Ch.21
Recycling Plastics
- plastics consists of large polymers/resins (molecules formed by linking chemicals in oil/gas), 46 different types of plastics in products, some contain multiple types - 7% of all plastic and 13% of plastic containers/packaging in U.S. is recycled, low because difficult to separate different types of resins from products, progress made in development of bioplastic/recycling of plastics
How Should We Deal with Solid Waste?
- A sustainable approach to solid waste is reduce it, then reuse/recycle it, then safely dispose of what is left
integrated waste management
- a large variety of coordinated strategies for both waste disposal and waste reduction, needed to solve solid waste problem
How Should We Deal with Hazardous Waste?
- a more sustainable approach to hazardous waste is produce less of it, then reuse/recycle, then convert it to less hazardous, then safely store what is left
solid waste
- any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not a liquid or a gas
primary (closed-loop) recycling
- materials, such as aluminum cans, are recycled into new products of the same type
municipal solid waste (MSW)
- other type of solid waste called garbage/trash, basically trash at home, paper,food,cans,etc
sanitary landfills
- type of landfill, newer landfill, solid wastes are spread out into thin layers, compacted, and covered daily with a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam
reducing
- use less of whatever
We Can Make the Transition to Low-Waste Societies
- "clever person solves problem, wide person avoids", governments in Norway, Austria, Netherlands reduce resource waste by 75%, school cafeterias/restaurants/national parks/corporations participating in "zero waste" movement, reduce/reuse/recycle and lower waste outputs by 80% with goal of eliminating all - key principles to prevent pollution and reduce waste and transition to low-waste society, first everything is connected, two there is no away as in to throw away for the wastes we produce, three producers/polluters should pay for the wastes they produce, four we can mimic nature by reusing/recycling/composting/exchanging the MSW we produce
Providing Environmental Justice for Everyone Is an Important Goal
- environmental justice is ideal where everybody has protection from environmental hazards regardless of race, age, gender, national origin, income, social class, or political factor - lopsided sharing of polluting factories, waste dumps, incincerators, and landfills in U.S. located in African/Asian/Latinos/Native American communities, toxic sites in white communities cleaned faster/better than African/Latino ever, environmental discrimination in U.S. led to grassroots approach aka environmental justice movement, pressure government to recognize and prevent environmental injustice
Case Study: Hazardous Waste Regulation in the United States
- 5% of all waste in U.S. regulated under RCRA congress 1976 amended 1984, sets standards for waste and controls wastes produced by companies, issues permits that control, permit users use cradle-to-grave system - 95% of hazardous waste in U.S. not regulated, less in less-developed countries - toxic substance control act, companies show EPA new chemicals but don't tell if safe or not, EPA low budget has to find out or it's safe, since 1976, banned 5 of 80000 new chemicals, must be reformed to reveal data on chemical - 1980, congress passed CERCLA or Superfund, goal to identify sites where hazardous waste has affected the environment and clean the place up, on a priority list, worst sites are put onto National Priorities List, cleanup through EPA methods - 2013, 1320 sites plus 54 more, 365 cleaned and removed from list, should be at least 10000 sites on list, would cost 1.7 trillion to cleanup, emphasizes waste reduction/prevention through end-of-pipe cleanup approach - 1984, citizens given right to see what chemicals released in their environment, 23800 facilities annual report of nearly 650 chemicals, see through EPA toxic release website - Superfund act, focused on cleanup of abandoned sites, reduced number of illegal dumpsites, forced producers to reduce and reuse/recycle more, no renew tax on oil/chemical companies, no funds for Superfund, taxpayers must support, pace of cleanup slowed down - encourage cleanup of brown fields, abandoned industrial sites like factories, junkyards, old landfills, gas stations, contaminated with hazardous wastes, can be cleaned and remade into parks/nature reserves/ athletic fields/ ecoindustrial parks/residential neighborhoods
Recycling Paper
