Solid Waste

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Solid Waste
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What is a solid waste

• Any material that we discard, that is not liquid
  or gas, is solid waste
• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
• Solid waste from home or office
• Industrial Solid Waste
• Solid waste produced from Mines, Agriculture or
  Industry

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What is a Hazardous Waste?

• Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that
  make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human
  health or the environment
• Ignitability - Ignitable wastes create fires
  under certain conditions or are spontaneously
  combustible, or have a flash point less than 60
  C (140 F).
• Corrosivity - Corrosive wastes are acids or bases
  (pH less than or equal to 2 or greater than or
  equal to 12.5) that are capable of corroding
  metal containers, such as storage tanks, drums,
  and barrels.
• Reactivity - Reactive wastes are unstable under
  "normal" conditions. They can cause explosions,
  toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when mixed with
  water.
• Toxicity - Toxic wastes are harmful or fatal when
  ingested or absorbed (e.g., containing mercury,
  lead, etc.). When toxic wastes are disposed of on
  land, contaminated liquid may drain (leach) from
  the waste and pollute ground water. Toxicity is
  defined through a laboratory procedure called the
  Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure
  (TCLP).
• Major types Organics and Heavy Metals,
  Radioactive wastes

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U.S. Scenario

• 4.6 of world population
• 50 of toxic wastes
• 1/3rd of solid wastes
• Mining (76), agricultural (13), industrial
  (9.5) 98.5
• Municipal solid waste 1.5

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Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
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Waste Management
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Auto batteries 99.2Office Type Papers
70.9Yard Trimmings 64.7Steel Cans 62.8

Recycling in USA
Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans 48.2Tires
35.4HDPE Natural (White Translucent) Bottles
29.3Glass Containers 28.0 PET Bottles and
Jars 27.2
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Benefits of Recycling

• USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW.
• This provides an annual benefit of 182 million
  metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
  emissions reduced,
• comparable to removing the emissions from 33
  million passenger cars.
• But the ultimate benefits from recycling are
  cleaner land, air, and water, overall better
  health, and a more sustainable economy.

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Municipal Waste

• On-site (at home)
• Open Dump
• Sanitary Landfill
• Incineration
• Ocean dumping

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Open Dump

• Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful
  runoff and leachates, toxic gases
• Still accounts for half of solid waste
• Several thousand open dumps in the USA

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Sanitary Landfill

• Sanitary Landfill
• Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of
  earth once a day and a thicker layer when the
  site is full
• Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of
  leachates can cause problem by overflow
• Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs
  venting
• 1 acre/10,000 people acute space problem wastes
  piling up over 150 million tons/year
• of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
• NIMBY, NIMFYE, NIMEY, NOPE
• NJ ships gt5 million tons of waste every year

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Sanitary Landfill

• Avoid
• Swampy area/ Flood plains /coastal areas
• Fractures or porous rocks
• High water table
• Prefer
• Clay layers
• Heads of gullies

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Monitoring of Sanitary Landfills

• Gases Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen sulphide
• Heavy Metals Lead, Chromium in soil
• Soluble substances chloride, nitrate, sulfate
• Surface Run-offs
• Vegetation may pick up toxic substances
• Plant residue in soil
• Paper/plastics etc blown by the wind

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Incineration

• Solves space problem but
• produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO2
• High temp furnaces break down hazardous compounds
  but are expensive (75 - 2K/ton)
• Heat generated can be recovered of waste burnt
• Japan 67, Switzerland 80, USA 6
• North Little Rock, AK saving 50K in heating cost
  and reducing landfill requirement by 95
• How many MSW combustors exist in the United
  States? In 1996, 110 combustors with energy
  recovery existed with the capacity to burn up to
  100,000 tons of MSW per day.

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Ocean Dumping

• Out of sight, free of emission control norms
• Contributes to ocean pollution
• Can wash back on beaches, and can cause death of
  marine mammals
• Preferred method incineration in open sea
• Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988 bans dumping of
  sewage sludge and industrial waste
• Dredge spoils still dumped in oceans, can cause
  habitat destruction and export of fluvial
  pollutants

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Reducing Waste

• Incineration, compacting
• Hog feed requires heat treatment
• Composting requires separation of organics from
  glass and metals
• Recycling and Reusing
• Recycle of glass containers 5 million tons
• Plastic marked by types for easy recycling
• Converted into Fibers, trash bags, plastic
  lumber, fill for pillows, insulation etc
• Junked cars 150 200 kg of plastics soon to be
  recycled

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Municipal Waste

• On-site (at home)
• Open Dump
• Sanitary Landfill
• Incineration
• Ocean dumping

