Solid and Hazardous Waste

Chapter 21

Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster area.– The area was

abandoned in 1980 (left).

Figure 22-1Figure 22-1

Core Case Study: Love 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.

Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• 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.

Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• It still is a controversy as to how much the chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease to the residents.

• Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund law, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps.

WASTING RESOURCES

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

from homes.– Industrial solid waste: produced indirectly by

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

• Solid wastes polluting a river in Jakarta, Indonesia. The man in the boat is looking for items to salvage or sell.

Figure 22-3Figure 22-3

III. DISPOSAL OF SOLID WASTE

A. Open Dumps - Most common method in developing countries

1. Manila: 10 huge dumps•Thousands of people live and work on dumps scavenging for food & materials: Very unsafe

2. Cairo: Traditional garbage collectors live with their trash

3. Outlawed in most developed countries, but still happens

a. Dumping of materials like oil and paints: one liter can make 1,000,000 liters undrinkable

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 98.5% is industrial solid waste.– The remaining 1.5% is MSW.

• About 55% of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills, 30% is recycled or composted, and 15% is burned in incinerators.

Solid Waste in the U.S.

• 98.5% is from– 1. Mining– 2. Oil and gas production– 3. Agriculture– 4. Sewage treatment– 5. Industry

• 1.5% is municipal solid waste (MSW)

Solid Waste

• Problems – Disease (Rodent and pest

reduction)– Fire potential– Decrease in the aesthetic

quality of the environment

Municipal Solid Waste

• MSW—more commonly known as trash or garbage—consists of everyday items– Product packaging– Grass clippings– Furniture– Clothing– Bottles– Food scraps– Newspapers– Appliances– Paint– Batteries

MSW

• In 1999, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 230 million tons of MSW– Approximately 4.6 pounds of

waste per person per day (1680 pounds/year)

– Up from 2.7 pounds per person per day in 1960

MSW

• Several MSW management practices prevent or divert materials from the wastestream– Source reduction– Reuse– Recycling– Composting

Agricultural Waste

• Livestock produce sewage– 200,000 hens, 1200 head of cattle in

a feedlot, & 10,500 hogs may produce as much waste as 20,000 people

– In the U.S., there are 337 million hen, 96.1 million head of cattle & 58.7 million hogs which produce twice as much sewage as all the humans in the U.S.

Electronic Waste: A Growing Problem

• E-waste consists of toxic and hazardous waste such as PVC, lead, mercury, and cadmium.

• The U.S. produces almost half of the world's e-waste but only recycles about 10% of it.

• http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n

Figure 22-4Figure 22-4

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

• We can manage the solid wastes we produce and reduce or prevent their production.

Figure 22-5Figure 22-5

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.

REUSE

• Reusing products is an important way to reduce resource use, waste, and pollution in developed countries.

• Reusing items by repairing them, donating them to charity and community groups or selling them

• Use the product more than once, either for the same purpose or for a different purpose

• Reusing, when possible, is preferable to recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before it can be used again

How People Reuse Materials

• Children looking for materials to sell in an open dump near Manila in the Philippines.

• Reusing can be hazardous in developing countries for poor who scavenge in open dumps.– They can be exposed to

toxins or infectious diseases.

Figure 22-2Figure 22-2

Case Study: Using Refillable Containers

• Refilling and reusing containers uses fewer resources and less energy, produces less waste, saves money, and creates jobs.– In Denmark and Canada’s Price Edward’s

Island there is a ban on all beverage containers that cannot be reused.

– In Finland 95% of soft drink and alcoholic beverages are refillable (Germany 75%).

REUSE

• Reducing resource waste: energy consumption for different types of 350-ml (12-oz) beverage containers.

Figure 22-7Figure 22-7

Solutions: Ways to Reuse Using durable coffee mugs Using cloth napkins or towels Refilling bottles Donating old magazines or surplus equipment Reusing boxes Turning empty jars into containers for leftover food Purchasing refillable pens and pencils Participating in a paint collection and reuse program

B. Reducing the Amount of Waste: Source Reduction – Pollution

prevention• 1. Reduce consumption• 2. Reduce packaging (50% of domestic waste)• 3. Trash taxes• 4. Modify waste• a.Photodegradable and biodegradable

plastics• 5. Redesign manufacturing processes to use less

material and make less waste• 6. Develop products that last longer ( no built in

obsolescence)

C. Reducing the Amount of Waste: Reusing Products

• 1. Can Refillable Bottles Make a Comeback in the United States?

• a. Switching back to refillable (Milkman) bottles would require consumer demand

• 2. Reuse car parts, motor oil• 3. Use fabric bags for • groceries, cloth diapers?•

Solutions: Other Ways to Reuse Things

• We can use reusable shopping bags, food containers, and shipping pallets, and borrow tools from tool libraries.– Many countries in Europe and Asia charge

shoppers for plastic bags.

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.

Recycling

• Recycling, including composting, diverted 64 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 1999, up from 34 million tons in 1990

• Typical materials that are recycled include batteries, recycled at a rate of 96.9%, paper and paperboard at 41.9%, and yard trimmings at 45.3%

• These materials and others may be recycled through curbside programs, drop-off centers, buy-back programs, and deposit systems

Benefits of Recycling• Recycling

– Prevents the emission of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants

– Saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry– Creates jobs– Stimulates the development of greener technologies– Conserves resources for our children’s future– Reduces the need for new landfills and combustors– Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that affect global climate– In 1996, prevented the release of 33 million tons of carbon

into the air—roughly the amount emitted annually by 25 million cars.

RECYCLING

• There is a disagreement over whether to mix urban wastes and send them to centralized resource recovery plants or to sort recyclables for collection and sale to manufacturers as raw materials.– To promote separation of wastes, 4,000

communities in the U.S. have implemented pay-as-you-throw or fee-per-bag waste collection systems.