Solid and Hazardous Waste

Solid and Hazardous Waste

Chapter 21

Rapidly Growing E-Waste from Discarded Computers and Other Electronics

Core Case Study: E-waste—An Exploding Problem

Electronic waste, e-waste: fastest growing solid waste problem

Composition includes• High-quality plastics• Valuable metals – mainly copper• Toxic and hazardous pollutants – mainly air and

water runoff The U.S. produces almost half of the world's e-

waste but only recycles about 10% of it.

Recycling E-waste

Migrant workers from Hunan and Szechuan provinces cracking open charred components to remove the copper at the burn village. Guiyu, China. May 2008

Ghana 2009. Burning of plastics to get to metals.

Burn houses in distance and smoke where computer parts from the United States are burned. China 2008


International Basel Convention click for link• Bans transferring hazardous wastes from

developed countries to developing countries. U.S. has not ratified this treaty yet.

European Union• Cradle-to-grave approach

International Toxics Progress Report Card

Countries that rank excellent: (4 ratifications):

-- Belgium-- Bulgaria-- China-- Denmark-- France-- Germany*-- Luxembourg-- Norway-- Slovenia-- Spain-- Sweden-- Switzerland-- United Kingdom

Notable countries that are failing (0 Ratifications) include:

-- Russia-- United States-- Israel-- Malta

Click for link

Grade based on ratification of four important HazardousMaterial treaties. See link below for more information


What should be done?• Recycle• E-cycle• Reuse• Prevention approach: remove the toxic materials

21-1 What Are Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste, and Why Are They Problems?

Concept 21-1 Solid waste represents pollution and unnecessary waste of resources, and hazardous waste contributes to pollution, natural capital degradation, health problems, and premature deaths.

WASTING RESOURCES

Solid waste: any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not a liquid or gas.• Municipal solid waste (MSW): often called

garbage or trash and produce by homes and workplaces.

• Industrial solid waste: produced by mines, agriculture, and industries that supply people with goods and services.

Hazardous (toxic) waste: threatens human health or the environment because it is toxic, chemically active, corrosive or flammable.

WASTING RESOURCES

Hazardous (toxic) waste can be classified as:

• Organic compounds: such as various solvents, pesticides, PBC’s and dioxins.

• Nondegradable toxic heavy metals: such as lead, mercury and arsenic.

• Highly radioactive: produced by nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities.

WASTING RESOURCES

The United States produces about a third of the world’s solid waste and buries more than half of it in landfills.• About 97% (7.6 billion tons) is industrial solid

waste. EPA 2008 data.• About 3% (250 million tons) is MSW.

• Click for more info on waste from EPA

EPA data on waste production in U.S.

EPA waste generation by material U.S.

We Throw Away Huge Amounts of Useful Things and Hazardous Materials

80–90% of hazardous wastes produced by developed countries

Why reduce solid wastes?• ¾ of the materials are an unnecessary waste of

the earth's resources. We can recycle instead of mix and bury them.

• Huge amounts of air pollution, greenhouse gases, and water pollution is produced in producing the products we use and often discard

Solid Waste in the United States

Leader in solid waste problem• What is thrown away?. Data Page 563

Leader in trash production, by weight, per person

Recycling is helping

Fig. 21-2, p. 562

What Harmful Chemicals Are in Your Home?

Cleaning GardeningDisinfectants PesticidesDrain, toilet, and window cleaners

Weed killersAnt and rodent killers

Spot removers Flea powdersSeptic tank cleaners

Paint ProductsPaints, stains, varnishes, and lacquers

Paint thinners, solvents, and strippers

Wood preservativesAutomotive

Artist paints and inksGasolineUsed motor oil

General AntifreezeDry-cell batteries (mercury and cadmium) Battery acid

Brake and transmission fluid

Glues and cements

Natural Capital Degradation: Solid Wastes Polluting a River in Indonesia

Hundreds of Millions of Discarded Tires in a Dump in Colorado, U.S.

21-2 How Should We Deal with Solid Waste?

Concept 21-2 A sustainable approach to solid waste is first to reduce it, then to reuse or recycle it, and finally to safely dispose of what is left.