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Open Dump

• Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful
  runoff and leachates, toxic gases
• Still accounts for half of solid waste
• Several thousand open dumps in the USA

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Sanitary Landfill

• Sanitary Landfill
• Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of
  earth once a day and a thicker layer when the
  site is full
• Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of
  leachates can cause problem by overflow
• Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs
  venting
• 1 acre/10,000 people acute space problem wastes
  piling up over 150 million tons/year
• of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
• NIMBY, NIMFYE, NIMEY, NOPE
• NJ ships gt5 million tons of waste every year

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Sanitary Landfill

• Avoid
• Swampy area/ Flood plains /coastal areas
• Fractures or porous rocks
• High water table
• Prefer
• Clay layers
• Heads of gullies

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Monitoring of Sanitary Landfills

• Gases Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen sulphide
• Heavy Metals Lead, Chromium in soil
• Soluble substances chloride, nitrate, sulfate
• Surface Run-offs
• Vegetation may pick up toxic substances
• Plant residue in soil
• Paper/plastics etc blown by the wind

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Incineration

• Solves space problem but
• produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO2
• High temp furnaces break down hazardous compounds
  but are expensive (75 - 2K/ton)
• Heat generated can be recovered of waste burnt
• Japan 67, Switzerland 80, USA 6
• North Little Rock, AK saving 50K in heating cost
  and reducing landfill requirement by 95
• How many MSW combustors exist in the United
  States? In 1996, 110 combustors with energy
  recovery existed with the capacity to burn up to
  100,000 tons of MSW per day.

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Ocean Dumping

• Out of sight, free of emission control norms
• Contributes to ocean pollution
• Can wash back on beaches, and can cause death of
  marine mammals
• Preferred method incineration in open sea
• Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988 bans dumping of
  sewage sludge and industrial waste
• Dredge spoils still dumped in oceans, can cause
  habitat destruction and export of fluvial
  pollutants

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Reducing Waste

• Incineration, compacting
• Hog feed requires heat treatment
• Composting requires separation of organics from
  glass and metals
• Recycling and Reusing
• Recycle of glass containers 5 million tons
• Plastic marked by types for easy recycling
• Converted into Fibers, trash bags, plastic
  lumber, fill for pillows, insulation etc
• Junked cars 150 200 kg of plastics soon to be
  recycled

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• In 1996, recycling of solid waste in the United
  States prevented the release of 33 million tons
  of carbon into the airroughly the amount emitted
  annually by 25 million cars.
• 1 ton of newspaper18 trees, 3 m3 of landfill,
  60 less energy. Govt recycling saving 223,000
  tons, 4 million trees, 7.4 million

Auto Steel Aluminum Paper
Yard Glass Plastic Tires
Batteries Cans Packaging Paperboard
waste container container
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Recycling facts and figures

• In 1999, recycling and composting activities
  prevented about 64 million tons of material from
  ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today,
  this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a
  rate that has almost doubled during the past 15
  years.
• 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all
  plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all
  aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of
  all steel packaging, and 67 percent of all major
  appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling
  program existed in the United States, which
  collected several materials at the curb. By 2005,
  almost 9,000 curbside programs had sprouted up
  across the nation. As of 2005, about 500
  materials recovery facilities had been
  established to process the collected materials.

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Waste Exchange

• One persons waste can be another persons raw
  material
• Fluorite from Al smelter in MD
• Isopropyl alcohol cleaning solvent
• Nitric Acid from Electronic Industry high grade
  fertilizer
• Spent acid of steel industry control for H2S

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Liquid Waste

• Sewage
• Highly toxic Industrial Waste Used Oil
• Dilute and Disperse
• Concentrate and Contain
• Secure Landfill
• Sealed drums to be put in impermeable holds with
  monitoring wells to check for leakage does not
  work
• Deep well Disposal
• Pumping in deep porous layer bounded by
  impermeable formations, well below water table
• 1 million to drill, 15-20/ton afterwards
• Restricted by geological considerations, can
  trigger earthquakes

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Story of Love Canal

• A ditch 20m wide, 3m deep and 1km long
• 1890 Built near Niagara falls for hydro-power
• 1905 Hooker Electrochemical established
• 1942 Hooker buys the site for waste disposal,
  20,000 tons of toxic chemical dumped in 10 yr
• 1953 site bought by Niagara School board for 1,
  Hooker absolved of any future damage
• 1977 study shows toxic effects in adjoining
  homes,gt40 toxic chemicals identified
• 1978 Health advisory, 100 families to be shifted
• 1980 remedial measures taken, EPA study shows
  chromosome defects in residents, President Carter
  declares emergency, provides federal aid
• 1981 Over 500 families moved out, hundreds
  waiting for aid
• EPA estimate 30,000 hazardous waste sites in US,
  only 10 of hazardous wastes properly disposed,
  300 million tons generated each year

