Chapter 4 Land and Soil Resources

1
Chapter 4Land and Soil Resources

• Section 2
• Solid Waste
• Notes 4-2

2
Trash Facts

• Each day, one American produces 10 kg of trash.
• Every hour, people throw away 2.5 million plastic
  bottles.
• Every two week, there is enough glass bottles and
  jars thrown away to fill the Twin Towers.
• Every year, people throw away 1.6 billion pens,
  2.9 million tons of paper towels and 220 million
  tires.

3
(No Transcript)
4
Problem of Waste Disposal

• Solid Waste
• Things that people throw away
• Some can be liquid
• Most is produced by agriculture, mining and
  industry
• Municipal Waste
• Produced by homes, business and institutions
• Can be buried, burned or maybe recycled

5
Problem of Waste Disposal

• Landfills
• Old land fills were just holes in the ground
• Not safe and unsightly
• Sanitary Landfills
• Constructed to hold wastes more safely
• Holds solid waste, construction debris,
  agricultural and industrial wastes
• Covered with clay and soil, then grass and trees
• Keeps leachate from forming
• Polluted water that filters through the waste and
  gets into drinking water

6
Problem of Waste Disposal

• Parts of a Landfill
• Leachate collection polluted water collects at
  the bottom
• Liners thick layers of clay and plastic cover
  the bottom and sides keeps liquid from leaking
  into the soil
• Solid waste Layers compacted waste reduces
  volume covered with soil or plastic

7
Problems of Waste Disposal

• Parts of a Landfill (cont)
• Gas recovery bacteria break down wastes and
  produce methane and carbon dioxide gases can
  build up and cause explosions. Vent pipes
  collect the gases and release them
• Leachate treatment leachate is pumped into
  holding ponds and treated then shipped to safe
  disposal sites
• Monitoring wells water wells are tested to make
  sure leachate is not escaping out of the landfill

8
Problems of Waste Disposal

• Incineration
• Burning of solid wastes
• Pros
• Incinerators take up less space than landfills
• Dont pose a risk of polluting the water
• Heat can be used to produce electricity
• Cons
• Can release some pollutants into the air
• Some wastes are left over
• More expensive to build than landfills

9
Recycling

• Process of reclaiming raw materials and reusing
  them
• Reduces the volume of solid waste
• Matter is naturally recycled in nature
• Biodegradable broken down and recycled by
  bacteria and other decomposers
• Four major categories of wastes can be recycled
• Metal, glass, paper and plastic

10
Recycling

• Metal
• Metals can be melted and reused
• Saves money and causes less pollution
• No ore needs to be mined, transported to
  factories and then processes
• Conserves nonrenewable resources

11
Recycling

• Glass
• Made from sand, soda ash and limestone mixed and
  then heated
• One of the easiest products to recycle
• Can be broken down and reheated
• Less expensive to recycle than make new
• Old pieces melt at lower temps and uses less
  energy
• Less environmental damage caused by mining new
  materials

12
Recycling

• Paper
• Takes 17 trees to make one metric ton of paper
• Turn wood into pulp thick, liquid
• Pulp is spread and dried to make paper
• Can use old paper (recycle)
• Washed first then mixed with water and chemicals
  to form pulp
• Paper can only be recycled so many times
• Each time the paper becomes weaker, rougher and
  darker

13
Recycling

• Plastic
• Resin solid left over when oil is refined to
  make gasoline and other petroleum products
• Heated, stretched and molded to make plastic
  products
• Number on bottom of plastic container tells what
  the plastic is made of
• Numbers 1 2 are often recycled
• Make milk jugs, detergent containers and soda
  bottles

14
Recycling

• Should we recycle?
• Conserves resources and saves energy
• Can save 90-97 energy by recycling aluminum
• 4-32 energy by recycling glass
• 23-74 energy by recycling paper
• Not all materials can be recycled
• Some cant be recycled (we dont know how to)
• Some we dont have a need for after they are
  recycled
• Does produce some pollution and uses energy

15
Recycling

• Recycling Facts
• http//members.aol.com/Ramola15/funfacts.html

16
Solid Waste Management

• Most municipal wastes still go to landfills
• Recycling is becoming more popular
• When materials are brought back, the people are
  paid a deposit fee.
• Encourages people to recycle
• Supermarkets recycle their bags and often have
  bins for other materials as well
• Get money for recycling metals

17
Three Rs

• Reduce
• Creating less waste
• Reuse
• Finding another use for the object instead of
  throwing it out
• Recycle
• Reclaiming raw materials to create new products

18
Composting

• Process of helping the natural decomposition
  process break down many forms of waste
• Yard trash
• Leaves, grass clippings
• Food waste
• Fruit, coffee grounds, egg shells, vegetables
• Paper (shredded)
• Excellent natural fertilizer for plants