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E-Waste

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-electronic waste -fastest growing solid waste problem in the US and world -most ends in landfills and incinerators, but most of the components contain materials that can't be recycled or reused -source of toxic and hazardous pollutants

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International Basel Convention

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-banned transfer of hazardous waste from more-devel'd countries to less-devel'd countries -signed by 172 countries -goal to reduce and control movement of hazardous waste across international borders

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Cradle-to-Grave

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-requires manufacturers to take back electronic products at the end of their useful lives and repair, remanufacture, or recycle them -e-waste is banned from landfills and incinerators -consumers pay recycling tax on electronic products to cover cost

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Solid Waste

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-any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is a solid

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Industrial Solid Waste

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-produced by mines, farms, and industries that support people with goods and services

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Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

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-often called garbage or trash -consists of combined solid waste produced by homes and workplaces other than factories -most ends up in rivers, lakes, or open trash dumps

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Hazardous/Toxic Waste

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-poisonous, dangerously chemically reactive, corrosive, or flammable -threatens human health and the environment -i.e. industrial solvents -two largest classes are organic compounds (PCBs) and nondegradable toxic heavy metals (lead, mercury)

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Reasons to Reduce Amount of Solid and Hazardous Waste

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-most represents unnecessary consumption of earth's resources and violates chemical cycling -manufacturing of products we use and often discard creates lots of air and water pollution, greenhouse gases, land degradation

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Waste Management

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-attempt to control wastes in ways that reduce their environmental harm without seriously reducing the amount of waste produced -involves mixing wastes together and transferring them by burying, burning, or shipping them

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Waste Reduction

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-we produce much less waste and pollution -wastes we do produce are considered to be potential resources that we can reuse, recycle, and compost

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Integrated Waste Management

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-variety of coordinated strategies for waste disposal and reduction

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Priorities for Dealing with Waste

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-primary pollution and waste prevention--change industrial process to eliminate use of harmful chemicals, use less harmful products, reduce packaging and materials in products, make products that last long and are recyclable, reusable, and easy to repair -secondary priority is secondary pollution and waste prevention--reuse, repair, recycle, and compost, buy reusable or recyclable products -last priority is waste management--treat waste to reduce toxicity, incinerate waste, bury in landfills, release waste into environment for dispersal and dilution

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Garbology

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-sort, weigh, and itemize people's trash -bore holes in garbage dumps and analyze findings -could help find why trash resists decomposition and for how long

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Reduce

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-consume less and live a simpler lifestyle

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Reuse

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-rely more on items we can use repeatedly -buy necessary items secondhand, borrow, or rent -decreases use of matter and energy resources -cuts waste and pollution, creates jobs, saves money

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Recycle

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-separate and recycle paper, glass, cans, plastics, etc -buy recycled products -save resources and reduce solid waste and pollution -reduces unsightly and environmentally harmful litter -preconsumer/internal waste: generated in manufacturing -postconsumer/external waste: generated by consumers' use of products

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Ways Industries and Communities Can Reduce Resource Use, Waste, and Pollution

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-redesign manufacturing processes and products to use less material and energy -develop products that are easy to repair, reuse, remanufacture, compost, and recycle -eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging -use fee-per-bag waste collection systems -establish cradle-to-grave responsibility laws -restructure urban transportation systems

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Refillable Containers

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-refillable glass beverage or soft drink bottles -can use 15 times before they're too damaged for reuse and can be recycled -saves energy while reducing CO2 emissions, air pollution, water pollution, and solid wastes

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Primary (Closed-Loop) Recycling

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-materials are recycled into new products of the same type

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Secondary Recycling

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-waste materials are converted into different products

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Materials-Recovery Facilities (MRFs)