We Can Burn or Bury Solid Waste or Produce Less of It

Waste Management• Reduce the environmental impact of MSW without seriously

trying to reduce the amount of waste produced

Waste Reduction• Less waste and pollution are produced as well as reuse,

recycle, and composting programs

Integrated waste management • Uses a variety of strategies for both waste reduction and waste

management

Solutions: Reducing Solid Waste

Refuse: to buy items that we really don’t 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, plastics…and buy

items made from recycled materials.

Integrated Waste Management

Fig 21-5

Integrated Waste Management: Priorities for Dealing with Solid Waste

Fig 21-6

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

What Can You Do? Solid Waste

Fig 21-7

21-3 Why Is Reusing and Recycling Materials So Important?

Concept 21-3 Reusing items decreases the use of matter and energy resources and reduces pollution and natural capital degradation; recycling does so to a lesser degree.

Reuse is an important way to reduce solid waste and pollution and to save money

Reuse involves cleaning and using materials over and over and thus increasing the typical life span of a product.• Salvaging automobile parts from older cars• Yard sales• Flea markets• Secondhand stores• Auctions• www.freecycle.org

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

Energy Consumption Involved with Using Different Types of 350 ml Containers

Fig 21-8

There Are Two Types of Recycling (1)

Recycling involves reprocessing discarded solid materials into new, useful products.

Five major types of materials that can be recycled: paper products, glass, aluminum, steel, and some plastics.• Primary, closed-loop recycling

• Recycled into new products of the same type

• Secondary recycling • Waste products are turned into different products

Types of wastes that can be recycled• Preconsumer: internal waste (manufacturing)• Postconsumer: external waste (consumer use)

Preconsumer waste makes up more than ¾ of the total.

There Are Two Types of Recycling (2)

Key questions:

• Are the items separated for recycling actually recycled?

• Will businesses and individuals complete the recycling loop by buying products that are made from recycled materials?

We Can Mix or Separate Household Solid Wastes for Recycling

Materials-recovery facilities (MRFs o “murfs”). Expensive to build, operate and maintain• Mixed waste is separated into what can be reused by

industry or recycled, the rest is burned to produce steam or electricity

Source separation: Produces less air and water pollution, cost less to implement than MRF’s, saves more energy and provides more jobs.• Pay-as-you-throw • Fee-per-bag

Which program is more cost effective?

Which is friendlier to the environment?

We Can Copy Nature and Recycle Biodegradable Solid Wastes

Composting involves allowing decomposer bacteria to recycle yard trimmings, food scraps, and other biodegradable organic wastes.• Individual• Municipal

Uses:• To supply plant nutrients.• Slow soil erosion• Retain water• Improve crop yields• Restore eroded soil• Restore strip-mined land or overgrazed areas.

Successful program in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Backyard Composter Drum: Bacteria Convert Kitchen Waste into Compost

Trade-Offs: Recycling, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-12

We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling (1)

What hinders reuse and recycling?• Misleading accounting system (market price does not include

the harmful environmental and health costs)• Uneven playing field (resource-extracting industries receive

more tax breaks and subsidies)• Demand and price paid for recycled materials fluctuates (buying

goods made with recycled materials is not a priority)

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

We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling (2)

• Fee-per-bag collection• Encorage or require government purchases of

recycled products to increase demand and lower prices.

• New laws requiring companies to take back and recycle or reuse packaging and electronic waste discarded by consumers.

• Citizen pressure to require labels on all products listing recycled content and amounts of any hazardous materials they contain.

21-4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Burning or Burying Solid Waste

Concept 21-4 Technologies for burning and burying solid wastes are well developed, but burning contributes to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and buried wastes eventually contribute to pollution and land degradation.

Waste-to-energy incinerators

Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies such as gasification and anaerobic digestion.

Incinerators reduce the mass of the original waste by 80–85 % and the volume (already compressed somewhat in garbage trucks) by 90 % .

However, without air pollution devices, incinerators pollute the air with particulates, carbon monoxide, toxic metals and other toxic materials.

The highly toxic fly ash must be safely disposed of. This usually involves additional waste miles and the need for specialist toxic waste landfill elsewhere.

87 MSW Incinerators in U. S.

No plans to build more

Hazardous waste incinerators = Click link

Trade-Offs: Incineration, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-14

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

Burying solid waste has advantages and disadvantages

Types of landfills.

• Open dumps: fields or holes in the ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes burned. Widely used in developing countries.

