Module 13 Solid and Hazardous Waste
Components of CERCLA/Superfund strict liability retroactive joint and several
1. requires that "potentially responsible parties" clean up the waste; owners, operators, generators (people who generate waste), transporters 2. no statute of limitations so people who wasted before laws in place can be responsible. 3. each PRP responsible for total cleanup costs
How much HAZARDOUS waste is generated annually?
130-400 million metric tons from 14k generators
Up until the _____s everything was put into open dumps (sometimes covered with earth) or waste was burned to control volume
1950s
When did waste start becoming an environmental concern?
1970s- people did not want to be located near a dump
Waste we generate (before recycling) % paper and paperboard food waste plastics
28% 14.5% 12.7%
How much waste on average does each person generate per day?
4 pounds/day
How much waste is generated in the US annually?
6-10 billion TONS- includes all types of waste
As of 2004, PRPs paid for ___% of NPL sites cleaned up. What is the average cost of cleanup per site? Time?
70%. $25 million. 12 years.
Curtail international movement of hazardous waste Prevent OECD waste moving to less-developed countries This became more prevalent when waste disposal costs increased with internal regulation Does not address radioactive waste In 2013, 180 parties, did the US sign?
Basel Convention, 1989; NO the US DID NOT sign.
What was the Title III A. of the Superfund act motivated by?
Bhopal, India 1984; 2000 killed and 5000 disabled because a carbide plant leaked compounds at night and no one knew about it.
Which industry constitutes the largest single source of hazardous wastes in the US today?
CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING
Funding mechanism (not regulatory) for dealing with waste that is ALREADY CREATED. When something has gone wrong in responsible conduct in respect to waste it creates an environmental issue and someone needs to pay for it. Requires EPA to identify hazardous waste sites and determine their risk to the environment and human health (e.g., human exposure, release and transport, groundwater contamination)
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (1980) Superfund
type of waste that is not well-regulated in the US; where does a lot of it end up?
Electronic waste, material recovery facilities in Asia- recover elements for profit
T/F. Now that the Superfund is paid for entirely by taxpayers, more cleanup happens.
FALSE- LESS cleanup happens. The fund dried up because of the difficulties in identifying polluters.
T/F. Controlling of hazardous wastes implements strategies designed to control the waste for the next 20 years.
FALSE- for centuries
T/F. Bioremediation does not work well in areas where soils have a high clay content, making them relatively impermeable.
FALSE.
T/F. The Kyoto Convention calls on all countries to reduce their exports of hazardous waste to a minimum and deal with their waste problems within national borders.
FALSE. so what does it do?
A pharmacy (Rite Aid) has been penalized for dumping hazardous waste in local landfills Cost of properly disposing waste too high so they tried to find a way around it
Fall 2013
•Dispose of PCBs, etc.; lagoons fill up with water and move waste around •People living off well water, could be transported to wells •PRP Arco was identified •Arco wanted to do bioremediation- churn up waste and break it into smaller chunks so that bacteria can break it down •They got sued and had to go to typical solution- build steel wall to prevent flooding and do pumping treatment of groundwater
French River Limited site in Houston that SPH was involved in cleanup
How does the Superfund pay for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites owned/operated by people who aren't around anymore?
Hazardous Substance Response Trust Fund- Tax on chemical/industrial products collected in the Superfund (collects 2billion/year)
What incentives are there for companies to admit wrongdoing in regards to hazardous waste?
If the EPA ends up paying costs (because they can't identify the PRP, legal trouble, etc.) they can sue for triple the cost
when NJ stopped accepting Philidelphia incinerator ash a boat that picked up the waste, set out for the Carribbean → refused at many ports and went around for a year trying to find a place to dispose of it; o Tricked Haiti by telling them it was fertilizer, found out it wasn't, Refused entry back to Philly, Boat dumped the ash at sea
Khian Sea 1984
utopian society and canal around Niagara Falls, wanted to harness energy and control the movement of water, but ran out of money and was abandoned in the 1890s. How did they dispose of waste? What was the problem? Health problems?
