Solid Waste & Waste Management Chapter 19

1. Solid Waste & Waste ManagementChapter 19 Ms. Hubbuch The Howard School Environmental Science

2. What is Solid Waste? Solid waste - any unwanted or discarded material that is not a liquid or gas. Trash and waste materials basically, are resources out of place.

3. The History of Waste in America The Amount of solid waste each American produces every year has more than doubled. Because the human population and the amount of waste we create is increasing and the amount of available land is decreasing, it is getting harder to dispose of the waste we create.

4. Types of Waste Non-biodegradable – unable to be broken down and is typically made from synthetic materials Biodegradable – can be broken down by biological processes and is made of natural materials.

5. Types of Waste Plastics are made of carbon and hydrogen but in unnatural structures become non-biodegradable and last hundreds of years

6. Municipal Solid Waste 1. paper 31% 2. yard waste 10% 3. plastics 13% 4. metals 6% 5. food scraps 13% 6. glass 6% 7. wood 7% 8. other 13%

7. The Fate of MSW into landfill: 55 - 60% is recycled: 28 - 30% (as of 2005) 3. Incinerated: 14 - 16%

8. Solid Waste from Manufacturing, Mining and Agriculture This type of waste is the most common in the Unites States. Although consumers do not directly produce waste from manufacturing, they indirectly create it by purchasing products that have been manufactured.

9. Open Dumps • Refuse piled up without being covered or otherwise protected. • Located wherever land is available, without regard to safety, health hazards, or aesthetic degradation. • Common sites • Abandoned mines and quarries, natural low areas, such as swamps or floodplains; and hillside areas above or below towns.

10. Old Landfill Problems • Leachate contaminated drinking water • Methane leaked into homes  explosions • Incomplete decomposition

12. Incineration • Combustible waste is burned at temperatures high enough (900°–1,000°C, or 1,650°–1,830°F) to consume all combustible material. • Leave ash and non-combustibles to dispose of in a landfill. • Decreases volume by about 90% • In modern incineration facilities, smokestacks are fitted with special devices to trap pollutants.

13. Source Reduction Source reduction is any change in design, manufacture, purchase or use of materials or products to reduce their amount or toxicity before they become municipal solid waste

15. REDUCE: Source Reduction • Less weight • Cars, computers • Internet (“e-”)information transfer instead of paper waste • How about that iPad you have! • Lengthen product’s lifecycle • Do you REALLY need another _______? • Decrease packaging

16. Re-Use • Resale /donation of durable goods • Composting food wastes • Only vegetal material & no fatty/oily • Imprvesyour soil as you reduce your waste stream • Use human/animal sewage as fertilizer • Decreases pressure on sewage facilities to reduce N & P into local waterways • Must be careful of pathogens • Milorganite success

17. Recycling

18. State Recycling Rates

19. Compost

20. Degradable Plastics

21. Hazardous Waste

22. Love Canal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iSFgZ-SlaU

23. Chattanooga Creek http://www.epa.gov/region04/superfund/sites/npl/tennessee/tennprotn.html#progress

24. Environmental Justice It is an environmental movement to focus on the fair and equal distribution of environmental burdens and benefits.

25. Hazardous Waste Legislation • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act • Requires standards and documentation for hazardous wastes • Comprehensive Environmental response Compensation Liability Act • Created Superfund which taxes guilty companies to pay for cleanup

26. Hazardous Waste Management

27. Disposing of Hazardous Waste

28. Hazardous Waste at Home