- 55% of world's trees used for paper, could use straw/kenaf/hemp to make tree-free paper - pulp/paper industry is 5th largest energy consumer, uses more water per ton than any other product in the industry, 3rd largest industrial energy user/polluter in U.S. and Canada, paper is most dominant material in MSW in both - paper easy to recycle, recycling newspaper involves removes ink/glue/coating then converting paper to pulp for new paper, uses 64% less energy, 35% less water pollution, 74% less air pollution than making from wood, no trees cut - 2009, NRDC pressured paper companies to stop cutting trees from old forests for toilet paper, estimates 425k trees saved yearly if households use one 500-sheet roll of toilet paper from recycled paper
Burying Solid Waste Has Advantages and Disadvantages
- 67% of MSW buried in landfills in U.S., 80% Canada, 15% Japan, 4% Denmark - two types of landfills - first type, newer/sanitary landfills, wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted, covered with clay/foam daily, keeps material dry, reduces leakage of contaminated water (leachate), lessens risk of fire, reduces odor, prevents vermin access, bottoms/sides strong double liners/containment systems that prevent water from escaping/leaching into ground, some can collect and burn methane, but can potentially release - second type, open dumps,large field/pit where garbage is disposed/burned, rare in more-developed, near major cities in less-developed, China dispose 85% of waste in open dumps or poorly regulated/designed landfills that do not have features of sanitary landfills, wastes end up in rivers, lakes, oceans, some say landfills good cause has materials we can use, others say bad because expensive to dig through and separate and should just separate beforehand
Thinking About Hazardous Waste
- 95% of hazardous waste including e-waste produced in U.S. is not regulated
Burning Solid Waste Has Advantages and Disadvantages
- MSw burned in more than 600 large waste-to-energy incinerators, use the heat to boil water/make steam/heating/producing electricity, intended to burn unreuseable/unrecyclable trash, 115 incinerators in the U.S. - U.S. incinerates 9% of MSW, low because bad reputation of pollution/poor regulation, also competes with low-cost landfills - Denmark incinerates 54% of MSW, uses newer designs of waste-to-energy, recycles/composts 42% of MSW compared to 24% in U.S. and buries 4% in landfills compared to 67% in U.S. - Denmark incinerators filter toxic pollutants ex mercury/dioxins, release fraction of toxic dioxins compared to fireplaces/barbecues, exceed air pollution standards by factor of 10, 2009 study shows landfills emit more air pollutants than modern incinerators, stored chemicals still have to go somewhere - Denmark/EU burn trash in small/low cost area, community based, no need for trucks long distance, Germany incinerates 34% and recycles/composts the rest - In U.S. used in Florida with closed landfills, recycles/composts half of its trash and burns rest for electricity in 36000 homes, opposed against because discourages reusing/recycling, encourages resource use because needs to be fed trash in order to be cost-efficient/profitable
Case Study: Solid Waste in the United States
- U.S. leads in total solid waste/solid waste per person, 4.6% population of world, 25% solid waste of world, about 98.5% of solid waste in U.S. is industrial, 76% mining, 13% agriculture, 9.5% industry, rest of 1.5% is MSW - EPA reports amount of MSW, researchers and BioCycle magazine have gathered actual info, EPA estimates from matter-flow models, found that U.S. produce more, recycle less, and compost less than the EPA estimated - U.S. produced 389m tons in 2008, each American throw 7 pounds/ 2570 pounds a year, 1/3 more than EPA estimate, researchers found only 24% recycled, EPA estimate was 34%, doesn't include industrial waste, only MSW - 2010, largest categories of MSW were paper/cardboard 29%, food waste 14%, yard waste 13%, plastics 12%, metals 9%, packaging 32%, largest category, U.S. makes enough waste to fill garbage trucks, long enough to circle globe 6 times/reach more than halfway to moon, 67% ends in landfills, 9% incinerated, most becomes litter - ex of high-waste economy of solid waste, enough tires to circle planet 3 times, disposable diapers that if lined up can reach moon and back 7 times, enough carpet to cover Delaware, 2.8m nonreturnable plastic bottles every hour and year supply put together reach moon and back 6 times, 274m plastic shopping bags a day or 3200 a second, enough paper to build wall 11ft high from New York to San Francisco, enough plastic wrap a year to wrap Texas, 25b nonrecyclable plastic foam cups a year, circle Earth 436 times if lined - wastes break down slowly, lead/mercury/glass/plastic foam/plastic bottles forever to break down, aluminum 500 years, plastic bags 400-1000 years, plastic holder 100 years
environmental justice