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-send mixed household and business wastes here -machines/workers separate mixed waste to recover valuable materials for sale to manufacturers as raw materials -remaining materials are recycled or burned to produce steam or electricity to run the plant or are sold to nearby industries and homes -expensive to build, operate, and maintain -can emit CO2 or toxic air pollutants if improperly operated, can also produce toxic ash -encouraged people to produce more trash

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Source Separation

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-separate trash into recyclable categories -produces less air and water pollution and costs less to implement -saves more energy -provides more jobs per unit of material -yields cleaner and more valuable recyclables

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Fee-Per-Bag Waste Collection System

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-encourage source separation -charge households and businesses for amount of mixed waste picked up but don't charge for pickup of materials separated for recycling or reuse

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Composting

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-form of recycling that mimics nature's recycling of nutrients -involves using decomposer bacteria to recycle biodegradable organic wastes -resulting organic material can be added to soil for more plant nutrients, slowing erosion, retaining water, and improving crop yields

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Problems With Recycling Paper

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-use chlorine and chlorine compounds to bleach pulp -compounds are corrosive to processing equipment, hazardous for workers, hard to recover and reuse, and harmful to the environment

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Problems With Recycling Plastics

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-threat to seabirds and marine mammals -can disintegrate in oceans into very small particles that can be mistaken for prey, but the undigestible particles cause dehydration, malnutrition, and starvation -can biomagnify

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Bioplastics

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-plastics made from corn, soy, sugarcane, switchgrass, chicken feathers, and some garbage components -could by lighter, stronger, and cheaper than current plastics -would require less energy and produce less pollution per unit of weight -still expensive though

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Problems With Relying on Biodegradable Conventional Plastics

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-promotes throwing away over recycling bags -can add potentially toxic products to soil and water during breakdown process

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Advantages of Recycling

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-reduces energy and mineral use and air and water pollution -reduces greenhouse gas emissions -reduces solid waste -can save landfill space

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Disadvantages of Recycling

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-can cost more than burying in areas with ample landfill space -reduces profits for landfill and incinerator owners -source separation is sometimes inconvenient

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Factors Discouraging Reuse and Recycling

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-market prices don't include hidden costs -tax breaks and subsidies to resource-extracting industries, not to reuse or recycling industries -demand and price paid for recycled materials fluctuates because it isn't a big priority for most

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Ways to Encourage Reuse and Recycling

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-increase subsidies and tax breaks for reusing and recycling materials, decrease for not -increase fee-per-bag waste collection systems -pressure governments to require product labeling that lists total and post-consumer recycled content of products and the types and amounts of hazardous materials

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Advantages of Incinerators

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-reduces trash volume -produces energy -concentrates hazardous substances -sale of energy reduces cost

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Disadvantages of Incinerators

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-expensive to build -produces hazardous waste -emits some CO2 and other air pollutants -encourages waste production

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Open Dumps

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-landfills that are fields or holes in ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes burned

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Sanitary Landfills

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-newer type of landfill -solid wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted, and covered daily with a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam to keep it dry and reduce leakage -covering also lessens fire risk, odor, reduces accessibility to vermin

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Advantages of Burying Waste

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-low operating costs -can handle large amounts of waste -filled land can be used for other purposes -no shortage of landfill space in many areas

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Disadvantages of Burying Waste

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-noise, traffic, and dust -releases methane and CO2 unless collected -encourages waste production -eventually leaks and can contaminate groundwater

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Mixing Wastes for Burial

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-based on 2nd law of thermodynamics -never mix materials you may later want to separate, because once they're mixed they become dispersed and it's hard to separate back

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Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

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-US law, EPA sets standards for management of several types of hazardous waste and issues permits to companies allowing them to produce/dispose of a certain amount of those wastes by approved methods -permit holders use cradle-to-grave approach -but only regulates about 5% hazardous and toxic wastes produced in US

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Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, Superfund)

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-US law, supervised by EPA -goals are to identify sites (Superfund sites) where hazardous wastes have contaminated the environment and to clean them up on a priority basis

APES Chapter 21

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