• Sanitary landfills: solid wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted, and covered daily with a fresh layer or clay or plastic foam to reduce leakage, risk of fire, odor and accessibility to vermin.

Burying solid waste has advantages and disadvantages

All landfills eventually leak.

In United States radioactive materials from nuclear weapons facitilities run by the Department of Energy were being dumped into regular landfills with little tracking of their dispersal, despite public opposition.

Trade-Offs: Sanitary Landfills, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-16

Solutions: State-of-the-Art Sanitary Landfill

What Can You Do? Reuse

Fig 21-9

RECYCLING

Primary (closed loop) recycling: materials are turned into new products of the same type.

Secondary recycling: materials are converted into different products.• Used tires shredded and converted into

rubberized road surface.• Newspapers transformed into cellulose insulation

or pencils (City of Oxnard).

EPA data on recycling in U. S.

EPA recycling by product

EPA Discards per capita to landfill

Europe MSW per capita 2008 data

U.S. equivalent in kg/yr in 2008 = 747 kg/person/yr

Source Austrian consultancy firm TBU

We Can Separate Household Solid Wastes for Recycling

Materials-recovery facilities (MRFs)

Click for Oxnard’s Del Norte MRF

Recyclable Household Hazardous Waste Program"ABOP" Program: Antifreeze, Batteries, Oil and Paint Recycling

For other HazMats call: 987-0717 for appointment

Recycling in Oxnard

Click to City web page

EPA data management of MSW

Environmental Paper Network

Click for Environmental Paper Network

The Environmental Paper Network represents over100 organizations working together to accelerate socialand environmental transformation in the pulp and paperindustry. Our goals are to protect the world’s last endangered forests, safeguard our global climate, and ensure abundant, clean drinking water and respect forcommunity and indigenous rights.

90% of office paper has NO recycled content!

Virgin vs Postconsumer paper

Recycling Terms

POSTCONSUMER MATERIAL: Those end products generated by consumers that have been separated or diverted from the solid waste stream. The critical words here are "end products" and "consumers." Products, scraps and materials still in the production or value-added process do not qualify. Examples that do qualify include office wastepaper, junkmail and magazines from people's homes, undeliverable mail at the Postal Service's dead-letter office, office wastepaper, and shipping packaging from delivered products.

PRECONSUMER MATERIALS: Recovered materials other than postconsumer material. Preconsumer materials have not met their intended end-use by a consumer, and include allowable waste left over from manufacturing, converting and printing processes. Examples: mill converting scraps, preconsumer deinking material,

pulp substitutes.

Backyard Composter Drum: Bacteria Convert Kitchen Waste into Compost

Biosolid digesters

Gill’s Onion Site

Click for Gills Onions system

Discarded Solid Waste Litters Beaches

Bioplastics

• Sources: Corn, Soy, Sugarcane, Switchgrass or any organic you can make monomer from.

• Benefits: biodegradable. The basic ingredient of corn-based plastics is polylactide, or PLA. Most PLA has to go to a commercial composting plant to be decomposed

• Cost to make PLA bottle 5-10% more than fossil fuel plastics

• PLA can't be recycled along with regular petroleum-based plastics.

NatureWorks Bioplastics

Click for link to NaureWorks

“Ingeo™ biopolymers are already proving themselves in successcommercial applications in the areas of fiber and nonwovens, films, extruded and thermoformed containers, and extrusion andemulsion coatings.”

Mirel Bioplastics

Cambridge, Mass.-based Metabolix has developed a brand of biodegradable plastic called Mirel that decomposes in soil, compost or even water. It's made from genetically engineered microbes that

convert corn sugar into polymers in a fermentation process.

Click for link to Mirel

-Film grade (for blown and cast film applications): Can be used for agricultural mulch film, compost bags, retail bags, and packaging. -Injection molding grade: Can replace polystyrene or polypropylene for use in many consumer retail products and high-performance applications. -Extrusion sheet and thermoforming grade: Can be used for gift cards, large format graphics, and storage containers. -Developmental grades (for foam, blow molding, non-woven, and monofilament): Can be used for a variety of products, including containers and bottles, personal care and hygiene products, and safe shipping and packing materials.

Trade-Offs: Recycling, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-12

21-4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Burning or Burying Solid Waste

Concept 21-4 Technologies for burning and burying solid wastes are well developed, but burning contributes to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and buried wastes eventually contribute to pollution and land degradation.