Love Canal, NY; created a ditch and 22000 tons of chemical hazardous wastes legally dumped here by Hooker chemical company --> later a school and neighborhood was built here --> site was not designed to contain waste and rains during 1978 caused waste to ooze to the surface of ground, basements of homes --> health problems include spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, birth defects, asthma; important because it caused people to start thinking about abandoned waste sites.
•Lots of water from rain and coast •Looking at chromosomal aberrations in rats •Waste was incinerated •Site determined to be remediated
MOTCA site in Houston
list of abandoned hazardous waste sites considered dangerous enough to qualify them for federal cleanup funds
National Priority List
Oceans collect garbage here because of current circulation Approximately 1-2 times the size of Texas, Changing the ecosystem Even in context of waste facilities, we do not capture enough of it
Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
Regulates future and ongoing disposal of solid and hazardous wastes National program on solid waste management Municipal garbage, industrial wastes, sewage sludge, agricultural refuse, demolition wastes, and mining wastes (all treated differently within) Helped standardize where things could be thrown away Waste reduction component Financial and technical aid to state and local governments to develop methods for improved solid waste collection, separation, recovery and diposal Prohibits new dump sites Dump sites would cause waste to leak and get into water supplies → helped lead to this legislation Specify how disposal facilities are maintained
Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RRCA, 1976)
Where is the largest landfill in the US located?
Shawnee Kansas, over 1000 acres; now it is closed and a baseball diamond is nearby or on it
Why must landfilling always be an integral part of any waste management plan?
Some wastes cannot be disposed of any other way
Steps needed to track shipment from generator to disposal site How storage, treatment, and disposal facilities are to be designed and managed Maintenance of disposal sites after closure Rules for incineration- must remove most of toxic substance and create no byproducts Mechanisms for sites to be cared for properly even if it goes out of business
Specified by the manifest system for controlling disposal of HAZARDOUS wastes
Reauthorizes funding of waste site cleanups. Required planning on part of community and industry for emergency planning Emergency notification of accidental releases Community right-to-know reporting requirements Toxic chemical release inventory reporting
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, 1986; Title III (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986)
T/F. HAZARDOUS substances are not toxic, but they are persistent, bioaccumulates, flammable, corrosive or reactive.
TRUE
T/F. The cost/benefit analysis for cleaning up hazardous waste includes a consideration of the cost compared to the public health benefits.
TRUE- not an all or nothing
T/F. *RCRA* focuses only on active and future facilities and does not cover abandoned or historical sites.
TRUE.
T/F. Bioremediation can be carried out quite effectively in place, avoiding the need to transport contaminated materials elsewhere for treatment.
TRUE.
T/F. Most projects utilizing bioremediation have involved soil or groundwater contaminated with gasoline and other petrochemicals.
TRUE. (???? organic waste)
What aid does CERCLA provide for affected citizens? (3)
Temporary relocation, but NOT medical costs; does not grant relief for oil spills...
toxic waste site in Kentucky in the 1960s. The guy who owned it accepted waste from anyone, dig hole dump waste and pile it up. TONS of compounds with chemical issues. There were no laws to regulate storage and containment of toxic waste, and after waste caught fire and burned for more than a week, this issue helped pass ________
The CERCLA/Superfund Act of 1980. (Valley of the Drums, Kentucky)
What is the major environmental concern with sanitary landfills?
They are a threat to groundwater contamination because dissolved materials seep out and contaminate aquifers or surface streams;
Provides Establishment of: • State Emergency Response Commissions • Emergency Planning Districts • Local Emergency Planning Committees • To Better respond to emergency situations involving hazardous wastes directly involves public health officials
Title III of Superfund
T/F. Congress enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980 as a response to the Love Canal.
