AP Environmental Science

Chapter 20 & 21Solid & Hazardous Waste

• Solid waste- nontoxic materials discarded from households, industry & agriculture

(In US paper = bulk of waste deposited in landfills from municipal solid waste stream; 18% urban landfills is newspaper)

• Hazardous waste- materials that present an acute or chronic risk to human health Ex: pesticides, heavy metals, solvents, paints

Historical Attitudes Toward Waste

• Past: human pop. low so waste was low & easy to decompose.

• Today: human pop. high & waste is high…an issue

• Solution? Waste disposed of through concept of concentration & containment…landfills

Love Canal

• Neighborhood near Niagara Falls-chemicals oozed into home foundations ( from an abandoned canal within which Hooker Electro-Chemical Corporation dumped various chemical wastes in the 1940s and early 1950s, capped canal w/clay).

• This played a key role in our national history.

• Catalyzed concern of relationship between toxic chemicals & human health & the environment

Reduce Waste Trend

• Collectively known as IWM –

Integrated Waste Management• How do we reduce?

1. Reduce amt. waste generated

2. Reduce waste materials when possible

3. Recycle waste materials

4. Compost organic materials

*instead of putting all of the above in a landfill!

Does Recycling Really Work?• US recycling rate in 1996 was 27%

• Generally there is strong public support

• Problems with Recycling:

*lack of markets for recycled materials

*kind of annoying for some people; easier to just throw the item away

*separating aluminum, glass, steel, plastic kind of annoying for some people

Recycling Cont’d

• Now we can “Co-Mingle” recyclable items-put all in blue bag; recycling center separates it. (provides jobs )

• Market is growing /incentives are out there for companies to use recycled materials in their packaging,etc.

• Eliminates the harvest of “virgin natural resources”-so no clear cutting of forests, no mining for aluminum

Improve Recycling by…• Establish penalties for

negative materials management practices.

• Provide financial incentives for environmentally sustainable industrial practices.

Stop Unwanted Mail!• Credit Bureau

Trans BureauP.O. Box 390Springfield, PA 19064

• Fraud Victim Assistance DivisionP.O. Box 6790Fullerton, CA 92834(800) 680-7289

2006 SCRAP TIRE GRANTAPPLICATION AVAILABLE

Apply here for grants providing financial assistance to organizations that convert manufacturing operations to accept and use scrap tire material.

OHIO :

Landfills

• Sanitary landfills are waste disposal sites that utilize compaction/containment technologies, minimize movement of leachate (contaminated water) off-site via groundwater or surface water.

• Best place for a landfill? Clay dominated soil~semi-impermeable(this means the rate of leachate mvmnt. through this types would be REALLY slow)

Landfill Risks

• Atmospheric inputs of methane from bacterial decomposition activity (a GHG)BUT can be burned for energy…see right ->

• Heavy metal contamination of soil (batteries)

• Assimilation into plants growing in waste disposal site -> subsequent transfer through food web.

Landfill Regulation

• RCRA-Resource Conservation & Recovery Act: the federal legislation

• Must be in compliance with federal, state and local regulations during site selection, design, operation, & monitoring phases (30 years)

Landfill Design

Superfund Sites• Superfund• Congress passed a compromise bill creating a federal fund to pay for cleaning up

abandoned chemical dumps and toxic chemical spills, to be financed by a tax on the chemical and crude oil-producing industries, with taxpayers’ dollars sweetening the pot. The legislation also creates a separate fund, from a tax on wastes deposited in chemical dumps licensed by the EPA, that will assume liability for dumps operated by RCRA standards.

• If the superfund is used to clean up a hazardous site, the EPA can sue the responsible company for the cost. No victims’ medical expenses, loss of income, or property damage will be paid for by the fund. When it comes to government owned property, however, companies may be held liable for damage from toxic spills and wastes, although even here the liability would be limited to $50 million per incident.

• Moreover, how thoroughly the government cleans up a site, and thus how much the responsible company will be liable for reimbursing the fund, will be at the EPA’s discretion and hence subject to competing demands on the fund’s kitty, to political pressure, and to corporate wheeling and dealing. All these features, plus the fact that the fund can be used for purposes other than direct clean-up (such as promoting efforts to prevent toxic spills), means that the link between a company’s doing harm and having to pay up for it–in full and by Itself, without contributions from taxpayers and from more responsible members of the industry–is substantially weakened.

Methods of Disposing Solid Waste

• BURNINGPros- heat can be used as an energy source, reduces impact on landfills, inexpensive

• France, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland incinerate > 40% of their municipal solid waste

Methods cont’d

CONS• air pollution (lead, mercury, NOx,

SOx,etc)No way of knowing toxic emissions

• ash is more concentrated with toxic material (dioxins, furans, lead, cadmium)

• Initial costs of incinerators are high

• Tipping fees are high.