- an ideal whereby every person is entitled to protection from environmental hazards regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, income, social class, or any political factor
hazardous (toxic) waste
- any discarded material or substance that threatens human health or the environment because it is poisonous, dangerously chemically reactive, corrosive, or flammable
We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste
- burial on land/long storage as third or last resort after first two priorities, burial on land most popular in US because least expensive - most common burial method is deep-well disposal, wastes pumped into dry porous rock beneath water systems, can't reach groundwater cause clay and rock blockage, cheap cost and waste can be retrieved in case, however has limited sites/space and sometimes leak into groundwater from well shaft or randomly, encourages production of wastes which is bad, U.S. 2/3 of liquid wastes put into deep well, more as fracking increases, inadequate regulation atm - surface impoundments,lined ponds, pits, or lagoons where liquid waste stored, liners to help contain waste, water evaporates waste settles and becomes concentrated, using no liner or leaking or not using double liners can contaminate groundwater and chemicals evaporate into air cause no cover, storms can also overflow, EPA studies U.S. 70% of storage ponds have no liners and could threaten groundwater, eventually ALL will leak, some - some materials we cant destroy/detoxify/bury, best to prevent/reduce use or seal in stored containers above ground/salt mines/bedrock caverns where they can be inspected - sometimes both liquid/solid waste put into containers and buried in secure hazardous waste landfills, least-used cause of expenses - first step in hazardous waste is reducing output
Why Are Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling So Important?
- by refusing/reducing resource use and reusing/recycling wastes we use, decrease consumption of material/energy resources, reduce pollution/natural capital degradation, and save money
recycling
- convert whatever to useful items and buy products made from recycled materials
Recycling Has Advantages and Disadvantages
- critics say recycling is costly, adds to taxpayer burden, may make economic sense for valuable/easy-to-recycle materials like paper/steel/aluminium/paperboard, but not cheap/plentiful resources like glass - proponents say that net economic, health, and environmental benefits outweigh costs, recycling reduced emissions of CO2 by that of 36m passenger vehicles, recycling one ton of steel eliminates need to mine 2.5 tons of iron and 1.4 tons of coal, employs 1.1m people a year for jobs with high revenues - cities that make money by recycling use single-pickup system rather than dual-pickup, use pay-as-you-throw approach, encourages people to carefully sort trash, 2012 SF recycled 78% MSW
refusing
- don't use whatever
Core Case Study: E-Waste - An Exploding Problem
- e-waste is the fastest growing solid waste problem in U.S./world - only 14% of U.S. e-waste is recycled, rest ends in landfills/incinerators even though valuable materials in the electronics, high quality plastics/valuable metals (aluminum, copper, platinum, silver, gold, rare-earth metals) - also a source of toxic/hazardous chemicals that contaminate air, surface/ground water, soil, health problems for e-waste workers/people in general - unused e-waste sent to China/India/other Asian or African countries where labor is cheap/environmental regulation is weak - workers there dismantle/burn/treat e-waste with acids to recover the valuable parts/metals, exposes workers to toxic metals (mercury/lead/etc), remaining scrap thrown into waterways/fields or burned, exposes people to toxic chemicals called dioxins - transfer of such waste from more to less developed countries banned by International Basel Convention, signed by 179 countries, despite ban, some e-waste not classified as hazardous or is transferred illegally, U.S. didn't sign, can export - European Union stepping up, cradle-to-grave approach, requires manufacturers to take back electronics after they are dead/broken and repair/remanufacture/recycle them, also banned from landfills/incinerators, Japan doing the same, consumers have to pay recycling tax on their electronics to pay for program/approach, full-cost pricing example, however high costs complying with laws makes people ship waste to other countries instead of recycling them
There Are Alternatives to the Throwaway Economy