Waste-to-energy incinerators

Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies such as gasification and anaerobic digestion.

Incinerators reduce the mass of the original waste by 80–85 % and the volume (already compressed somewhat in garbage trucks) by 95-96 % .

The highly toxic fly ash must be safely disposed of. This usually involves additional waste miles and the need for specialist toxic waste landfill elsewhere.

87 MSW Incinerators in U. S. No plans to build more Burn around 13% of our MSW for energy Hazardous waste incinerators = Click link

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

Fig 21-13

Trade-Offs: Incineration, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-14

When landfill is full, layers of soil and clay seal in trash

Topsoil

Sand Electricity generator buildingClay

Garbage Methane storage and compressor building

Leachate treatment system

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

Leachate pipesGarbage Leachate pumped

up to storage tank for safe disposal

Groundwater monitoring well

SandSynthetic liner Leachate

monitoring wellSand Groundwater

ClayClay and plastic lining to prevent leaks; pipes collect leachate from bottom of landfill

Subsoil Fig 21-15

Trade-Offs: Sanitary Landfills, Advantages and Disadvantages

Fig 21-16

21-5 How Should We Deal with Hazardous Waste?

Concept 21-5 A sustainable approach to hazardous waste is first to produce less of it, then to reuse or recycle it, then to convert it to less hazardous materials, and finally, to safely store what is left.

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

Integrated Hazardous Waste Management

Fig 21-17

Solutions: Phytoremediation

Fig 21-18

Fig. 21-19, p. 579

TRADE-OFFS

Phytoremediation

Advantages Disadvantages

Easy to establish Slow (can take several growing seasons)

InexpensiveEffective only at depth plant roots can reach

Can reduce material dumped into landfills

Some toxic organic chemicals may evaporate from plant leaves

Produces little air pollution compared to incineration

Some plants can become toxic to animalsLow energy use

Fig. 21-20, p. 580

TRADE-OFFS

Plasma Arc


Small High cost

Produces CO2 and COMobile. Easy to move

to different sites

Can release particulates and chlorine gas

Can vaporize and release toxic metals and radioactive elements

Produces no toxic ash

We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste

Burial on land or long-term storage

Deep-well disposal

Surface impoundments

Secure hazardous landfills

Fig. 21-21, p. 580

TRADE-OFFS

Deep-Well Disposal


Safe method if sites are chosen carefully

Leaks or spills at surface

Leaks from corrosion of well casing

Wastes can often be retrieved if problems develop

Existing fractures or earthquakes can allow wastes to escape into groundwater

Output approach that encourages waste production

Easy to do

Low cost

Surface Impoundment in Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.

Fig. 21-23, p. 581

TRADE-OFFS

Surface Impoundments

Advantages DisadvantagesLow construction costs

Groundwater contamination from leaking liners (or no lining)

Low operating costs

Air pollution from volatile organic compoundsCan be built quickly

Overflow from floodingWastes can often be

retrieved if necessary

Disruption and leakage from earthquakesCan store wastes

indefinitely with secure double liners Output approach that

encourages waste production

Solutions: Secure Hazardous Waste Landfill

Fig 21-24

What Can You Do? Hazardous Waste

Fig 21-25

Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States

Two major federal laws regulate the management and disposal of hazardous waste in the U.S.:• 1976: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

(RCRA)• Cradle-to-the-grave system to keep track waste.

• 1989: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)• Commonly known as Superfund program.

Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States

The Superfund law was designed to have polluters pay for cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites.• Only 70% of the cleanup costs have come from

the polluters, the rest comes from a trust fund financed until 1995 by taxes on chemical raw materials and oil.

Leaking Barrels of Toxic Waste at a Superfund Site in the United States

21-6 How Can We Make the Transition to a More Sustainable Low-Waste Society?

Concept 21-6 Shifting to a low-waste society requires individuals and businesses to reduce resource use and to reuse and recycle wastes at local, national, and global levels.

Grassroots Action Has Led to Better Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

“Not in my backyard” = NIMBY

Produce less waste• “Not in anyone’s backyard”• “Not on planet Earth”

We Can Make the Transition to Low-Waste Societies

Norway, Austria, and the Netherlands• Committed to reduce resource waste by 75%

East Hampton, NY, U.S. • Reduced solid waste by 85%

Animation: Economic types

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Solid and Hazardous Waste