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Love Canal

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A place where multiple chemical wastes were sealed into steel drums and dumped into an old canal excavation.

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C e r c l a

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Comprehensive Environmental Response compensation and liability act

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Superfund law

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Forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps.

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Solid waste

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Any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not a liquid or a gas.

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Municipal solid waste

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Produced directly from homes. 60 percent of all solid waste.

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Industrial solid waste

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produced indirectly by industries that supply people with goods and services. 40 percent of all solid waste.

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Hazardous waste

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Threatens human health or the environment because it is toxic, chemically active, corrosive or flammable.

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E-waste

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Consists of toxic and hazardous waste such as PVC, lead, mercury, and cadmium.

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open dumps

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Fields or holes in the ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes covered with soil. Mostly used in developing countries.

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Sanitary landfills

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Solid wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted and covered daily with a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam.

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Leachate

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Water contaminated by the solid waste as it travels through the landfill. It is pumped up from the bottom of the landfill and sent to a sewage treatment plant or treated on site.

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Methane gas

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Released by the decomposition of waste, thanks to bacteria. The gas is collected and burned to generate electricity.

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Most commonly found MSW in landfills by composition

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Paper

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Most commonly found MSW by source

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Containers and packaging

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Advantages of landfills

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No open burning. Little odor. Potentially low groundwater pollution. Can be built quickly. Low operating costs. Can handle large amounts of waste. Filled land can be used for other purposes. No shortage of space in many areas.

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Disadvantages of landfills

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Noise and traffic. Dust. Air pollution from toxic gases and volatile organic compounds. Releases greenhouse gases unless they are collected. Groundwater contamination. Slow decomposition of wastes. reuse, and waste reduction.

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Items that are not allowed in landfills

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Oil, tires, antifreeze, and car batteries.

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Integrated waste management

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Using a variety of strategies to reduce and manage the waste we produce.

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Order of solutions to reducing solid waste from best to worst

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Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle.

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Refuse

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To buy items that we really don't need.

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Reduce

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Reduceconsume less and live a simpler and less stressful life by practicing simplicity.

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Reuse

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Rely more on items that can be used over and over.

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Repurpose

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You something for another purpose instead of throwing it away.

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Recycle

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Paper, glass, cans, plastics... and buy items made from recycled materials.

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Incineration

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Globally, MSW is burned in over 1000 large waste-to-energy incinerators, which boil water make steam for heating water, or space, or for production of electricity.

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Advantages of incineration

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Reduce trash volume, less need for landfills, low water pollution, concentrates hazardous substances for burial, sale of energy reduces cost, modern controls reduce air pollution, and recycle metals.

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Disadvantages of incineration

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Expensive to build, costs more than short distance landfill howling, difficult to side because of citizen opposition, some air pollution, poorly managed facilities release lots of pollution, can encourage waste production, and competes with recycling for burnable materials such as papers.

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Recycling

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The conservation of resources by converting them into new products.

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Primary recycling

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Materials are turned into new products of the same type.

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Secondary recycling

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Materials are converted into different products.

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Organic waste

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comprise over half of the solid waste. Includes yard debris, wouldn't materials, biosolids, food, manure and agricultural residues, land clearing debris, used paper, and municipal organic waste. Composting biodegradable organic wastes mimics teacher by recycling plant nutrients to the soil.

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Environmental and economical benefits of recycling paper

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Reduction in pollution and deforestation, less energy expenditure. Recycling saves land, reduces the amount of solid waste, and energy consumption and pollution.

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Advantages of recycling

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Reduces air and water pollution, saves energy, reduces mineral demand, reduces greenhouse emissions, reduces solid waste production and disposal, protect biodiversity, can save money, and important part of economy.

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Disadvantages of recycling

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Doesn't save landfill space, may lose money for items like glass and plastic, reduces profits from landfills and incinerators, and source separation is inconvenient for some people.

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The most recycled material in the u.s.

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Aluminum because of the money.

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Hazardous waste

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Any discarded solid or liquid material that is toxic, ignitable, corrosive, or reactive enough to explode or release toxic fumes.

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Largest classes of hazardous waste

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Organic compounds and toxic heavy metals.

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Resource conservation and Recovery Act. RCRA

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cradle to the grave system to keep track of waste.

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Methods used to convert toxic waste into less hazardous substances

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Physical: using charcoal or resins to separate out harmful chemicals. Chemical: using chemical reactions that can convert hazardous chemicals to less harmful or harmless chemicals.

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Biological methods

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Bioremediation and phytoremediation.

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Bioremediation

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Bacteria or enzymes help destroy toxic and hazardous waste or convert them to more benign substances.

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Phytoremediation

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Involves using natural or genetically engineered plants to absorb, filter, and remove contaminants from polluted soil and water.

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Incineration

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Heating many types of hazardous waste to high temperatures up to 2000 degrees Celsius in an incinerator to break them down and convert them to less harmful or harmless chemicals.

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Plasma torch

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Passing electrical currents through gas to generate an electric arc in very high temperatures can create plasma. The plasma process can be carried out in a torch which can decompose liquid or solid hazardous organic material.

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Long-term storage methods

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Deep well disposal, surface impoundments, long-term retrievable storage, and secure landfills.

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Surface impoundment

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Excavated depressions such as ponds, pits, or lagoons into which liners are placed in liquid hazardous wastes are stored.

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Deep well disposal

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Liquid hazardous wastes are pumped under pressure into dry porous rock far beneath aquifers.

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Long term retrievable storage

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Some highly toxic materials cannot be detoxified or destroyed. Metal drums are used to store them in areas that can be inspected and retrieved.

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Secure landfills

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Sometimes hazardous wastes are put into drums and buried in carefully designed and monitored sites.

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lead

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Especially harmful to children and is still used in leaded gasoline and household paints in about 100 countries.

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Mercury

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Released into the environment mostly by burning coal and incinerating waste and can build to high levels in some types of fish.

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Brownfields

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Contaminated areas where genetically engineered plants are placed to absorb chemicals and toxins.

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