pose a substantial threat or potential danger to human health or the environment when improperly handled.
What are some materials included in Municipal Solid Waste?
paper, yard trimmings, food waste, glass, plastic, metal, wood waste, paperboard paper and paperboard are important ones because they can be recycled and aren't very often yard trimmings are also important because they can be composted and taken out of waste stream
What are the waste management regulations in place in the U.S.? When were they passed? What's been there impact?
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, were not passed until 1976. Before this US waste management was not formal and was similar to what most developing countries still look like today. People would go to unofficial dump sites to watch bears. Unstructured, informal. The impact of regulations has helped clean up the environment, especially from toxic waste. Waste management is one of the youngest environmental engineering fields, and is less accepted than water or soil management. Waste management lags behind globally despite US efforts.
Whose responsibility is the removal of solid waste?
the government must develop and enforce regulations that protect the public health by proper collection and disposal
How has recycling rates changed since 1990?
the total waste recycled (million tons/year) and the amount we recycle as a whole have both increased we have better management for recycling
What is down cycling?
turning old paper to toilet paper is going from one to a lower purity. You can't recycling it again. Now its waste.
What is composting? What is it used for?
•Composting is a controlled process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms into a humus-like material. •The composted material is often low in plant nutrients but is useful for conditioning soil by improving soil porosity and aeration, and increasing water retention - yard trimmings, food waste, some paper can all be turned into something more valuable than waste •Compost is being used for wetlands mitigation, land reclamation, storm filtrates, soil amendments, mulches, and low-grade fertilizers. •The market penetration of compost is likely to increase when combined with education on the benefits of compost use - mostly used for landscaping
What were landfills like before subtitle D, and how did this policy change them? Why did they need to be changed?
Before subtitle D landfills were a site of pollution and public health concern. They produced methane gas, odors, and were breeding sites for pests. subtitle D changed the way landfills had to be filled, and thus controlled for some of these concerns.
What is the clay used to cover landfills called?
Bentonite it is expandable when it comes in contact with water making it impermeable/ waterproof strong sorption for heavy metals its hydraulic permeability is similar to that of two feet of compacted clay why it's used in landfills clay stops waste from contaminating ground water
