R 19 Waste Management -...

19 Waste Management CHAPTE

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Transforming New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill

• Fresh Kills, on New York’s Staten Island, is the largest landfill in the world.

• It closed in 2001, forcing New York City to find other places for its trash, at great expense to taxpayers.

• Today the landfill is in the process of becoming a public park.

Talk About It Which should play a greater role in

reducing the waste we generate—personal choices

by consumers or government regulation?

Lesson 19.1 Municipal and Industrial Waste

Of all the solid waste produced in the United States, 33.9% is made up of paper.

What Is Waste?

• Any unwanted material or substance that results from a human activity or process

•Municipal solid waste: From homes and businesses

• Industrial waste: Resulting from manufacturing, agriculture, and mining

•Hazardous waste: Toxic, reactive, flammable, and corrosive

•Wastewater: Includes used, discarded water and runoff


Did You Know? The average

American generates more than

4.5 pounds of trash per day.

Methods of Solid Waste Disposal: Sanitary Landfills

• Waste buried in the

ground or carefully

piled into mounds

• Designed to prevent

groundwater

contamination and

minimize soil and air

pollution


Did You Know?

Regulations require that

landfills be at least 6 m

above the water table.

Benefits and Costs of Landfills


Benefits Costs

Decomposition yields methane, which can be used like natural gas.

Leachate may eventually escape and contaminate the groundwater.

When full, landfills are capped. The land can be used for recreation.

Trash decomposes very slowly.

Few communities are willing to host landfills (NIMBY).

A power company in Hull, Massachusetts

installed a large wind turbine on a site that had

previously been a landfill.

Incineration


Benefits and Cost of Incineration


Benefits Costs

Incinerating waste reduces its weight by up to 75% and volume by up to 90%.

Toxic ash must be disposed of.

Heat from burning trash can be used to generate electricity (waste-to-energy).

Dioxins, heavy metals, and PCBs can be created and released by burning waste.

Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator

The only U.S. facility permitted to burn

certain hazardous wastes

Lesson 19.2 Minimizing Solid Waste

In 2007, Americans recycled or composted nearly 1/3 of municipal solid waste, saving energy equivalent to 10 billion gallons of gas.

Waste Reduction Methods


• Substitute disposable goods

with reusable ones.

• Donate unwanted items.

• Minimize packaging.

• Reduce use of

nonbiodegradable plastic.

• Design goods to last.

• Use financial incentives such

as “pay as you throw”

garbage disposal and

“bottle bills.”

Did You Know? States with “bottle bills”

(consumers receive a refund per returned

bottle or can) have reduced their beverage

container litter by 69–84% and total litter by

30–64%.

Waste Recovery: Composting


• Conversion of organic waste into mulch or humus by

decomposition

• Currently 3800 municipal programs in the U.S.

• Has many benefits, including soil enrichment

Did You Know? About 20% of U.S.

waste is made up of organic material

that could be composted.

Waste Recovery: Recycling


• Collection and reprocessing of waste materials

• Recycling rates among U.S. communities vary from 5 to 50%.

• Many programs run at a

financial loss, but that

doesn’t take into account

the effects of not recycling.

Lesson 19.3 Hazardous Waste

Common sources of hazardous waste include batteries, cleaning agents, paints, and pesticides.

What Is Hazardous Waste?


• Ignitable: Can catch fire

• Corrosive: Can damage or destroy metals

• Reactive: Chemically unstable; can explode or produce

fumes when combined with water

• Toxic: Harmful or fatal when inhaled, ingested, or touched

Sources of Hazardous Waste


• Industry produces the most hazardous

waste, but it is usually highly regulated.

• Household hazardous waste

is unregulated.

Did You Know? The average American home

contains about 100 pounds of hazardous waste

in different products.

Types of Hazardous Waste


• Organic compounds: Can

act as mutagens, carcinogens,

teratogens, and endocrine

disruptors

• Heavy metals: Many cause

neurological damage over

time.

• E-waste: Contains heavy

metals and toxic chemicals,

but mostly treated as

conventional solid waste

Did You Know? U.S. households

threw out about 304 million electronic

devices in 2005—most were still in

working order.

Hazardous Waste Disposal


• Landfills: Specifically

designed to keep hazardous

waste contained

• Surface impoundment:

Liquid waste poured into

shallow lined pits; water

evaporates and solid waste

is transported elsewhere

• Deep-well injection (see

diagram on right): Wastes

injected into deep, confined

porous rock layers

Radioactive Waste


• Waste that gives off harmful radiation

• Low-level: Less harmful; produced by

hospitals, labs, uranium mines

• High-level: More harmful; produced by

nuclear power plants

• Difficult to dispose of safely due to

long half-lives

Did You Know? As of March 2010, the

Obama administration has ruled out

Yucca Mountain for long-term storage

of high-level radioactive waste.

Hazardous Waste Regulation


• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Sets

standards for hazardous waste management by states;

requires industry to track hazardous material “cradle to grave”

Did You Know? As of 2007, 1354 of the 1569

Superfund sites have been cleaned up.

• Comprehensive Environmental

Response Compensation and

Liability Act (CERCLA), or

“Superfund” Act: Federal

program for cleaning up sites

polluted by hazardous waste;

culprits held liable for damage

caused by their pollution

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