True- brought national attention to the disposal of hazardous waste
the process that stimulates the growth of microbes to metabolize organic components of waste in soil and water
bioremediation
What method is the most environmentally friendly for disposing of food waste?
breakdown in an aerobic environment (it will have less of an impact on carbon) (sending down disposal, it's a water treatment problem; landfill will impact climate and global warming because organic material broken down in anaerobic environment creates methane)
When CERCLA identifies a hazardous waste site and identifies a PRP, how do they pay for the waste cleanup?
collects money/gallon for certain products and the polluter has to pay
regulation strategy for hazardous waste that tracks treatment, storage, transportation and disposal from source to disposal; organization in charge? How many chemicals defined?
cradle to grave strategy implemented by RCRA; 400 chemicals
what is the problem with burning waste?
creates byproduct compounds (dioxins)
Globalization has encouraged the transfer of hazardous wastes from ______________ to ___________ countries
developed; developing
What is the last resort strategy for the EPA for waste management?
disposal
What actions are being undertaken by the mandates of the superfund (CERCLA) law?
emergency cleanup and containment of abandoned hazardous waste disposal sites
T/F. Most of the bioremediation projects have utilized genetically engineered microbes.
false
Why is it hard to determine who is responsible for hazardous waste?
fate and transport- hard to determine who is responsible for what waste and the amount
particularly dangerous wastes; cause or contribute to increase in mortality or otherwise pose threat to human health; 400 specific chemicals and 100 waste streams (mixture)
hazardous waste
Hazardous waste legally defined by EPA testing requirements: (4)
ignitability, corrosivitity, reactivity, toxicity,
What provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is aimed at eliminating midnight dumping and ensuring proper disposal of hazardous wastes?
instituting a manifest system for documenting all waste moving off the generator's property and identifying the final disposition of such wastes (document process from start to finish)
facility designed to prevent material from interacting with water, material disposed of an organized fashion in layers, at the end of the day material covered with clay
landfill design
allows a paper trail to be created that describes where waste went and how it got there every step of the way; paperwork sent to the STATE so they can keep track of it
manifest system for tracking HAZARDOUS waste, RCRA
Gas extraction wells that use bacteria and oxygen to break down organic matter --> a byproduct is __________; some plants will try to harness and use for energy
methane (landfills)
There are an estimated ____K uncontrolled abandoned dump sites
more than 30K
What types of wastes are excluded from the RCRA legislation? (5)
municipal garbage, agricultural residues, products of oil and gas production, mining wastes, radioactive waste
How was waste dealt with in the past?
people just used to throw things out their window- became a problem when we started living in cities
Types of Superfund sites: issues of health clusters or environmental issues sites on the national priorities list once a site has been remediated
proposed sites (13000, 2000 pose imminent danger to PH) final sites (1300) deleted sites (1200)
What role does vegetation play in landfill systems?
provides evapotranspiration of water and stabilizes soil; prevents wind from eroding soil down to trash layers
What category of hazardous waste is not subject to regulation under RCRA?
radioactive waste
What is the most common method of municipal refuse disposal in the US?
sanitary landfill
any substance not easily disposed of in air or water
solid waste (household waste, sewage sludge, tires, construction debris, lawn clippings, etc.)
What are the EPA strategies for waste management and prevention?
source reduction, recycle, treatment, disposal
How can waste be managed and prevented at the source? (3)
stop unnecessary packaging, modify production/materials/methods, market for wastes from extracting raw materials or recycling
What type of waste do material recovery facilities in Asia produce?
they smelt material which releases dioxins
Waste MUST be treated if ________ associated with it
toxicity
What is one of the major dangers associated with landfills?
trucks
T/F. Bioremediation is much less expensive than other methods of hazardous waste site clean up.
true
T/F. CERCLA lead to the creation of the National Priority List consisting of those hazardous waste sites presenting current or imminent risk to the community.
true
T/F. CERCLA enacted a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances the may endanger public health or the environment.
true.
encase waste in glass, often done with radioactive waste
vitrification
What method of municipal solid waste management is of the highest priority according to the EPA?
waste reduction at the source
Why is the need to reduce trash volume not as pressing as in other countries?
we have lots of land