- economy today prompts consumers to buy more, supports businesses/jobs, based on increasing use of resources, not good for environment/economic sustainability in long run - refusing, especially products with high environmental impact, one way to be sustainable, begs question "Do I really need this" - reducing is second level, buying less, begs question "How many of this thing do I really need" - reusing is third level, cleaning items to increase life span of items, decreases material/energy material use, cuts waste, creates jobs, save money - problem is we use too many throwaway items, more pollution/mass of solid waste, ex 1b throwaway paper cups from one donut shop encircles earth twice, shop reduces amount of waste by discounting customers for refillable mug - reuse on the rise, Denmark/Finland/Prince Edward Island ban nonreuseable containers, Finland 95% of soft drink/beer/wine containers refillable, can reduce toxic waste by using rechargeable batteries, 15 minutes to recharge, last two years if untouched - people reducing throwaway paper/plastic bags by using cloth bags, unclear which is more harmful, plastic bags take 400-1000 years to break down, less than 1% of 102b plastic bags recycled in U.S. yearly, block drains/sewage, kill wildlife/livestock that try to eat or get trapped - Ireland/Taiwan/Netherlands tax plastic bags to reduce use, 90% decrease in use when 25 cent tax in Ireland, Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda/South Africa/Bangladesh/Bhutan/India/Taiwan/China/Australia/France/Italy banned use of plastic bags, by 2012, SF/LA/California/Texas/Oregon/Hawaii banned plastic bags, 20 other countries followed
International Treaties Have Reduced Hazardous Waste
- environmental justice applies international levels, 1992 Basel convention treaty bans more-developed from sending waste to less-developed without permission, 1995 outlaw all transfers, 2012 signed 179 countries but U.S. Afghanistan, and Haiti have not signed - ban will help, but won't rid of all profitable shipping, smugglers can evade by using bribes/false permits/mislabeling hazardous as recyclable - delegates 122 countries global treaty, convention on POP, persistent pollutants that can accumulate in tissues of humans/animals, hazardous, levels can reach hundreds/thousands times higher than levels in general environment, can be transported wind/water - original list of 12 chemicals, dirty dozen, includes DDT and 8 other chlorine containing pesticides, PCBs, dioxins, furans, every person has detectable levels of POP, effects of it are unknown - 2012, 178 countries ratified version of POPs treaty that bans/phase out chemicals/detoxify/isolate stockpiles, allows 25 countries to use DDT to combat malaria, U.S. has not ratified treaty, list of POPs to grow - Swedish Parliament make law by 2020, ban all potentially hazardous chemicals that persist in environment/accumulate in humans, requires industries to perform tests to see if chemicals safe, opposed to showing its dangerous, all chemicals guilty until proven innocent (reverse of current policy in US), strong opposition to approach from industries that use the chemicals
We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes
- first step in dealing with hazardous wastes is collecting, in Denmark, waste delivered to any of 21 stations, then taken to processing facility where 3/4 of waste is detoxified by physical, chemical, and biological methods, rest buried in landfills - physical methods include using charcoal/resin to filter out solids, distilling liquid waste to separate out harmful chemicals, and precipitating (allow natural processes to separate) chemicals from the solution, esp deadly waste can be encapsulated in glass, cement, ceramics then stored - chemical methods used to convert to harmless/less harmful chemicals through reactions, scientists testing cyclodextrin (sugar from cornstarch, molecular sponge-like) to remove toxic materials like solvents/pesticides from soil or groundwater, after moves through soil/groundwater picking up toxic chemicals, taken out of ground, stripped of chemicals,reused - another approach is use of nanomagnets, nanoparticles coated with compounds that can remove pollutants from water, magnetic fields used to retrieve nanomagnets, pollutants taken out and nanomagnets reused - scientists consider biological treatment methods to be wave of the future, one approach is bioremediation, bacteria/enzymes destroy toxic substances/convert them to harmless compounds, used to break down ex PCB/pesticides/oil, leaves behind water and salts, takes longer but costs less - another approach is phytoremediation, involves using natural/engineered plants to absorb,filter, and remove pollutants from polluted soil and water, pollution sponges for pesticides, solvents, toxic metals, still being evaluated and slow but can be used to clean up toxic hotspots - can incinerate hazardous wastes to less hazardous like CO2 or water, incinerating can release toxic dioxins and toxic ash if not monitored well through pollution control - another approach is using plasma gasification, uses arcs of energy to produce high temperature to vaporize trash in absence of oxygen, reduces amount of waste by 99%, produces synthetic gaseous fuel, encapsulates toxic chemicals in lumps of glassy rock, not used cause of high costs
