Solid and Hazardous Waste

1
Solid and Hazardous Waste

• Chapter 21

2
Core Case Study E-wasteAn Exploding Problem

• Electronic waste, e-waste fastest growing solid
  waste problem
• Composition includes
• High-quality plastics
• Valuable metals
• Toxic and hazardous pollutants

3
Fig. 21-1, p. 560
4
Core Case Study E-wasteAn Exploding Problem

• Shipped to other countries
• 70 of the worlds E-waste is
• shipped to China
• Rest to India and poor African Nations
• Worker- many of them children- dismantle product
  to recover valuable parts
• They are exposed to toxic metals and other
  harmful chemicals
• International Basel Convention
• Bans transferring hazardous wastes from developed
  countries to developing countries
• US, Afghanistan, and Haiti did not ratify

5
Core Case Study E-wasteAn Exploding Problem

• European Union requires Cradle to Grave approach
• What should be done?
• Recycle
• US recycles roughly 10-15
• Changing
• E-cycle
• Reuse
• Prevention approach remove the toxic materials

6
21-1 We Throw Away Huge Amounts of Useful Things
and Hazardous Materials

• Solid waste- any solid unwanted or discarded
  materials
• Industrial solid
• Produced by mines, agriculture, and industries
• Municipal solid waste (MSW)
• Trash that comes from households and workplaces
• Hazardous, toxic, waste
• Poisonous, dangerously chemically reactive,
  corrosive, or flammable ex. Industrial solvents,
  car batteries(lead), dry-cell batteries(mercury
  and cadmium) and incinerator ash
• Hazardous wastes
• Organic compounds (pesticides, PCBs, dioxins)
• Toxic heavy metals (lead, mercury, arsenic)
• Radioactive waste (nuclear power plants, weapons
  facilities)

7
We Throw Away Huge Amounts of Useful Things and
Hazardous Materials

• 8090 of hazardous wastes produced by developed
  countries
• Why reduce solid wastes?
• ¾ of the materials are an unnecessary waste of
  the earth's resources
• Huge amounts of air pollution, greenhouse gases,
  and water pollution

8
Fig. 21-2, p. 562
9
Solid Waste in the United States

• Leader in solid waste problem
• With 4.6 of the worlds population we produce
  1/3rd of the worlds solid waste
• Leader in trash production, by weight, per person
• 98.5 of all solid waste in US is
• Industrial-76
• Agriculture- 13
• Industry- 9.5
• For every pound of electronics 8,000 pounds of
  waste is produced

10

• 1.5 is Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
• About 55 of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills,
• 30 is recycled or composted, and 15 is burned
  in incinerators.

• Recycling is helping

11
2006
p. 587
12
Fig. S3-15, p. S18
13
Fig. S3-16, p. S19
14

• Each year, the United States produces enough MSW
  to fill a bumper to bumper convoy of garbage
  trucks long enough to encircle the earth almost 8
  times!

15
Solid wastes polluting a river in Jakarta,
Indonesia
Fig. 21-3, p. 562
16
Case Study Trash Production, Recycling in NYC
Past, Present, and Future

• 19201940 Highest trash due to coal ash
• 1962 and 1963 Lowest trash, coal burning phased
  out
• 1964 and 1974 Rise in trash due to throwaway
  containers
• 1999 Mandatory recycling
• 2001 Fresh Kills landfill closed, trash hauling

17

• 2001 Landfill temporarily reopened to accept
  9/11 debris
• 2006 The City of New York releases Master Plan
  for Fresh Kills Park
• 2010 Last batch of 9/11 debris sifted for human
  remains
• 2040 Full build out of Fresh Kills Park
  projected.

