What a Waste!!!

1. What a Waste!!!

2. Types of solid wastes • Ash • Hazardous waste • Industrial waste • Infectious waste • Municipal solid waste • Sludge -Toxic waste • Yard waste

3. Household Hazardous Waste • paint, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides, that contain hazardous components.

4. What is Domestic Waste Domestic waste usually comes from homes. It consists of organic material like food scraps and garden waste, but the majority consists of paper, cardboard, and plastics.

5. According to the EPA regulations, solid waste is • garbage, or refuse • sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility • Any phase of material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities.

6. E Waste-Electronic Waste- TV, Computers, Cell Phones etc. • Comprise 2% of the waste stream • Contain Lead Cadmium , Mercury and other toxic metals. • Costs more to recycle than to put in landfills • Some sent to China (controversial), where metals are separated without saftey practices harming humans.

7. How much municipal solid waste is generated each year in the United States? • 1998- 220 million tons of municipal solid waste was generated in the United States. average of 4.46 pounds of solid waste per day. • 2001- 229 million tons of MSW, approximately 4.4 pounds of waste per person per day • 2008- 2.43 pounds per person

9. MSW management practices • Source reduction altering the design, manufacture, or use of products and materials to reduce the amount and toxicity of what gets thrown away. • Recycling diverts items, such as paper, glass, plastic, and metals, from the wastestream. These materials are sorted, collected, and processed and then manufactured, sold, and bought as new products. • Composting decomposes organic waste, such as food scraps and yard trimmings, with microorganisms (mainly bacteria and fungi), producing a humus-like substance

11. Other practices addressing materials that require disposal • Landfills are engineered areas where waste is placed into the land. Landfills usually have liner systems and other safeguards to prevent groundwater contamination. • Combustion Combustion facilities burn MSW at a high temperature, reducing waste volume and generating electricity

12. The United States • 30 percent of MSW is recovered and recycled or composted • 15 percent is burned at combustion facilities • 56 percent is disposed of in landfills.

14. Combustion and IncinerationBenefits • reduce waste volume by up to 90 percent in volume and 75 percent in weight. • convert water into steam to fuel heating systems or generate electricity. • Burning waste at extremely high temperatures also destroys harmful chemical compounds and disease-causing bacteria

15. Combustion and Incineration problems solved? • pollution control technologies reduce the toxic materials emitted in combustion smoke. • 1. scrubbers—a device that uses a liquid spray to neutralize acid gases in smoke • 2. filters, which remove tiny ash particles from the smoke. • 3. Regular testing ensures that residual ash is nonhazardous before being put in landfills

16. Although source reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting can divert large portions of municipal solid waste (MSW) from disposal, some waste still must be placed in landfills

17. Source reduction = waste prevention • consuming and throwing away less. • purchasing durable, long-lasting goods and • seeking products and packaging that are as free of toxics as possible. • Because source reduction actually prevents the generation of waste in the first place, it is the most preferable method of waste management and goes a long way toward protecting the environment

18. Reuse • Reusing items by repairing them, donating them to charity and community groups, or selling them also reduces waste. • Reusing, when possible, is preferable to recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before it can be used again. • www.freecycle.com

19. Recycling Benefits • Conserves resources • Prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants. • Saves energy. • Supplies valuable raw materials to industry. • Creates jobs. • Reduces the need for new landfills and incinerators.

21. Recycling is one of the best environmental success stories of the late 20th century. • Recycling, including composting, diverted 68 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2001, up from 34 million tons in 1990.

23. Composting • Another form of recycling • Composting is the controlled biological decomposition of organic matter, such as food and yard wastes, into humus, a soil-like material.

25. For more interesting Information • www.epa.gov/waste

26. Toxic Waste Converting to less hazardous or nonhazardous Methods • Bioremediation • Phytoremediation • Burning-mass –burn incinerators Pros and cons • Land disposal- Deep well • Surface impoundments- should have a liner so we don’t pollute groundwater • Special landfills – materials are put into drums and then housed underground.

27. Hazardous waste regulations 1.The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(RCRA) 1976 amended 1984 • Requires the EPA to set standards for hazardous waste • Permits are required for firms that store , produce or dispose of more than 100kg of hazardous waste • Cradle to grave system of tracking

28. Hazardous waste regulations 2. Superfund- 1980- Many Amendments • Comprehensive Environmental Response , Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) • Superfund is the Federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.

29. Superfund • a tax is imposed on the chemical and petroleum industry. This revenue funds the cleanup of abandoned hazardous waste sites. • Authorizes the federal gov. to respond to the release of harmful substances. • EPA maintains a list of contaminated sites, NPL list ( National Priorities list)

30. Super fund sites • As of 2010 ther ewere 1,282 sites • NJ has the most 114 • Followed by PA and California with 94 • NY has 85 • Most famous – Love Canal, NY

33. Hazardous waste regulations 3. Brown fields program • Created in 1995 • Assists state and local government with clean up of contaiminated sites.

34. Solution • Reduce waste by doing a life cycle analysis • Look at materials used and released in the lifetime of the product. Be a smart consumer!!!!!!!!