Unit 7 & 8: Solid Waste and Air Pollution

What are the three ingredients that form photochemical smog?

VOCs + NOx + sunglight

Why are computer, batteries, and light bulbs often not recycled?

too complex, too large, or contain too many toxins to recycle at a MRF (need a specialized facility, or end up overseas in countries with fewer regulations... see e-waste)

Why is acid rain bad?

toxifies lakes and streams, destroys forests, and threatens entire plant populations. Also threatens urban environments: eats away at limestone and marble buildings.

Which plastics are easiest to recycle?

1 & 2

What are the six different types of plastics and what are they called?

1- PET (plastic water bottles), 2- HDPE (sturdier plastic containers like milk cartons), 3- PVC (pipes), 4- LDPE, 5- PP, 6-PS (styrofoam), 7-other

Draw a pie chart that shows the percentage of each type of MSW produced in 2012. What kind of waste was most prominent?

27% paper and paperboard (MOST PROMINENT), 14.5% food waste (not wrappers, actual food), 13.5% yard clippings, 12.7% plastic, etc.

What pH is neutral?

7

How much MSW was produced in 1950 in comparison to 2012?

88 million tons in 1950 to 251 million today. It was initially increasing exponentially, but it has begun to level off due to recycling.

What happened in Minamata? What Minamata Disease and what causes it?

A factory was using an enzyme that contained mercury in its industrial processes. Pollution from the factory was pumped into the bay, and methylmercury eventually got into the food supply. People would eat the fish containing mercury and develop a disease called the Minamata disease.

Why do living things have difficulty surviving in acidic environments?

Acid denatures (destroys) enzymes they need to grow and thrive

What do sulfuric and nitric acid lead to?

Acid rain!

Is a pH of zero acidic or basic?

Acidic

At what point in history did we begin to live in a "throw-away society"?

After World War II

Why is normal rain slightly acidic (pH of around 6)?

As rain falls from the sky, it picks up carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide and water react to form carbonic acid

What did the Stockholm Convention do?

Banned the dirty dozen (twelve endocrine disruptors)

What is CERCLA/ the Superfund Act? What does it do?

Began due to a contamination incident at Love Canal. Its a government program that cleans up areas contaminated with hazardous waste, known as Superfund sites. Polluters are forced to pay for part of the cleanup effort.

What is carbon monoxide? How is it formed?

Can be formed through photochemical sources, but also formed via incomplete combustion

What are Air Classifiers used to separate?

Cans and plastic are separated from glass

Why is clay used to line a landfill?

Clay is highly absorbent. This prevents leachate from filtering out of the landfill. It's also negatively charged, and can retain positively charged ions and metals.

Why can't glass of different colors be recycled together?

Colors in glass are permanent and can't be separate out. The glass is chemically different and can't be recycled together.

**Draw a picture AND a graph showing the relationship between temperature and altitude during inversion

Conditions during inversion: air temperature is cooler near the earth's surface, followed by a layer of WARM air above that, and another layer of cool air above that.

How is steel recycled?

Crushed, baled, and sent to foundries where its melted down

What is a dual stream recycling plant?

Curbside bins are split into two categories: mixed paper and everything else. These categories are kept separate in the trucks, dumped into separate piles, offloaded into separate conveyor belts.

What is an example of an endocrine disruptor?

DDT (mimics a hormone)

What are the general health effects of air pollution?

Effects us via our respiratory and cardiovascular system. Can cause lung disease and heart disease.

What is e-waste? Where does it go? Why is it dangerous?

Electronic waste. Some of it goes to landfills, but most of it goes to developing countries where they recycle parts of the waste. There are VERY FEW health standards or regulations in place, so this is dangerous and toxic work (also, child labor is very common in this industry).

What is a single stream recycling plant?

Everything is thrown into the same bin and sorted later by a combination of people and high-tech machines.

Where is "good" ozone found? What does "good" ozone do?

Found in the stratosphere, block UV radiation

Where is "bad" ozone found? What does it contribute to?

Found in the troposphere. Bad ozone is a SECONDARY POLLUTANT and a component of photochemical smog.

How is waste used to produce energy?

Garbage is incinerated (especially the methane produced by garbage). This heat boils water, and the resulting vapor turns a turbine to produce electricity.

What did we used to add lead to?

Gasoline!

How is glass recycled?

Glass is separated by color and crushed into tiny pieces called "cullet". Glass is melted and reformed.