18
1990
19
Tire dump in Midway, Colorado
Fig. 21-4, p. 563
20
21-2 We Can Burn or Bury Solid Waste or Produce
Less of It

• Waste Management where to put it?
• Waste Reduction- how can we avoid it?
• Integrated waste management
• Uses a variety of strategies
• 54 of MSW is buried in landfills
• 25 recycled
• 14 is incinerated
• 7 - composted

21
Fig. 21-5, p. 565
22
Integrated waste management
Fig. 21-6, p. 565
23
Refuse to buy items that we really dont
need.Reduce consume less and live a simpler
and less stressful life by practicing
simplicity. Reuse rely more on items that can
be used over and over. Repurpose
use something for another purpose
instead of throwing it away. Recycle
paper, glass, cans, plasticsand buy
items made from recycled materials
Solutions Reducing Solid Waste
24
We Can Cut Solid Wastes by Reducing, Reusing, and
Recycling

• Seven strategies
• (1) Redesign manufacturing processes and products
  to use less material and energy
• (2) Redesign manufacturing processes to produce
  less waste and pollution
• (3) Develop products that are easy to repair,
  reuse, remanufacture, compost, or recycle
• (4) Eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging
• (5) Use fee-per-bag waste collection systems
• (6) Establish cradle-to grave responsibility
• (7) Restructure urban transportation systems

25
21-3 Reuse Important Way to Reduce Solid Waste,
Pollution and to Save Money

• Reuse clean and use materials over and over
• Ex. Coffee cups
• Downside of reuse in developing countries
• Often savage in dumps for useful items are
  exposed to toxins and infectious disease
• Salvaging automobiles parts
• Rechargeable batteries

26
Case Study Use of Refillable Containers

• Reuse and recycle
• Refillable glass beverage bottles
• Refillable soft drink bottles made of
  polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic
• Paper, plastic, or reusable cloth bags
• Pros
• Cons

27
There Are Two Types of Recycling

• Primary, closed-loop recycling
• Materials are recycled into products of the same
  type
• Secondary recycling
• Waste products are recycled into different
  products
• Used tires shredded and converted into rubberized
  road surface.
• Newspapers transformed into cellulose
  insulation.
• Types of wastes that can be recycled
• Preconsumer internal waste
• Postconsumer external waste

28
We Can Mix or Separate Household Solid Wastes for
Recycling

• Materials-recovery facilities (MRFs)
• Source separation
• Pay-as-you-throw
• Fee-per-bag
• Which program is more cost effective?
• Which is friendlier to the environment?

29
We Can Copy Nature and Recycle Biodegradable
Solid Wastes

• Composting
• Individual
• Municipal
• Benefits
• Successful program in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

30
Fig. 21-10, p. 570
31
Case Study Recycling Paper

• Production of paper versus recycled paper
• Energy use- pulp and paper industries are the
  5th largest energy users
• Water use uses more water to produce a metric
  ton than any other industry
• Pollution- In US it is the third largest polluter
• Recycling paper uses 64 less energy and produces
  35 less water pollution and 74less air
  pollution
• Countries that are recycling
• U.S -56 of its waste paper
• Denmark-97
• South Korea- 77
• Germany- 72
• Replacement of chlorine-based bleaching chemicals
  with H2O2 or O2

32
Case Study Recycling Plastics

• Plastics composed of resins
• Produced mainly from oil and natural gas
• Most containers discarded 4 recycled
• Litter beaches, water
• Significance?

33
Fig. 21-11, p. 571
34
Case Study Recycling Plastics (2)

• Low plastic recycling rate
• Hard to isolate one type of plastic
• Low yields of plastic
• Cheaper to make it new

35
Waste Management at the Empire State Plaza
36
Fig. 21-12, p. 573
37
Science Focus Bioplastics

• Plastics from soybeans not a new concept
• Key to bioplastics catalysts
• Sources
• Corn
• Soy
• Sugarcane

38
Science Focus Bioplastics

• Sources cont
• Switchgrass
• Chicken feathers
• Some garbage
• CO2 from coal-burning plant emissions
• Benefits lighter, stronger, cheaper, and
  biodegradable

