Chapter 21 Solid and Hazardous Waste
_________ are inefficient because they are expensive to build, discharge toxic emissions, and can produce a toxic ash.
(MRF) Materials-recovery facilities
Plastics are routinely recycled because they are composed of pure resins that can be extracted and used for other plastic products. True False
False
The European Union has an approach to ewaste, known as the cradle-to-grave approach, which requires manufacturers to provide health benefits from cradle-to-grave. True False
False
The National Priorities List identifies hazardous waste sites, with clean up of these sites based on priority and severity. True False
False
The incineration of hazardous wastes is quick, conserves space, and reduces waste volume but is not used because of the increased water pollution that results. True False
False
The world's largest landfill, called _________ __________, outside of New York City closed in 2001; it is being turned into a park and nature preserve.
Fresh kills
Reusing products can be a health hazard for the poor in developing countries who dismantle products to extract usable parts. True False
True
The Basal Action Network says that most businesses that call themselves ewaste recyclers take your recycling fee and ship the waste to China, India, or Nigeria. True False
True
The best and cheapest ways to deal with solid and hazardous wastes are waste reduction and pollution prevention.
True
The ecoindustrial revolution includes the redesign of manufacturing processes to mimic how nature reduces and recycles wastes. True False
True
The fastest growing solid waste problem in the U.S. and in the world is ewaste. True False
True
The products of composting can be used to slow soil erosion, retain water, and improve crop yields. True False
True
Waste reduction is the preferred solution to managing solid wastes because it does not try to avoid the issue of economic growth. True False
True
__________-_____-__________ incinerators produce 38% less CO2 per unit of energy than coal-burning power plants.
Waste-to-energy
Choose the letter that represents rhizofiltration.
a
For each one pound of electronics in a computer, how much solid and liquid wastes were created?
a. 4 tons
What percentage of the hazardous waste produced in the U.S. is regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act?
a. 5%
Which of the following principles does not contribute to a transition to a low-waste society? .
a. Economic growth and free markets reduce waste.
In order for an incinerator to be a safe alternative for waste disposal all of the following must be done, except
a. Find a use for the heat generated.
A disproportionate share of polluting factories, hazardous waste dumps, incinerators, and landfills in the U.S. are located in communities populated by all of the following, except
c. Caucasians
All of the following reflect a low-waste approach, except
c. built-in obsolescence
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using a plasma torch to detoxify hazardous waste?
c. cost
Waste that includes paper, food wastes, cans, bottles, yard waste, glass, wood, and similar items is called
c. municipal solid waste
The top priority when dealing with hazardous waste should be
c. pollution prevention and waste reduction
Taking a refillable coffee cup to the office and using it instead of throwaway cups is an example of __.
c. reuse
At the checkout counter, an environmentalist is most likely to
c. say "I brought my own bag."
Choose the letter that represents phytoextraction.
d
Hazardous waste includes radioactive wastes, which will have to be stored safely for as long as
d. 240,000 years
The recycling and composting rate of U.S. municipal solid waste is about
d. 32%
Currently, the United States recycles about _____ of all its wastepaper.
d. 56%
How much of the waste we mix, crush, and bury could actually be recycled?
d. 75%
The amount of solid waste produced in the United States each year would fill a convoy of garbage trucks stretching around the world almost
d. 8 times
Critics of recycling are most likely to claim
d. It does make sense to recycle if it costs more than landfilling or incinerating.
Source separation differs from materials-recovery facilities in all but which of the following?
d. It encourages higher throughput of matter.
In a low-waste approach, which of the following strategies should be given lowest priority?
d. bury
Partially biodegradable plastics need _____ to be broken down.
d. cool conditions
Which of the following is the most common method of storage of hazardous wastes used in most countries of the world?
d. land burial
With 4.6% of the world's population, the United States produces about _____ of the world's solid waste.
d. one-third
Studies by two soft-drink companies indicate that 21-oz bottles of soft drinks cost _____ in refillable bottles than throw away bottles.
d. one-third less
Consumers of recycled products are most effective when they maximize the amount of _____ waste in the products.
d. post-consumer
Which is the most advanced approach?
d. reducing the amount of materials used
Approximately 70% of the world's electronic waste (ewaste) ends up
d. shipped to China
Compost is most accurately described as
d. soil conditioner and organic fertilizer
Since 1995, Superfund has been primarily funded by
d. taxpayers
Environmentalists say that the best way to handle soft-drink and beer containers is to
d. use reusable glass bottles
The United States produces one-half of the world's ewaste and recycles
e. 10—15% of it
What percentage of liquid hazardous waste in the U.S. is injected into deep disposal wells?
e. 64%
Scientists estimate that in a low-waste society _____ of solid and hazardous waste could be eliminated through reduction, reuse, and recycling.
e. 75-90%
Plastic is not recycled at a high rate for all of the following reasons, except
e. Health concerns exist about continual use of plastic.