Why is it most beneficial to REDUCE?

If you reduce the amount of material used, there is less waste to be dealt with.

What happened at Love Canal?

In the 1940s and 1950s, a company had been producing hazardous waste and simply covering it up. Houses and school were eventually built there. People in the area suffered from birth defects, miscarriages, and severe illness. Declared a Superfund site.

What pH is acid rain? How many times more acidic is that compared to normal rain?

It can be as low as 3. That's 1000 times more acidic!

Only 65% of the waste shown was disposed of. What happened to the other 35%?

It was recycled or composted

What can be added to fertilizer to neutralize pH after acid rain occurs?

Limestone :)

Why doesn't acid rain have much of an effect on limestone rich soil?

Limestone is naturally alkaline. It neutralizes acid rain.

What area in the United States has a huge amount of smog?

Los Angeles.

What does MRF stand for? What do they do?

Material Recovery Facility. It's where recycling is sorted.

What does MSW stand for?

Municipal Solid Waste (waste produced by the general public, not industry)

How is nitric acid formed? (Make sure you know the chemical formula for nitric acid)

Nitric acid (HNO3) is a SECONDARY pollutant. Produced from NOx.

**The reaction you wrote above will naturally undo itself. What chemical prevents that from happening and HOW?

Nitric oxide binds to VOCs, preventing the reformation of nitrogen dioxide using the free oxygen. The free oxygen is therefore only used to form ozone.

How is tropospheric ozone formed?

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), in the presence of sunlight, will break apart to form nitric oxide (NO) and a free oxygen. This free oxygen can react with an oxygen molecule (O2) to form ozone (O3).

**Draw a picture AND a graph showing the relationship between temperature and altitude under normal conditions.

Normal conditions: air temperature gets consistently cooler the further you get away from earths surface (NOT including the thermosphere).

If the LD-50 of a chemical for mice is 3.8 mg/kg, what is a safe dose of the chemical for humans?

Note: We generally calculate a SAFE dose of a chemical for humans by dividing the LD-50 for mice by 1000. 0.0038 mg/kg

What was the Great Smog of 1952?

Occurred in London, an incredibly dense smog formed due to poor air pollution regulations (coal burning is bad news, y'all). Killed thousands of people (4,000 directly, 10,000 in the following months from respiratory and cardiovascular illness)

What are the TWO ways endocrine disruptors work?

Our cells communicate through hormones. Endocrine disruptors block receptors so that hormones can't bind to them or they imitate the hormone and bind to a receptor INSTEAD of a hormone.

How is paper recycled?

Paper is compacted, baled, sent to a mill, and placed in a hot water bath. This creates pulp. The pulp is filtered and cleaned and then formed into new paper products.

Can steel be recycled infinitely?

Pretty much

Can aluminum be recycled infinitely?

Pretty much.

How do you prevent photochemical smog?

Prevent the emission of VOCs and NOx. This has been done through legislation. See the Clean Air Act.

Are the above six pollutants PRIMARY or SECONDARY pollutants?

Primary!

What do electrostatic precipitators do?

Produce a gradient to grab onto pollutants

What is composting?

Recycling organic materials, like food waste or yard clippings, using the natural process of decomposition (an apple core is eventually broken down by bacteria, fungus, and earthworms to form rich humus)

How do we minimize the amount of waste? List from most favored to least favored.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, energy recovery, disposal

What do catalytic converters do?

Reduces NOx, carbon monoxide, and soot emitted from combustion engines.

How do sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide make it into the atmosphere?

Released when we burn fossil fuels for energy

Why is PVC known as the "poison plastic"?

Releases hydrochloric acid when it's melted

How does inversion trap pollutants?

Remember: warm air rises. Warm air would usually rise, carrying air pollutants away from the source. The cap of warm air during inversion prevents this from happening. The layer of warm air during inversion is much warmer that the air containing the pollutants, the air remains near the source.

What does an Eddy Current Separator separate?

Separates the aluminum from the plastic.

What is the Clean Air Act of 1970?

Strict standards were placed on certain pollutants. The amount that could be emitted into the atmosphere from industrial (stationary) sources and vehicular (mobile) sources were regulated and restricted.

What does rainwater have to react with in order to become acid rain?

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide

What is SO2? Where is it found and why?

Sulfur dioxide, released when burning coal

How is sulfuric acid formed? (Make sure you know the chemical formula for sulfuric acid)

Sulfuric acid is a SECONDARY pollutant. Produced from SO2.