39
Fig. 21-12, p. 573
40
We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling

• What hinders reuse and recycling?
• Encourage reuse and recycling
• Government
• Increase subsidies and tax breaks for using such
  products
• Decrease subsidies and tax breaks for making
  items from virgin resources

41
21-4 Burning Solid Waste Has Advantages and
Disadvantages

• Waste-to-energy incinerators
• 600 Globally
• Most in Great Britain
• Advantages
• Disadvantages

42
waste-to-energy incinerator
Fig. 21-13, p. 575
43
Fig. 21-14, p. 575
44
Burying Solid Waste Has Advantages and
Disadvantages

• Open dumps

45
When landfill is full, layers of soil and clay
seal in trash
Sanitary landfills
Topsoil
Electricity generator building
Sand
Clay
Leachate treatment system
Methane storage and compressor building
Garbage
Probes to detect methane leaks
Pipes collect explosive methane for use as fuel
to generate electricity
Methane gas recovery well
Leachate storage tank
Compacted solid waste
Groundwater monitoring well
Leachate pipes
Leachate pumped up to storage tank for safe
disposal
Garbage
Sand
Synthetic liner
Leachate monitoring well
Groundwater
Sand
Clay and plastic lining to prevent leaks pipes
collect leachate from bottom of landfill
Clay
Subsoil
46
Fig. 21-16, p. 576
47
21-5 We Can Use Integrated Management of
Hazardous Waste

• Integrated management of hazardous wastes
• Produce less
• Convert to less hazardous substances
• Rest in long-term safe storage
• Increased use for postconsumer hazardous waste

48
We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes

• Collect and then detoxify
• Physical methods
• Chemical methods
• Use nanomagnets
• Bioremediation
• Phytoremediation
• Incineration
• Using a plasma arc torch

49
phytoremediation
Fig. 21-18, p. 579
50
Fig. 21-19, p. 579
51
We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste

• Burial on land or long-term storage
• Deep-well disposal
• Surface impoundments
• Secure hazardous landfills

52
Gas vent
Topsoil
Bulk waste
Plastic cover
Earth
Impervious clay cap
Sand
Clay cap
Impervious clay
Water table
Earth
Leak detection system
Groundwater
Double leachate collection system
Plastic double liner
Groundwater monitoring well
Reactive wastes in drums
Fig. 21-24, p. 582
53
Case Study Hazardous Waste Regulation in the
United States

• 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
  (RCRA)- management of hazardous waste (cradle-to
  grave system) only regulates 5 of hazardous
  waste
• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental, Compensation,
  and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund
• Identify sites where contamination has occurred
• Pace of cleanup has slowed
• Superfund is broke
• Laws encouraging the cleanup of brownfields-
  abandoned industrial and commercial sites

54
Case StudyLove Canal There Is No Away

• Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical sealed
• multiple chemical wastes into steel drums and
• dumped them into an old canal excavation (Love
• Canal).
• In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to
  Niagara
• Falls school board for 1.
• The company inserted a disclaimer denying
• liability for the wastes.

55
Love Canal

• 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.

56
Love Canal

• President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a
  federal disaster area.
• The area was
• abandoned in 1980.

57
Love Canal

• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental, Compensation,
  and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund

58
21-6 Grassroots Action Has Led to Better Solid
and Hazardous Waste Management

• NIMBY Not in my backyard
• Produce less waste
• NIABY Not in anyones backyard
• NOPE Not on planet Earth

59
Providing Environmental Justice for Everyone Is
an Important Goal

• Environmental Justice
• The ideal whereby every person is entitled to
  protection from environmental hazards regardless
  of race, gender, age, national origin, or social
  class.
• Which communities in the U.S. have the largest
  share of hazardous waster dumps?
• African-American, Hispanic and indigenous
  communities that were subject to hazardous and
  polluting industries located predominantly in
  their neighborhoods