We Can Copy Nature and Recycle Biodegradable Solid Wastes

1. We Can Copy Nature and Recycle Biodegradable Solid Wastes • Composting biodegradable organic waste is a way to recycle the yard trimmings and food wastes that would be sent to a landfill. • Composting mimics nature by recycling plant nutrients to the soil.

2. 4. Incinerate • Can reduce volume of waste and decrease landfill use • Can produce heat which can be used • Incineration degrades air quality

3. Solutions: A Waste-to-Energy Incinerator with Pollution Controls

4. Solutions: A Waste-to-Energy Incinerator with Pollution Controls Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility / Incinerator

5. Trade-Offs: Incineration, Advantages and Disadvantages • To be economically feasible, incinerators must be fed huge amounts of waste every day. • Encourages trash production • Discourages recycling • Many proposed projects have been cancelled: • High costs • Pollution concerns

6. 5. Landfills • Most of our garbage is placed in landfills • Originally a cheap way to dispose waste, not built to protect environment • Regulated under RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) • Location: not on floodplain, wetland, faults • Must have liners and leachate collection systems • Groundwater must be monitored, even after landfill closes

7. 5. Landfills • Sanitary Landfills: covered every day • minimizes odor, escaping gases, animal access, surface water run off) • Secure landfill: Designed for hazardous waste, built with multiple barriers

8. 5. Landfills • Environmental risks of landfills • Access to wastes by animals (insects, rats, vultures, gulls) • Methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, from decomposition • Heavy metal (Pb, Cr, Fe) contamination of soil. • Leachate: chemicals dissolve in water moving through, can contaminate ground and surface water • Social issues: • Odor, traffic, land values. • Environmental Justice: Poor communities bear disproportionate risk

11. Burying Solid Waste Has Advantages and Disadvantages

13. We live in a high waste society! • Story of stuff • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

14. Core Case Study:E-waste – An Exploding Problem • Electronic waste, e-waste: fastest growing solid waste problem • Most is shipped to other countries • 70% goes to China • Hazardous working conditions • International Basel Convention • Bans transferring hazardous wastes from developed countries to developing countries • The U.S., Afghanistan, and Haiti are the only countries who haven’t signed it.

15. Hazardous Waste • Hazardous waste: is any discarded solid or liquid material that is toxic, ignitable, corrosive, or reactive enough to explode or release toxic fumes. • Largest producers of hazardous wastes: • Military Munitions (used and unused), explosives, other chemicals • Chemical industry Chemical production, storage, disposal • Mining Heavy metal contamination

16. Hazardous Waste • Toxic: • Arsenic, pesticides, paints, anti-freeze, cleaning products • Ignitable • Acetone, gasoline, charcoal fluid • Explosive/reactive • Cyanide, chlorine • Corrosive • Drano, Easy Off, acids

17. Harmful Chemicals • Lead • Mercury • Chlorine • Dioxins

18. Integrated Hazardous Waste Management • We can: • First, produce less hazardous waste • Second, convert waste to less hazardous or (better yet) nonhazardous substances • Lastly, put the waste into perpetual storage systems

19. We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes • Methods for removing hazardous wastes or reducing their toxicity: • Physical Methods – Using charcoal or resins to filter out solids or precipitating harmful chemicals from solution • Chemical Methods – Using chemical reactions that can convert hazardous chemicals to less harmful or harmless chemicals. • Biological Methods • Bioremediation – Bacteria or enzymes help destroy toxic and hazardous waste or convert them to more benign substances. • Phytoremediation – Using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from polluted soil and water.

20. Solutions:Phytoremediation

21. We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Wastes • Without proper design and care, hazardous waste disposed of on top of or underneath the earth’s surface can pollute the air and water. • Deep-well disposal– liquid hazardous wastes are pumped under pressure into dry porous rock far beneath aquifers. • Surface impoundments– excavated depressions such as ponds, pits, or lagoons into which liners are placed and liquid hazardous wastes are stored. • Secure Landfills – Sometimes hazardous waste are put into drums and buried in carefully designed and monitored sites.

22. Love Canal – There Is No “Away” • Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical sealed multiple chemical wastes into steel drums and dumped them into an old and unfinished canal excavation (Love Canal). • In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to Niagara Falls school district for $1. • The company inserted a disclaimer denying liability for the wastes.

23. Love Canal – There Is No “Away” • In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not to disturb the site because of the toxic waste. • In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields and homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering the wastes. • In 1976, residents complained of chemical smells and chemical burns from the site. • There were also increased cases of cancers and birth defects reported by residents of the area.

24. Love Canal – There Is No “Away” • President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster area. • The area was abandoned in 1980 • It still is a controversy as to how much the chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease to the residents. • Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund law, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps.

25. CERCLA • Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (passed in response to Love Canal) • Establishes policy and procedures for hazardous waste disposal. • National Priorities List (NPL) - listing of the most serious sites • Established funds (Superfund) to cover clean up costs • Relatively few sites have been completely cleaned up by superfund.

26. RCRA • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act • Governs the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste • requires tracking system (“cradle to grave”) and regulates storage and disposal • Substances must be labeled to indicate level of hazard and have instructions for handling, first aid, and disposal. • Labels indicate level of hazard: DANGER: extremely flammable, corrosive, or toxic POISON: highly toxic WARNING or CAUTION: moderately or slightly toxic

27. Strategies to deal with waste: • Extended product liability – responsibility on manufacturers • Pay as you throw – responsibility on user • Change tax and subsidy structure to favor reduction and reuse • Bottle bill, mandate refillable containers • Strengthen and enforce laws (illegal to put Aluminum in landfill in NC) • Discourage unnecessary packaging and disposables • Make recycling easier: more containers, more pickup • Consume less

28. We Can Make the Transition to Low-Waste Societies • Just remember… • Everything is connected. • There is no “away” for the wastes we produce. • Dilution is not always the solution to pollution. • The best and cheapest way to deal with wastes are reduction and pollution prevention.