Chapter 19 Waste Environmental Science Test 5/13/16
What percentage of the energy needed to make aluminum cans from ore is needed to make recycled aluminum cans from used aluminum cans?
5 percent
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), what percentage of the approved or proposed Superfund sites have been cleaned up?
75 out of 1,200
Creating steel from scrap instead of from ore uses about _________ less energy.
75%
Superfund and RCRA are administered and enforced by the United States __________________________.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The ____________ allows for owners who illegally dump hazardous waste to be sued and forced to pay for the cleanup of their sites.
Superfund Act
An example of something that is biodegradable is
a leaf in a compost pile
Some hazardous wastes can be __________ treated with bacteria that can break down toxic substances.
biologically
Manufacturers could reduce waste and conserve resources by making products that are more ________.
durable
International trade agreements have allowed some countries to _________ hazardous waste to other countries for disposal, treatment, or recycling.
export
An advantage of _______ plastic is that its production uses 20 to 50 percent less fossil fuel than does the protection of regular plastic.
green
Wastes containing toxic, corrosive, or explosive materials are considered ____________.
hazardous
An advantage of solid waste __________ is that it reduces the amount of trash destined for landfills.
incinerators
From 1970 to the present, the percentage of waste that is recycled has
increased from 6.6 percent to 28 percent
A material is biodegradable if
it can be broken down by biological processes
Which of the following is not a requirement for a landfill built today?
it must be a specified distance from a city or other populated area
Problems associated with ________ include leachate, methane gas, and inadequate space.
landfills
A modern landfill has a plastic liner to prevent _________ from seeping into the soil and contaminating the groundwater.
leachate
Which of the following are problems associated with landfills?
leachate and methane production
According to the text, what is the most helpful thing that a consumer can do to make sure that more materials are recycled?
make an effort to buy products made from recycled materials whenever possible
More than half of the solid waste produced in the United States comes from ____________.
manufacturing
Which of the following produces the most solid waste?
manufacturing
Which of the following statements does not describe a problem associated with modern landfills?
materials buried in landfills decompose in three years
The methane found in landfills is a gas that
may be captured and used to produce energy
Some landfills generate electricity by burning the _______ that is produced by decomposing garbage.
methane gas
Composting provides _________ to the soil while keeping organic wastes out of landfills.
nutrients
Making products from recycled materials
often saves energy and other resources during the manufacturing process
The main problem with so-called biodegradable plastics is that
only its organic portion actually decomposes
Which items make up the largest percentage of waste produced by households and businesses?
paper products
You can use your consumer buying power to reduce solid waste by using __________ batteries.
rechargeable
Which of the following is not considered hazardous waste?
rotting meat and other food waste
The steps involved in the recycling of materials are _________, cleaning, and crushing.
sorting
Reducing solid waste by using less material is called __________ reduction.
source
Some hazardous waste is disposed of by deep-well injection. This procedure
stores wastes in layers of dry rock below the water table
Polyester is a(n) _______________ and therefore non-biodegradable, material commonly used in clothing.
synthetic material
Under the Superfund Act,
the EPA may sue companies that dump hazardous waste illegally
Which regulation requires producers of hazardous wastes to document how their wastes are handled?
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
An example of source reduction is
using canvas shopping bags
Which of the following is a true statement about recycling?
after they are collected, recyclable materials are cleaned and processed
Which of the following correctly describes biodegradable plastics?
all of the above
Which of the following is not a method of reducing hazardous waste?
allowing fungi to break down petroleum sludge
A common characteristic of all hazardous-waste land-disposal facilities that they
are long-term storage sites
Materials that are formed naturally are _____________.
biodegradable
Decomposing yard waste and fruit and vegetable trimmings can be broken down by bacteria to form __________, which reduces the need for fertilizers.
compost
Which of the following correctly describes the disposal of waste by composing?
composting could reduce the amount of waste that restaurants, food-processing plants, and animal feedlots send to landfills
The process of composting
could effectively handle a variety of wastes
biodegradable plastics never completely ___________.
decompose
Disposing of hazardous wastes by pumping them into the ground below groundwater level is called _______________.
deep-well injection
More companies will use recycled products if consumers buy recycled products and create an increased _________ for such products.
demand
The total amount of solid waste generate in the United States in the last 40 years has
doubled