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• In 1996, recycling of solid waste in the United
  States prevented the release of 33 million tons
  of carbon into the airroughly the amount emitted
  annually by 25 million cars.
• 1 ton of newspaper18 trees, 3 m3 of landfill,
  60 less energy. Govt recycling saving 223,000
  tons, 4 million trees, 7.4 million

Auto Steel Aluminum Paper
Yard Glass Plastic Tires
Batteries Cans Packaging Paperboard
waste container container
42
Recycling facts and figures

• In 1999, recycling and composting activities
  prevented about 64 million tons of material from
  ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today,
  this country recycles 32 percent of its waste, a
  rate that has almost doubled during the past 15
  years.
• 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all
  plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all
  aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of
  all steel packaging, and 67 percent of all major
  appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling
  program existed in the United States, which
  collected several materials at the curb. By 2005,
  almost 9,000 curbside programs had sprouted up
  across the nation. As of 2005, about 500
  materials recovery facilities had been
  established to process the collected materials.

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Waste Exchange

• One persons waste can be another persons raw
  material
• Fluorite from Al smelter in MD
• Isopropyl alcohol cleaning solvent
• Nitric Acid from Electronic Industry high grade
  fertilizer
• Spent acid of steel industry control for H2S

45
Liquid Waste

• Sewage
• Highly toxic Industrial Waste Used Oil
• Dilute and Disperse
• Concentrate and Contain
• Secure Landfill
• Sealed drums to be put in impermeable holds with
  monitoring wells to check for leakage does not
  work
• Deep well Disposal
• Pumping in deep porous layer bounded by
  impermeable formations, well below water table
• 1 million to drill, 15-20/ton afterwards
• Restricted by geological considerations, can
  trigger earthquakes

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Story of Love Canal

• A ditch 20m wide, 3m deep and 1km long
• 1890 Built near Niagara falls for hydro-power
• 1905 Hooker Electrochemical established
• 1942 Hooker buys the site for waste disposal,
  20,000 tons of toxic chemical dumped in 10 yr
• 1953 site bought by Niagara School board for 1,
  Hooker absolved of any future damage
• 1977 study shows toxic effects in adjoining
  homes,gt40 toxic chemicals identified
• 1978 Health advisory, 100 families to be shifted
• 1980 remedial measures taken, EPA study shows
  chromosome defects in residents, President Carter
  declares emergency, provides federal aid
• 1981 Over 500 families moved out, hundreds
  waiting for aid
• EPA estimate 30,000 hazardous waste sites in US,
  only 10 of hazardous wastes properly disposed,
  300 million tons generated each year

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Radioactive Waste Disposal

• Isotopes with short half-lives are gone quickly,
  those with long half-lives will decay too little
• Low level wastes 90 of all radioactive wastes
• 20 temporary and 6 commercial disposal sites
• States to take care of their low level waste
• High level wastes e.g., spent nuclear fuel rods
• Should be so disposed as to cause less than 1000
  death in 10,000 years

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High Level Waste Depository

• Rocketing to sun
• Under Antarctica Ice sheet
• Subduction Zone
• Sea bed disposal
• Bedrock caverns
• Granites, basalt, tuff, shale, salt caverns
• Salt High melting point, impermeable in dry
  condition, self-sealing, cheap resource
• No permanent high level waste repository yet

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Requirements for a radio-active waste disposal
system

• Design and Fabricate a System that will
• Last thousands of years longer than recorded
  human history
• Be robust enough to isolate highly radioactive
  material so that it will not threaten human
  health and environment for more than ten thousand
  years.

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Story of Yucca Mountain Site

• 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act
• Congress charges DOE with the task
• Two high level waste depository in the eastern
  and the western USA
• Billions collected from tax on utilities
• 1986 Hanford, Wa, Yucca Mtn, Ne and Deaf Smith
  County, Tx shortlisted as western sites
• 1987 Congress suddenly decides on Nevada (screw
  Nevada bill)
• Read about Screw Nevada Bill
• Nevada to receive 20 million/year
• Feb 15, 2002 Pres. Bush approved Yucca Mtn as
  the site for high level nuclear waste respository

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Yucca Mountain Site

• Geologically stable (?)
• Limited fault displacement
• No volcanism in 10,000 years
• Tuff host rock, 1000 ft below the surface, 1000
  ft above the water table
• Arid climate, no streams, low water table
• Low population density
• Federally owned land, close to Nevada test sites