Chapter 24 Solid and Hazardous Waste

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Chapter 24Solid and Hazardous Waste
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Overview of Chapter 24

• Solid Waste
• Types of Solid Waste
• Waste Prevention
• Reducing the Amount of Waste
• Reusing Products
• Recycling Materials
• Hazardous Waste
• Types of Hazardous Waste
• Management of Hazardous Waste
• Environmental Justice

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Solid Waste

• US generates more solid waste per capita than any
  other country
• 2.1kg per person per day
• Types of Solid Waste
• Municipal solid waste
• Solid material discarded by homes, office
  buildings, retail stores, schools, hospitals,
  prisons, etc
• Relatively small portion of solid waste produced
• Non-municipal solid waste
• Solid waste generated by industry, agriculture,
  and mining

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Composition of Municipal Solid Waste
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Disposal of Solid Waste

• Three methods
• Sanitary Landfills
• Incineration
• Recycling

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Sanitary Landfill

• Compacting and burying waste under a shallow
  layer of soil
• Most common method of disposal

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Sanitary Landfill

• Problems
• Methane gas production by microorganisms
• Contamination of surface water ground water by
  leachate
• Not a long-term remedy
• Few new facilities being opened
• Closing a full landfill is very expensive

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Sanitary Landfill

• Special Problem of Plastic
• Much of plastic is from packaging
• Chemically stable and do not readily break down
  and decompose

• Special Problem of Tires
• Cannot be melted and reused for tires
• Made from materials that cannot be recycled
• Can be incinerated or shredded

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Incineration

• Volume of solid waste reduced by 90
• Produces heat that can make steam to generate
  electricity
• Produce less carbon emissions than fossil fuel
  power plants (right)

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Incineration

• Types of Incinerators
• Mass burn (below)
• Modular
• Refuse-derived

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Incinerator

• Problems Associated with Incineration
• Yields air pollution
• Produce large amounts of ash
• Site selection often controversial

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Composting

• Includes
• Food scraps
• Sewage sludge
• Agricultural manure
• Yard waste
• Reduces yard waste in landfills
• Can be sold or distributed to community

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Waste Prevention

• Three Goals
• (1) Reduce the amount of waste
• (2) Reuse products
• (3) Recycle materials

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Reducing Waste

• Purchase products with less packaging

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Reducing Waste

• Source reduction
• Products are designed and manufactured in ways
  that decrease the volume of solid waste in the
  waste stream
• Pollution Prevention Act (1990)
• Dematerialization
• Progressive decrease in the size and weight of a
  product as a result of technological improvements

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Reusing Products

• Refilling glass beverage bottles
• Heavier glass that costs more
• Japan recycles almost all bottles
• Reused 20 times

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Recycling Materials

• Every ton of recycled paper saves
• 17 trees
• 7000 gallons of water
• 4100 kwatt-hrs of energy
• 3 cubic yards of landfill space
• Recycle
• Glass bottles, newspapers, steel cans, plastic
  bottles, cardboard, office paper

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Recycling

• Recycling Paper
• US recycles 50
• Many developed countries are higher
• Recycling Glass
• US recycles 25
• Costs less than new glass
• Can be used to make glassphalt (right)

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Recycling

• Recycling Aluminum
• Making new can from recycled one costs far less
  than making a brand new one

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Recycling

• Recycling Metals other than Aluminum
• Lead, gold, iron, steel, silver and zinc
• Metallic composition is often unknown
• Makes recycling difficult
• Recycling Plastic
• Less than 20 is recycled
• Less expensive to make from raw materials

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Recycling

• Recycling Tires
• Few products are made from old tires
• Playground equipment
• Trashcans
• Garden hose
• Carpet
• Roofing materials
• 36 of tires are currently recycled to make other
  products

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Integrated Waste Management
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Hazardous Waste

• Any discarded chemical that threatens human
  health or the environment
• Reactive, corrosive, explosive or toxic chemicals
• Types of Hazardous Waste
• Dioxins
• PCBs
• Radioactive waste

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Case-In-Point Hanford Nuclear Reservation
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Management of Hazardous Waste

• Chemical accidents
• National Response Center notified
• Typically involves oil, gasoline or other
  petroleum spill
• Current Management Policies
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976,
  1984)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act (1980)

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Management of Hazardous Waste

• Cleaning up existing hazardous waste superfund
  program
• 400,000 waste sites
• Leaking chemical storage tanks and drums (right)
• Pesticides dumps
• Piles of mining wastes
• Must be cleaned up

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Management of Hazardous Waste

• Superfund National Priorities List
• 2006 1558 sites on the list
• States with the greatest number of sites
• New Jersey (115)
• California (93)
• Pennsylvania (93)
• New York (86)
• Michigan (65)

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Management of Hazardous Waste

• Biological Treatment of Hazardous Chemicals
• Bioremediation
• Phytoremediation
• Management the Waste we are Producing Now
• (1) source reduction
• (2) conversion to less hazardous materials
• (3) long-term storage

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Management of Hazardous Waste

• Hazardous Waste Landfill

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Environmental Justice

• Environmental Justice and Ethical Issues
• Right of every citizen, regardless of age, race,
  gender, social class, to adequate protection from
  environmental hazards
• Fundamental human right
• Grassroots campaign
• Mandating environmental Justice- Federal Level

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Environmental Justice

• International Waste Management
• Developed countries sometimes send their waste to
  developing countries
• Less expensive than following laws within the
  country
• Controversial aspect of waste management
• Basel Convention (1989)
• Restricts international transport of hazardous
  waste