Chapter 14: Solid and Hazardous Waste

Select all that apply Which of the following are examples of item reuse? (Mark all that apply.)

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

Select all that apply It takes less energy to ______ than to make it new from raw materials. (Choose all that apply.)

-Produce aluminum from scrap -Make steel from scrap Recycle plastic

Select all that apply Which of the following are the benefits of using compost? (Mark all that apply.)

-Reduced soil erosion -Soil enrichment -Improved crop yields

Some of the benefits of using brownfield sites include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

-Reducing the destruction of open green space for development (sprawl) -Helping to rebuild urban areas

Some of the issues with open dumps include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

-Spread of waste and pollution by wind and rain -Smell -Amount of waste oil poured into them

Which of the following are examples of recycling?

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

Hazardous waste is any discarded material that contains substances known to be ______.

-Toxic, carcinogenic, or mutagenic to humans or other life-forms -Corrosive -Fatal to humans or lab animals in low doses

Select all that apply What "ingredients" are helpful in creating compost from your own organic waste? (Mark all that apply.)

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

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

0%

Match the waste disposal method to its example or description. 1. Ocean dumping 2. Incinerating 3. Ocean dumping 4. Waste exporting

1. Receives about 25,000 metric tons of packaging per year. 2. Reduces volume of waste and creates energy and air pollution 3. The most prevalent form of waste disposal in developing countries 4. Shipping waste to less-developed countries Shipping waste to less-developed countries

Matching Question Match the federal legislation with its regulatory function. 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 Requires testing and monitoring of hazardous substances 2. 3.

Match the material with how it is handled at a sanitary landfill. 1. Methane 2. Liquid contaminants

1. Vented, flared, or collected and used as fuel. 2. Collected in a drainage system and then managed.

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

20%

Approximately how much aluminum is recycled in the United States?

50%

The United States produces about 11 ______ tons of solid waste each year.

Billion

Approximately half of the solid waste produced in the United States is Blank 1 Waste, which is generally recycled into the Blank 2 on the farms where it is produced

Blank 1: Agricultural or farm Blank 2: Soil, ground, earth, or fields

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

Chemical

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

Composting

is a major obstacle in plastics recycling, because a single PVC bottle mixed in with PET bottles can ruin the whole batch.

Contamination, Mixing, or Sorting

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

False

______ 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.

Incineration

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

Increasing Dramatically

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

From the list of waste disposal methods, choose the one by which most municipal waste in the United States is disposed?

Landfilling

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

Low

The that is produced in a landfill from decomposition can be collected and used as a fuel to generate electricity.

Methane

What is the status of international shipments of hazardous waste?

Most stopped 30 years ago, but it still occurs.

Solid waste is a combination of the household and commercial refuse that amounts to more than 250 million metric tons per year in the United States.

Municipal

Issues with wildlife, such as seabirds and turtles, eating plastic and other trash are the result of littering and dumping.

Ocean, sea, or marine

dumps are inexpensive but have many problems such as smell, fires, vermin, and people scavenging in this hazardous area.

Open or Unregulated

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

Over 100%

Some of the actions you can take to reduce waste include buying foods or products with less , or using your own containers.

Packaging or wrapping

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

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

Ocean dumping results in widespread issues with sea life, such as seals being drowned in discarded nets and seabirds starving because their stomachs are filled with ________.

Plastic

Recycling reduces the need for ______ to make a certain product, thereby reducing pressures on the areas where those materials are mined.

Raw materials

Newspapers processed into insulation and steel cans turned into new construction materials are both examples of _____.

Recycling

is when a type of discarded material is reprocessed into a new product.

Recycling

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

Reducing or reduce

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

Reducing waste

Salvaging construction materials from old buildings and then including them in new construction is an example of ______ materials.

Reusing

Which of the following is the most energy efficient?

Reusing

A sanitary landfill is used for ______ waste.

Solid

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

Superfund

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 or aluminium

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

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

burn or incinerate

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

can be expensive

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

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

compost

The biological degradation or breakdown of organic matter under aerobic conditions is called

composting or decomposition

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.

disposal and recycling

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 or disastrous

The recycling of plastics and metals saves a lot of , which decreases our dependence on foreign oil supplies.

energy

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

Any discarded material that is explosive, or contains explosive substances, is considered to be a(n) waste.

hazardous

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.

hazardous

RCRA, CERCLA, NPL, SARA, and TRI are all concerned with legislation that regulates waste management.

hazardous or toxic

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

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

incinerated or burned

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

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

mass

The combination of household and commercial refuse is termed ______.

municipal waste

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 or contaminated

Hazardous waste is dangerous and expensive to deal with; therefore, the best solution is to not it (in the first place).

produce, manufacture, create, or make

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

recycle

The reprocessing of discarded materials into new, useful products is

recycling

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

reducing or reduce

The best way to reduce hazardous waste is by ________.

reducing production

A successful way to eliminate hazardous waste is to the waste and use it in another industry. This way the producer of the waste does not have to pay for disposal and the user gains raw material for little cost.

reuse

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 or reuse

landfill compacts and covers solid waste with dirt in order to decrease odors and discourage vermin populations.

sanitary

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

secure

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, hazardous, poisonous, or dangerous

The stream describes the steady flow of varied refuse and garbage that humans produce.

waste

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.

Select all that apply Some of the strategies that can shrink the waste stream include ______. (Choose all that apply.)

Three Rs Reduce (reducing) Reuse (reusing) Recycle (recycling)

True or False. The waste stream contains many valuable resources.

True

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

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.

A biogas digester on a dairy farm ______.

Turns manure into fuel