Outcome 4

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Outcome 4 Global Issues

• Solid Waste Disposal

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Why is this an issue?

• Early civilizations Hunter-gatherers
• More modern societies As cities developed, the
  need for trash disposal increased.

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http//p.vtourist.com/1/1459838-NYC_Garbage-New_Yo
rk_City.jpg
With smaller populations and more mobility,
people left their trash behind as they moved on
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ebuilderpictures/nomad.tents.jpg
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Solid Wastedefinition

• Solid waste is defined as household garbage and
  other discarded materials.
• In the US, each man, woman and child produces 4
  lbs./day. If you include construction site and
  sewage treatment plant wastes, it bumps our
  totals up to 6 lbs./day...

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rbage.gif
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ages/_1344668_toxicwaste300.jpg
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ages/miscbin2.jpg
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If you really put your mind to it, you can cut
your household garbage down to one bag per week.
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Solid Wastedefinition
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• Many of todays products are designed to be used
  once and then thrown away.
• During Nov and Dec, households will generate
  1million extra tons of garbage per week!

On average, Americans produce twice as much
trash now compared to 40 years ago!
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/Disposable_nitrile_glove.jpg
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ges2005/tn_2032.jpg
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able-camera.jpg
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x_sm.jpg
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mages/plate20and20utensils.JPG
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170658_FinalPackagingPhoto.jpg
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Solid Wastedefinition

• 2 types of trash
• Biodegradable will eventually decompose due to
  actions of decomposers.
• Non-biodegradable will never decompose because
  they are not made of items found in the natural
  world.

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Where does our trash go?

• Today 60 of our trash is landfilled, 30 is
  recycled and the rest is incinerated.
• by volume Paper 50, Plastic 10, Metal 6,
  Glass 1, Organic matter 13, Misc. 20

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History of trash collection

• Open dump concept and problems
• Produced smells in nearby areas
• Provided breeding grounds for flies and rats

• Unattractive to look at
• Spread of disease rampant

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Todays trashcollection

• Sanitary landfill Wastes put in ground and
  covered each day with dirt, plastic or both.

• Mandated since 1993trying to help environment
  has increased the to dispose of trash.
  Landfills are expensive!

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Todays trash collection

• Why are landfills so expensive?
• 2 types of liners to contain leachate/garbage
• collecting and treatment of the leachate
• monitoring of groundwater, surface water, and
  methane.

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Sanitary Landfill
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ycling/images/landfill.gif
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Layering in a landfill

• Pack/compact garbage into 3 m deep sections,
  cover with 15 cm soil and continue this layering
  until desired height. Finally, seal the landfill
  with 60cm of soil, planting trees and grass on
  top.

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Problems with Landfills
Leachate (its black) is seeping through a weak
spot in the cover of a landfill

• Leachate water that contains toxic chemicals
  dissolved from wastes in landfill. If this gets
  through the liners, it may contaminate nearby
  water supplies and poison ecosystems.

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Stream in Connecticut
Leachate that has entered streams and completely
contaminated the water.
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Problems with Landfills

• Methane decomposition in a landfill that occurs
  without oxygen. The byproduct is methane, a
  highly flammable gas

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Problems with Landfills

• Methane makes up only about 60 of the gases
  being released also present are
• CO2
• H2O, N2, H2S, VOCs
• Vinyl chloride, Mercury, Benzene, Methylene
  chloride, and many more
• Even some radioactive gases are released

Many of these other gases are known carcinogens
(cancer causing)
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Problems with Landfills

• Eventually we will run out of spaceno one wants
  a landfill in their neighborhood.
• WI only has about 5 10 years left of landfill
  space.
• Neighboring states are actually out of space
  already and are buying space in our landfills,
  decreasing our timeline even more.

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Alternatives to Landfilling

• Produce less waste
• By making choices you can limit your trash
  production.
• Look at packaging options in the items you buy.
• Companies will get the message that consumers
  dont want all the extra packaging.

http//www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/rec
ycling/solidwaste/sourcereduction.html
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Alternatives to Landfilling

• Incineration burning of waste.
• Most waste is paper...burning reduces the volume
  of our trash by 90.
• Some plastics and bleached paper contains
  products that when burned create dioxin...a
  carcinogen.
• The remaining ash contains heavy metals such as
  Mercury and Lead. This ash must be sent to a
  special landfill

http//areachicago.org/issue3/waste.htm
Chicago Incinerator
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Alternatives to Landfilling

• Recyclingcurrently we recycle 30 of our trash,
  up from 7 in 1970.
• saves raw materials and energy
• it lowers air and water pollution.
• An Al can produced from a recycled can uses only
  5 of the energy required to mine the raw
  material (bauxite).
• If we recycled the Sunday newspaper alone we
  could save 500,000 trees/wk

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Alternatives to Landfilling
Benefit Al Steel Paper Glass
Energy saved 9097 47-74 23-74 4-32
Lowers air pollution 95 85 74 20
Lowers H2O pollution 97 76 35 --------
Lowers amt of mining wastes ------ 97 ------- 80
Lowers amt of H2O used ------ 40 58 50
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Alternatives to Landfilling

• Compost
• grass clippings/yard waste and kitchen scraps...
• it would reduce stream of flow to landfill by 13

http//www.roseville.ca.us/eu/solid_waste_utility/
residential_refuse_collection/composting_bins.asp
Backyard Composting
http//facilities.uoregon.edu/Grounds/composting.h
tm
Municipal Composting
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Reduce and Reusethe consumption issue

• US and Canada residents produce 2 3 times the
  amount of solid waste per person than other
  industrialized countries and many more times that
  of a developing nation.
• People living in cities produce more than a rural
  person.

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Consumption issue

• More and more people work away from home making
  convenience foods a desirable item.
• Many times, in a convenience food, it took more
  energy to produce the packaging than it did to
  create the actual product!

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Consumption issue

• Packaging makes up approximately 50 of our waste
  stream and is the cause for the use of 50 of our
  paper and 25 of all plastics...this all goes
  directly to a landfill!

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Disposableswhats the big deal?

• Disposable items make up another 25 of our
  waste...in the US we throw out enough
• Aluminum to rebuild the entire commercial air
  fleet every 3 months
• Tires to encircle the planet 3 times
• 18 billion disposable diapers/year to the moon
  and back 7 times!
• 2 billion disposable razors/year
• 10 million computers/year
• 8 million TVs/year
• 2.5 million non-returnable plastic bottles/HOUR
• 38 billion pieces of junk mail/year

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What can you do?

• Carry groceries that are small, or use a canvas
  bag, string bag, etc.
• Buy recycled goodsespecially if they contain
  post-consumer wasteand then recycle them when
  you are done. If you dont buy recycled goods,
  then you ARE NOT recycling!
• Reduce your junk mail
• Mail Preference Service
• Direct Marketing Association
• 11 West 42nd St.
• PO Box 3681
• New York, NY 10163-3681

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What can you do?

• Buy products in concentrated form when possible
• Choose items with least amount of packaging
• Helium balloons litter! Dont buy them
• Use pesticides in smallest amount possible and
  whenever possible, use a less toxic alternative
• Do not dispose of hazardous chemicals by flushing
  them, pouring down drain, throwing in trash or
  dumping in storm sewers...dispose of them
  properly!