What is RCRA? What does it do?

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. It regulates hazardous materials from cradle to grave (to the point it was created to when its eventually stored). We leverage taxes on the industries that produce these hazardous wastes so that they can be safely stored if they go unused. (Example: oven cleaner)

What are cross belt magnets used to separate? What is left behind?

The magnet attracts iron-containing metals, mostly steel. Aluminum is left behind because its not usually magnetic.

Draw the anatomy of a landfill. Include labels for plastic lining, clay, leachate pipe system, garbage, soil, pipes for methane gas.

The plastic lining and clay line the bottom of the landfill. The leachate pipe system takes the liquid that forms from rotting organic material and transports it out of the landfill into another disposal area. Methane gas safely filters out highly explosive methane produced by rotting organic material. This can be burned for energy. Garbage is at the center of the landfill. Soil is above the lining. Usually has grass planted in the soil to prevent erosion.

What does it mean to "reuse"?

To use an item for another purpose.

How have health risks changed over time?

Used to be poor nutrition, bad indoor air pollution, poor sanitation. We are now shifting towards more modern risks: smoking, obesity, inactivity, urban air quality.

What are the 6 primary pollutants you need to memorize?

VOCs (volatile organic compounds), CO (carbon monoxide), NOx (nitrogen oxides), SO2 (sulfur dioxide), PM (particulate matter), lead

What are VOCs? Provide examples.

Volatile Organic Compounds (example: gasoline, pine tree scent, formaldehyde, etc)

What is hazardous waste?

Waste that can cause human illness or degrade the environment if not disposed of properly. Generally can't be safely disposed of in landfills.

What do wet scrubbers do?

Wet scrubbers contain a mist eliminator that grabs onto chemical and pollutants in the air that is filtered through.

What is closed loop recycling?

When you take an item and recycle it back into the same item (aluminum cans recycled to make more aluminum cans)

What is open loop recycling?

When you take an item and recycle it into a different item (plastic bottles are recycled to make carpet)

Where do we see these health effects most?

Wherever we have industrialization and not a lot of regulation (China, Eastern Europe)

What is an example of a carcinogen?

asbestos

What are allergens?

chemicals that cause allergic reactions, anaphylaxis

What are teratogens?

chemicals that interfere with fetal development (causes birth defects, miscarriage)

What are carcinogens?

chemicals that lead to cancer

What are infrared sensors used to separate?

different types of plastic

Do lower or higher trophic levels have higher levels of mercury?

higher

Why isn't styrofoam recycled?

it's not practical; a truck full of polystyrene won't melt down into much (it has a ton of air pockets). Expensive transport for little payoff.

Almost all chemicals can be a toxin if we give them in _________ __________ amounts.

large enough

What are two examples of neurotoxins?

mercury and lead

What are the five types chemicals from pollutants that can cause disease in humans?

neurotoxins, carcinogens, teratogens, endocrine disruptors, and allergens.

What are NOx?

nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) created when nitrogen and oxygen react in high heat.

Why is a change in even one number on the pH scale a big deal?

pH is measured logarithmically. A change in one number is a 10-fold change!

What five materials does single stream recycling focus on?

paper, steel, glass, aluminum, plastic,

What ARE neurotoxins?

pollutants that damage the nervous system.

What are rotary screen separators used to separate?

separates paper from heavier objects

How is aluminum recycle?

shredded, washed, and turned into chips which are melted in a large furnace and poured into molds. These are shipped out and re-melted and re-formed into cans, etc.

Less than half of all MRFs currently use ____________ stream recycling.

single

What is particulate matter? What sizes are there? How can it make you sick?

small solids. Sizes: PM10 (10 micrometers) and PM2.5 (2.5) micrometer. PM 2.5 is very dangerous because it can easily pass into your lungs and infiltrate your cardiovascular system, causing cardiovascular disease.

What are TWO examples of teratogens?

thalidomide (previously given to women to decrease morning sickness), alcohol (causes fetal alcohol syndrome)

What is bioaccumulation?

the accumulation of chemicals or pollutants in a living organism.

What is inversion?

the inversion of atmospheric temperatures, meaning a layer of warm air has capped the troposphere, trapping any potential air pollutants and preventing them from dispersing.

What is biomagnification?

the magnification of an accumulated chemical or pollutant as it moves up to higher trophic levels in the food chain.

Recycling is....

the process of collecting waste materials and breaking them down into building blocks that can be turned into new products