In 1989 an international treaty called the Basel Convention banned developed countries from shipping hazardous waste to developing countries. Which of the following countries has not ratified the treaty?
e. United States
As a form of waste reduction, reuse does all of the following, except:
e. costs money
Japan embraces resource exchange, and most of the country's municipal solid waste is sent to __________-_____-__________ _____________ to produce steam.
waste-to-energy incinerators
*Use the Figure above to answer the following questions.* Choose the letter that represents photostabilization.
B
__________ utilizes bacteria and enzymes instead of plants to filter or destroy hazardous substances.
Bioremediation.
Large beverage industries have used their political and financial clout to force most U.S. states to pass bottle bills. True False
False
No country has yet to institute a ban on persistent organic pollutants.
False
Most scientists think that waste management should be the last priority for dealing with material use and solid waste. True False
True
Ponds, pits, or lagoons into which liners are placed and liquid hazardous wastes are stored are called __________ __________.
surface impoundments
Trash production, by weight, in the city of New York reached its peak between 1920 and 1940. True False
true
We should mimic nature by reusing, recycling, or composting at least _____% of the solid wastes we produce.
75
__________-_____-__________ laws require companies to take back various consumer products instead of having them put in landfills or incinerated.
Cradle-to-grave
__________ is the fastest-growing solid waste problem in the United States and in the world.
Ewaste
Burial or long-term storage of hazardous waste is the first priority for environmental scientists. True False
False
__________ __________ __________ is the combined solid waste produced by homes and workplaces.
Municipal solid waste
The call to drastically reduce toxic and hazardous waste, at least by 75%, is part of a concept called NOPE, which stands for
Not On Planet Earth
13. __________ systems charge consumers for the amount of garbage picked up but do not charge for the amount of materials separated that can be recycled.
Pay-as-you-throw
__________ involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants.
Phytoremediation
__________ occurs when waste is made into new products of the original type.
Primary, or closed-loop, recycling
*Use the second chart to answer the following questions.* Why is recycling an output approach for environmental concerns?
Recycling deals with wastes already produced and harmful to the environment. The wastes are the outputs. Prevention of waste production or reduction of wastes is the best approach. Recycling usually reduces pollution and waste production.
Explain how recycling reduces energy demand and makes fuel supplies last longer.
Recycling uses oil products like tires for other applications. Waste generated in manufacturing a product, for example heat, can be used to warm the manufacturer's water, etc.
In the United States, the __________ __________ _____ __________ __________ regulates only a small percentage of all hazardous waste.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
__________ are sites where waste is isolated from the environment until it is safe.
Sanitary landfills
NOPE calls for drastically reducing production of toxic and hazardous wastes by emphasizing pollution prevention and using the precautionary principle. True
True
At sanitary landfills, consideration of leachate is of most importance as far as environmental preservation is concerned. True False
True
Each day the average American produces about 2.0 kilograms (4.5 pounds) of municipal solid waste, three-fourths of which is dumped in landfills. True False
True
Integrated Waste Management involves combining several different waste management methods into one single strategy. True False
True
Which of the following is not true of plastic materials?
a. They decompose readily in landfills.
Garbage produced directly by households and businesses accounts for _____% of the solid waste produced in the United States.
a. less than 2
Which of the following methods uses natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from soil and water?
a. phytoremediation
The most energy-efficient beverage container on the market is
a. refillable glass
_____ has a beverage-container deposit fee that is 50% higher than the cost of the drink, to encourage use of refillable bottles.
b. Ecuador
____ percent of the solid waste produced in the United States is buried in landfills.
b. Fifty-four
Of the following methods of reducing hazardous wastes, the most desirable is
b. conversion to less hazardous materials
All of the following are means of detoxifying hazardous and toxic wastes, except
b. crushing and grinding
Which of the following is not a type of ewaste?
b. discarded computer printer paper
Of the following materials, the most difficult to recycle is
b. plastic
The U.S. has passed laws to facilitate the cleanup of abandoned, contaminated industrial sites, known as __________.
brownfields
Choose the letter that represents phytodegredation.
c
How many U.S. states have bottle laws?
c. 11
Which of the following is the least desirable from an environmental standpoint?
e. recycle
One way to attempt to deal with the solid wastes we create is to attempt to reduce the environmental impact without trying to reduce the amount of waste produced. This is called
e. waste management
In the __________ __________ manufacturing processes are being redesigned to mimic how nature reduces and recycles wastes.
ecoindustrial evolution
Since 1990 the annual production of municipal solid waste has doubled. True False
false
Most analysts call for using __________ __________ __________—a variety of strategies for both waste reduction and waste management.
intergrated waste management
The two largest classes of hazardous wastes are __________ and ___________.
organic compounds; toxic heavy metals
Incinerators
produce toxic substances in fly ash and bottom ash
From an environmental standpoint, the first two Rs, __________ and __________, are better alternatives because they are input or prevention approaches.
reduce; reuse
Tires being shredded and converted into surfacing for public roads is an example of __________
secondary recycling
Sanitary landfills typically have problems with
traffic, noise, and dust
