Unit 9: Waste & Hazardous Materials

Chapter 18: Solid Waste Management & Disposal

Chapter 19: Regulating Hazardous Materials

I. Composition of Solid Waste

A. Industrial ⇨ 10%B. Municipal ⇨ 1.5%, 1.24 tons/person/yearC. Mining ⇨ 75%D. Agriculture ⇨ 13% (compost/manure) E. Sewage ⇨ 1%

II. Solid Waste ManagementA. Primitive dumps ⇨ unlined and uncovered, resulted in ground

water and air pollutionB. Modern landfills ⇨ 80% of garbage

1. Solid waste is layered into a plastic-lined pit, then covered with clay

2. Leachate is treated3. CH4 is captured and used for energy

C. Seattle sends waste to Oregon on trains ⇨ expensive and fossil fuel intensive

The Story of Stuffhttp://storyofstuff.org

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):Definitions

Solid Waste• Any garbage or refuse• Sludge from a wastewater

treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility

• Discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, household, and agricultural operations

• Solid wastes include both hazardous and nonhazardous waste

Hazardous Waste• Ignitable (i.e., burns

readily), corrosive, or reactive (e.g., explosive)

• Contains specified amounts of toxic chemicals

• EPA has developed a list of over 500 specific hazardous wastes

• Hazardous waste takes many physical forms and may be solid, semisolid, liquid or contained gas

Total municipal

solid waste generated

Total municipal

solid waste recovered

Total municipal

solid waste discarded

What other countries are throwing away

U.S. MSW: Generation, recovery and discards

Modern landfill design

Modern landfill design

Modern landfill design

Landfills of the future:Bioreactor

Landfills of the future:Closed loop resource recovery

Waste management

Re-thinking the Future: Ellen MacArthur meets Jon Snow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xj-h1BfmW0

D. Incineration

1. Could generate electricity, as in Tokyo, Japan ⇨ cogeneration to heat buildings

2. Toxic ash problem3. Causes air pollution ⇨ dioxins from plastic burning

E. Recycling1. Reduces air and water pollution2. Reduces fossil fuel consumption3. Saves money for disposal4. Makes industry more efficient and profitable3. Decreases electrical use (Columbia River Dam)

a. Aluminum ⇨ saves 95% of electricityb. Steel ⇨ saves 75%c. Glass ⇨ saves 50%

4. Decreases demand for raw materials ⇨ NYT would use 62,000 trees every Sunday if not made from recycled paper

Incineration: Waste to energy

4. Reduces greenhouse gas production ⇨ 3.5 pounds of CO2

saved per pound of material recycled6. Paper is most commonly recycled material

a. Pre-consumer waste ⇨ sawdustb. Post-consumer waste ⇨ paper which has actually

been used, buy this to create demand for recyclingc. Even better, use cloth diapers instead of disposable

7. Metals ⇨ recycling save…a. 47-74% of electricityb. 85% of air pollutionc. 76% of water pollutiond. 92% of mining wastese. 40% of water use

8. Glass ⇨ recycling saves…a. 50% of energyb. 20% of air pollutionc. 80% of mining wasted. 50% of water

How we get rid of waste

9. Tires to asphalt filler10. Plastics ⇨ need to be able to recycle all seven categories

a. Represent 2% of oil used in U.S.b. #1 PET⇨ coke containers are made into fiberfill ski

jacketsc. #2 HDPE ⇨ milk jugs are made into outdoor furniture

11. Vote with your pocketbook ⇨ to create demand for recycling, we must buy recycled materials

F. Source reduction ⇨ better than reusing or recycling1. Buy with less packaging ⇨ use cloth bags2. National bottle bill ⇨ saves 125,000 barrels oil, creates

jobs

The waste stream

What we recycle most

How waste is handled around the globe

Time for a national bottle bill!

III. Hazardous Waste

A. Waste that can hurt humans and the environment ⇨ produced mainly by industry1. Hazardous ⇨ ruins your day2. Toxic ⇨ kills you

B. Skin irritants ⇨ acids and basesC. Respiratory irritants

1. Black lung ⇨ coal dust 2. Silicosis ⇨ silica from mining3. Asbestosis ⇨ from insulation, leads to decreased

breathing capacity4. Particulates

D. Asphyxiants1. Chemicals which react with oxygen or chemicals that

replace oxygen2. Examples: CO, CN, H2S

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):Definitions

Solid Waste• Any garbage or refuse• Sludge from a wastewater

treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility

• Discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations

• Solid wastes include both hazardous and nonhazardous waste

Hazardous Waste• Ignitable (i.e., burns

readily), corrosive, or reactive (e.g., explosive)