There Is Great Potential for Recycling
- five major types of materials that can be recycled, paper/glass/aluminum/steel/plastic, two ways to reprocess, primary (closedloop) recycling, convert one product into another product of same type, secondary recycling, convert product into completely different product - two types of recyclable waste, preconsumer/internal waste generated in manufacturing process and postconsumer/external waste generated by customer's use, preconsumer makes 3/4 of total - three steps for recycling, collecting the waste, converting to new products, then selling/buying recycled products, all steps must be consistent - 2010, U.S. recycled/composted less than 1/4 of MSW, included recycling of 96% of all lead-acid batteries, 72% of newspapers, 67% of steel cans, 50% of discarded aluminum cans, rates increased because of curbside pickup recycling programs risen to 9000, serves half of U.S. population, experts say U.S. could recycle/compost 80% of MSW with proper incentives, chemical cycling - composting is form of recycling that mimics nature's recycling of nutrients, bacteria to decompose biodegradable wastes, resulting material can be given to plants for nutrients, slow soil erosion, retain water, and improve crop yields, can be done in simple containers/piles that must be turned over occasionally/in drums that rotate to mix wastes and speed decomposition process - cities in Canada/EU collect 85% of biodegradables in facilities to compost, U.S. about 3000 composting programs recycle 60% of yard wastes in country's MSW, in 2012, 25 states had some ban on yard wastes in landfills, compost can be used as fertilizer/topsoil/landfill cover/revenue - compost program must be located carefully to control odors and be successful, can be done indoors, Alberta, indoor facility size of eight football fields composts 50% of city's waste, must exclude toxic materials that contaminate crops/lawns
Mike Biddle's Contribution to Plastics Recycling
- founded MBA Polymers, goal was to recycle high-value plastics from manufactured goods (electronics, appliances,automobiles), succeeded through a 21-step process that separate plastics from nonplastics, then separates plastics by type, then converts into pellets for new products, cheaper because uses 90% less energy than virgin plastic, less greenhouse gas, no need to incinerate, world leader in plastic recycling, one in California and two plants in China and Austria
Grassroots Action Has Led to Better Solid and Hazardous Waste Management
- grassroots (bottom-up) citizen movements prevent construction of hundreds of incinerators, landfills, treatment plants for wastes, polluting plants near communities, health risks from incinerators low when averaged but high for people living near the facilities - companies say something must be done with waste, even if citizens do NIMBY approach, will always end up in backyard, citizens argue and say best way to deal with is produce less, say end goal should be NIABY or NOPE, emphasizes pollution prevention/reduction
composting
- important form of recycling, involves using bacteria to decompose yard trimmings, vegetable food scraps, and other biodegradable organic wastes into materials that increases soil fertility
Case Study: Industrial Ecosystems: Copying Nature
- important goal is make industrial processes cleaner/more sustainable by mimicing nature, called biomimicry, one organism's waste is another's nutrients, endless recycling - one way to mimic nature is reuse/recycle minerals and chemicals they use rather than bury or burn or shipping them elsewhere - another way is through resource exchange webs, one industries's trash is another industries's raw material to use - happening in Denmark, electric plant/farms/industries collaborate to save money and reduce waste/pollution output within ecoindustrial park or industrial ecosystem, exchange waste for resources, reduces flow of nonrenewable mineral/energy resources - more than 40 ecoindustrial parks, 18 in U.S. operate worldwide, more to come and maybe on brownfield sites, global network results in ecoindustrial revolution - provides benefits to businesses, reduce costs of managing solid wastes, controls pollution, complies with regulations, reduce company's chance of being sued by reducing damages, also improves healthy/safety of workers by reducing exposure to chemicals which reduces insurance costs, encourages new environmentally beneficial processes and chemicals that can be sold worldwide - biomimicry involves two major steps, first is observe changes in nature and study how natural systems respond to changing conditions, second step is try to adapt/copy these responses to help deal with challenges we have with environment