Composting

• PROS• Creates nutrient rich soil

additive• aids in water retention• slows down soil erosion• CONS• odor, vermin, insects• NIMBY-increased

traffic/noise

Compost Tumblers

Typical Composting Food Chain:

Organic residues (producers)

mold/fungi, white worms, flies, earthworms, millipedes(primary consumers)

ants, centipedes, ground beetles, mites (secondary consumers)

Exporting Waste

• PROS

gets rid of local problem immediately

source of income for poor countries

• CONSEnvironmental racism

Long term effects not known

Sanitary Landfills

PROS• plastic liners,

drainage systems to prevent leaching into GW

• methane = energy source

• reduced dependence on other energy sources

CONS

• rising land prices

• transportation costs

• high cost running/monitoring landfill

• legal liability

• NIMBY

• Produces GHG-

Recycling

PROS• reduced impact on landfills• reduces need for raw material so it

reduces costs associated with it• reduces E requirements to produce

product( EX: recycling Al reduces cuts E cost 95%)

• reduces air/water pollution• provides jobs

• “Bottle Bills” provide economic incentive to recycle

CONS

• poor regulation

• fluctuations in market price

• “throw away packaging” more popular

• current policies/regulations favor extraction of raw materials~energy, water and raw materials sold below REAL COST to stimulate new jobs & economy

Disposable Diapers

• Breeding ground for viruses & bacteria in landfill sites

• Single largest nonrecyclable part of household garbage

• One billion trees worldwide are used/year to manufacture single-use diapers

• Bleach wood pulp w/ chlroine gas (white/bright color) produces dioxins and furans

• Sodium polyacrylate (super absorbent gel) linked to toxic shock, allergic RX.

• Page 379 Barron’s Book

Detoxifying Hazardous Waste

• Bioremediation-• Microorganisms & enzymes used to destroy

toxic or hazardous substances or convert them to harmless compounds.

• The contaminated soil & water treated on site (in situ) – this eliminates the need to remove/transport the material to a clean-up facility

• Effective on : diesel fuel, PCB’s, pesticides• Not Very Effective on : toxic metals, highly

concentrated hazardous waste.

Geobacter metallireducens !

• Awesome bacteria that eats up petroleum contaminants like benzene. It also eats radioactive metals in contaminated groundwater!

More…• Phytoremediation-

• Using natural or genetically engineered plants to filter/remove contaminants (mimicks nature)

• EX: Poplar trees (fast growing, generalist, absorbs contaminants quickly), sunflower plants (special strain) removes sign. Amts. Of lead & other toxics from soil, Mulberry bush effective on industrial sludge.

• This is pretty cheap, doesn’t require heavy machinery (air pollution).

• Negatives~pretty slow process and in some cases animals feed on pollutant containing leaves.

The Oregon Poplar site, located in Clackamas, Oregon, comprises three to four acres.

Land Diposal of Hazardous Waste

• Deep well- wastes pumped underground through a pipe into dry, geologic formations far beneath aquifers.

• Surface impoundments- excavated depressions into which liquid hazardous wastes are stored. Water evaporates > becomes more concentrated (>90% threaten GW b/c no liners) Page 538-539!

• Secure Hazardous Waste Landfills- store liquid & solid, put into drums or other containers, buried, securely monitored, very expensive!

Let’s Tame Our Throw-Away Society

• 1. everything is connected• 2. there is no “away” for the waste we produce• 3. dilution is not always the solution to pollution• 4.best/cheapest way to deal w/ waste & pollution

is to produce less, reuse it, recycle it.• Page A10-read together!• Jack Johnson’s Three R’s song! Play it now!

Review

• Effects of gold mining-*much E put into extracting it (6 tons mining waste produced from gold needed to make wedding rings)*this waste is left piled near mine sites (acid mine drainage~rainwater seeps through mine waste/mine carries sulfuric acid (which is produced by bacteria acting on iron sulfide minerals in spoil) to nearby streams & GW

Page 524

• Resource exchange webs- companies mimic natural chemical cycles Instead of a coal burning power plant cooling waste steam and releasing it as hot water into surface water, it supplies steam to nearby oil refinery, pharmaceutical plant, local greenhouses & homes.In exchange surplus gas from refinery is sold to power plant, sulfur removed from oil at refinery is sold to sulfuric acid manufacturer.

Recycling Cons

• In some areas it costs more to recycle than to send the materials to a landfill or incinerator

• Often it is not needed to save landfill space b/c areas in US are not running out of landfill space

• Burn fossils fuels during transport & re-production of goods from these materials which produces GHG that contribute to global warming

• The market for recycled material is still small so it fluctuates~economic burden

Paper

• Doesn’t involve cutting trees (which are carbon sinks…which could reduce the effects of global warming)

• reduces air pollution from pulp mills• Lowers water pollution from mills and

timberlands• Helps prevent GW polllution by toxic ink left after

paper rots in landfills• Saves landfill space• Creates more jobs than harvesting paper from

trees (5 times more)