• Contains specified amounts of toxic chemicals

• EPA has developed a list of over 500 specific hazardous wastes

• Hazardous waste takes many physical forms and may be solid, semisolid, liquid or contained gas

Life cycle of toxic substances

E. Allergens1. Activate or suppress the immune system 2. Antibodies and histamines are produced3. Ex: pollen

F. Especially nasty chemicals that have been widely used:1. Formaldehyde ⇨ glue, carpets, “sick house syndrome”2. PCBs polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorides used in ⇨

electrical equipment and banned in U.S. in 19793. Dioxin c⇨ auses 12 % of all cancers, comes from burning

plastics, making pesticides, agent orange defoliantG. Toxins ⇨ potentially deadly chemicals

1. Neurotoxinsa. Attack nerve cellsb. Ex: pesticides like DDT

2. Heavy metals:a. Leadb. Mercury

3. Carcinogens cause cancer⇨a. Largest cause of death of all toxinsb. Four types: radiation, chemical, virus, genes

4. Immune or endocrine system toxins

a. Immune ⇨ antibodiesb. Endocrine ⇨ hormones

1) Work by blocking receptor sites2) Mimic hormones like estrogen3) Examples: PCBs, dioxins

5. Mutagens ⇨ cause mutations6. Teratogens ⇨ cause birth defects

V. Risk Analysis and AssessmentA. A means of evaluating the risk of one activity compared to

another based on ⇨ broad assumptionsB. Risk management a ⇨ policy that guides the expenditure of

funds to reduce risk1. Prioritizes risks2. Helps determine how much to spend to bring the risk down

to an acceptable level3. Based on scientific data ⇨ politicians can manipulate4. Local vs. global ⇨ risk is not spread equally, more industry

where poor and minorities live

C. Perceived vs. true risk Ex: ⇨ Indoor air is a big problem, but the public doesn't think so

D. Factors used to determine toxic risk:1. Solubility

a. Water soluble ⇨ eliminated by urineb. Fat soluble ⇨ non-polar molecules are not eliminated by

urine; stored in fat cells and build up2. Exposure

a. Acute ⇨ single exposureb. Chronic ⇨ long-term exposure, important with fat-

soluble toxins, they build up in system3. Carcinogen or mutagen4. Reactivity how fast it reacts with other chemicals⇨5. Synergistic effect combination with other toxins increases ⇨

negative effect, Ex: alcohol and sleeping pills6. Environmental risk

a. Bioaccumulation cells store chemicals⇨b. Biomagnification concentration increases as you go ⇨

up the food chain

7. Persistence how long it stays in the environment⇨8. Problem everybody has different sensitivity to chemicals, ⇨

how can you set a standard for everyoneC. Tests

1. LD50 ⇨ Lethal Dose 50%, the dose in mg/kg which gives an organism a 50% chance of livingEx: botulism ⇨ .0014 mg/kgEx: caffeine ⇨ 5 grams/kg

2. LC50 ⇨ Lethal Concentration 50%, the concentration in mg/kg stored in a body to give a 50% chance of living; Ex: DDT ⇨ .1 mg/kg (5mg/50kg person)

3. Threshold dose ⇨ the amount of a chemical which gives the first response

LD 50 and Dose-Response Graphs

Paracelsus:“The dose makes the

poison”

Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von

Hohenheim(1493–1541)

Founded the discipline of toxicology

The Habitable Planet: Risk, Exposure, and Health

http://learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=6&secNum=1

Risk analysis

Per

cept

ion

of ri

sk

IV. Superfund Act

A. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) ⇨ commonly known as Superfund, enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980

B. Requires EPA to make a national priority list of the most toxic sites in the U.S.1. 41,000 sites2. 1226 sites on priority list

C. Taxes chemical and petroleum industries to pay for site clean up ⇨ tax is no longer collected and the fund is broke

D. Examples1. Love Canal, NY

a. Built as canal in 1890’sb. Filled by Hooker Chemical Co. in 1940’sc. Sold to city, which built housesd. 492 families were evacuatede. Miscarriages up 300%f. 56% of children born 1974-78 had birth defects

The Green Chemistry Movementhttp://www2.epa.gov/green-chemistry#video

2. Times Beach, MOa. Dioxin spread on roads with waste oilb. Town was bought by government and destroyed

3. Hudson Falls, NY ⇨ GE polluted Hudson River with PCB’s

4. Local smelter sites ⇨ Everett, Tacoma, HanfordE. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

1. Three goals:a. To protect human health and the environment from

the potential hazards of waste disposalb. To conserve energy and natural resourcesc. To reduce the amount of waste generated

2. Regulates the management of solid waste, hazardous waste, and underground storage tanks holding petroleum products and other chemicals

Sources of toxic releases

EPA Superfund sites

Tacoma, WA : Asarco smelter site