Reuse, Recycling, and Composting Present Economic Opportunities
- people saving money from reuse, yard sales, flea markets, second-hand stores, or online sites (Ebay), Freecycle Network links people who want to give away something and people who want or need that something, 7 million members, reuse 700 tons of items a day (amount of solid waste arrives at a mid-size landfill a day) - recycling is business opportunity, upcycling is recycling to a higher-value material, British Company Worn Again ex converting hot air ballons/seat covers into windbreakers and more, North Carolina Professor Na Lu upcycle water bottles to building materials that could outperform lumber - companies realize can save money by minimizing packaging through dual-use packaging, Hewlett-Packard package computers in laptop bags used indefinitely, saved 97% packaging waste, bags made of recycled materials from HP
We Throw Away Huge Amounts of Useful Things
- in natural world, no wastes made, any wastes become nutrients/materials for another organism - humans violate policy, produce waste that pollutes environment, one computer = 700 different materials from mines/oil wells/chemical factories, needs energy to make, one pound of electronic = 8000 pound of waste, = one truck - law of conservation of matter, always produce waste, could reduce this waste of resources and environmental harm by 80% according to studies - major category of waste is solid waste, two types, industrial solid waste from mines/farms/industries and municipal solid waste aka garbage/trash, consists of combined solid waste from homes and places other than factories, examples are paper/cardboard/food wastes/cans/bottles/yard wastes/furniture/plastics/metals/glass/wood/e-waste, should change name from MSW to MWR, mostly wasted resources - much of waste ends in rivers, lakes, oceans, natural landscapes, plastic threat to terrestrial animals, seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles, which mistakes plastic bag for jellyfish/food - 80% of plastic in ocean blown from beaches/rivers/storm drains/etc, rest are from ships/boats/ocean-going garbage barges - in more developed, MSW buried in landfills/burned in incinerators, in less developed, ends up in open dumps where poor people search for stuff to sell or use for money, U.S. is largest producer of MSW
Hazardous Waste Is a Serious and Growing Problem
- major category of waste is hazardous/toxic waste, harmful to health, ex. industrial solvents, hospital medical waste, car batteries(lead/acid), household pesticide products, dry-cell batteries(mercury/cadmium), ash and sludge from incinerators/plants, can lead to pollution of air/water/degradation of ecosystems/health threats - two largest types of hazardous wastes are organic(solvents,pesticides,PCBs,dioxins)/nondegradable(lead,mercury,arsenic) waste - another form is highly radioactive waste produced by nuclear plants/weapon facilities, wastes must be stored 10000-240000, depends on isotopes that are present, 60 years and no scientific/political way to safely isolate wastes - according to UNEP, developed countries produce 80-90% of wastes, U.S. is the largest producer, China may soon take over number one as they industrialize with no pollution/waste control, top three producers for U.S. are military, chemical industry, mining industry
waste management
- method in which we attempt to control wastes in ways that reduce their environmental harm without seriously trying to reduce the amount of waste produced
waste reduction
- method in which we produce much less waste/pollution, and wastes we do produce are considered to be potential resources that can be reused, recycled, or composted
Bioplastics
- most todays plastics from polymers from petroleum-based chemicals, bioplastic is plastics made from biologically based chemicals - Henry ford supported research for bioplastic from hemp/soybean - oil became more popular and petrochemical plastics took over, with climate change now, must change to degradable plastics from corn/soy/sugarcane/switchgrass/chicken feathers/some garbage - bioplastics are lighter/stronger/cheaper, requires less energy to make and less pollution, can be composted to soil conditioner - some bioplastics better than others, ex corn from industrial farms require more energy/water/chemical fertilizers to grow
Garbology and Tracking Trash
- much of information comes from research from garbologists (William Rathje), teach people to sort/weight/itemize trash and bore holes in dumps to analyze findings - landfills are big compost piles, should take months for stuff to decompose, found 50 year old newspapers/hot dogs/pork chops that were not decayed, resists decomposition because tightly packed and protected from sunlight, water, air, and bacteria that decompose waste - MIT researches conducted Trash Track, aim to increase recycling in NYC to 100% from 30% by 2030, attaches wireless transmitters to trash in NYC/Seattle, Washington/London, England, shows real-time movement of trash, 75% of tracked waste reached recycling plants in Seattle
We Can Mix or Separate Household Solid Wastes for Recycling
- one way to recycle is send wastes to MRFs, facilities that separate mixed waste to recover valuable materials for sale, remaining paper/plastic/etc recycled/burned to produce steam/electricity to run the facility or its sold - facilities expensive to build/operate, can possibly emit CO2/pollutants/ash in landfills, MRFs need lots of garbage to run efficiently and encourages production of garbage and use of material/energy resources, not good/opposite - experts say source separation approach produces less pollutants and costs less for MRFs, households separate their trash by glass/plastic/paper/metal/etc, saves energy, provides jobs, and yields more valuable materials - 7000 communities in U.S. use a pay-as-you-throw or fee-per-bag to promote separation of waste, charge households for amount of trash but not for recyclable materials, Texas implemented went from 21% to 85% recycling, went from losing 600k yearly in recycling to gaining 1m yearly
Three Big Ideas
- order of priorities for dealing with solid waste should be produce less, reuse/recycle as much, then safely burn/burn the rest - order of priorities for dealing with hazardous waste is produce less, reuse/recycle it, convert to less hazardous material, then store whats left - we need to view solid wastes as wasted resources and hazardous wastes as materials we should not produce in the first place
We Can Cut Solid Wastes by Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling
- order of priorities from scientists, four R's of resource use are refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, first three R's are preferred because are input/waste prevention before it occurs - recycling important after waste produced, important form is composting, uses bacteria to decompose yard trimmings, vegetable food scraps, and other wastes to make materials for soil fertility - using four R's and composting, save matter/energy resources, reduce pollution/greenhouse gas, protect biodiversity, save money - six strategies that industries/communities use, change industrial processes to eliminate/reduce use of harmful chemicals (3M company saved $1.2b), redesign manufacturing processes and products to use less material and energy (cars now are lighter through light steel/plastic), develop products easy to repair, reuse, remanufacture, compost, recycle (Xeros photocopiers use easy reuse parts, save $1b), eliminate/reduce unnecessary packaging, (hierarchy for packaging - no packaging, reusable packaging, recyclable packaging, EU requires 55-80% recycling of packaging), use fee-per-bag waste collection systems (charge consumers for waste they throw away, free pickup of recyclables), establish cradle-to-grave laws (require companies to take back consumer products, electronics/appliances/motor vehicles, Japan/EU)
Tying It All Together: E-Waste and Sustainability
- problem of maintaining high-waste society is growing amount of e-waste and solid/hazardous waste, must make transition from throwaway economy to more sustainable/low-waste/reducing/reusing/recycling economy - can do this by relying less on fossil fuel/nuclear and relying on renewable energy from sun/wind/water, can mimic nature's chemical cycling by reusing/recycling materials - integrated waste management is combination of multiple methods to solve problem, emphasizes waste reduction/pollution - should include full-cost pricing in chemicals to encourage people to refuse/reduce/reuse/recycle, benefits environment, get new jobs, benefits health, win-win solutions, lower levels of resource per person, lower demand for materials and less waste in the end which is good
open dumps
- second type of landfill, essentially a large field or large pit where garbage is deposited and sometimes burned
How Can We Make the Transition to a More Sustainable Low-Waste Society?
- shifting to a low-waste society requires individuals and businesses to reduce resource use and to reuse and recycle wastes at local, national, and global levels
What Are Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste, and Why Are They Problems?
- solid waste contributes to pollution, includes valuable resources that could be reused/recycled - hazardous waste contributes to pollution, natural capital degradation, health problems, premature death
industrial solid waste
- solid waste that is produced by mines, farms, industries that supply people with goods
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Burning or Burying Solid Waste
- technologies for burning/burying wastes are well developed, but burning contributes to air/water pollution and greenhouse gas, burying eventually contributes to pollution and degradation of land and resources
We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling
- three factors hinder reuse/recycling - first, market prices of all products do not include health/environmental costs associated with using/discarding them - second, economic playing field is uneven, resource-extracting industries given more tax breaks/subsidies than reuse/recycling industries - third, demand/price for recycled materials fluctuate because buying goods made of recycled materials is not priority of government - can encourage by evening out economic playfield, more breaks/subsidies for reuse/recycle materials and less for items of virgin resources - one way to include environmental costs of products/encourage recycling is add deposit fee to price of recyclable items, Canadian Provinces/EU/ten U.S. states have bottle bills, laws place 5-10 cent fee on beverage container, consumer can recover fee by returning empty cans back, these 10 states recycled 70% of bottles/cans compared to 28% in states with no bottle bills - another strategy is increase use of fee-per-bag collection systems, pay for amount of trash you make, but recycling is free, promotes separation of items Texas, 21% to 85% of households recycling trash, losing 600k to 1m profit - governments pass law to require companies to take back/recycle/reuse packaging and e-waste from consumers, done in Japan/EU - important strategy is encourage/require government purchases of recycled products to increase demand for/lower prices of recycled products - citizens can demand government to list type/amount of recycled content and list wastes, help consumers make informed choices when buying products, expand/increase demand for recycled products
We Can Use Integrated Management of Hazardous Waste
- three priority levels for hazardous waste, produce less, convert as much to less-hazardous material, then put rest in long-term storage, Denmark follows other countries do not - top priority is pollution and waste prevention/reduction, find substitutes for toxic materials, reuse/recycle materials within processes, or use as materials for other products - 33% of hazardous wastes in EU exchanged through clearinghouses, sold as raw materials to other industries, no cost to dispose and people can buy low-cost materials, only 10% in U.S., should be higher - can recycle e-waste,but creates hazards for workers in less-developed countries
We Can Burn, Bury, or Recycle Solid Waste or Produce Less of It
- two methods to deal with solid waste, one is waste management, reducing environmental harm of solid waste without reducing amount of waste produced, involves mixing wastes together then transferring from environment by burying/burning/shipping - second method is waste reduction, produce much less waste, wastes we do produce are resources we reuse/recycle/compost - no single solution to waste problem, researchers use integrated waste management, variety of strategies for waste disposal/reduction - EPA calls for emphasis on waste prevention/reduction and pollution prevention rather than waste disposal, could reduce up to 80% of waste by applying strategies in this order, reduce/reuse/recycle or compost/incinerate/bury
reusing
- use whatever over and over again
secondary recycling
- waste materials are converted into different products
Case Study: Recycling E-Waste
- workers, mostly children, exposed to chemicals when trying to take valuable parts from e-waste - 70% of e-waste shipped to China, small port in Guiyu, air reeks burning plastic/acid fumes, more than 5500 small e-waste businesses employ 30000 people and children, low wages and dangerous, extract gold/copper/rare-earth metals from millions of computers/tv sets/phones, no masks/gloves, no ventilation in rooms, exposed to chemicals, smash tv for parts releases lead dust, burn wires for copper, melt circuit boards over fires for lead and others, douse boards with strong acid for gold, any leftover parts dumped into rivers/land or burned, dioxin levels in atmosphere in Guiyu 86 times higher than safety standard 82% of children under 6 have lead poisoning - U.S. produces 50% of world's e-waste, recycles 14%, however on rise, bans on disposal of tv sets and computers increased e-waste recycling in U.S. by 53% and 5000 to 7500 e-waste dropoff sites, 13 states + NYC make manufacturers recycle their own waste - some manufacturers recycling for free, some will recycle for a fee, some call for a law that forces manufacturers to take back all e-waste and recycling them - recycling won't keep up with e-waste growth, however no money made sending materials to other countries, only long term solution is prevention of toxic metals/materials in electronic products so they can be easily reused/remade
