Solid and Hazardous Waste
Love Canal 1980-Declared a Federal Disaster
Superfund Law Created
Wasting Resources
 Solid waste: any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not
________________________________________________.
 Municipal solid waste (MSW): produce directly from _____________________.
 Industrial solid waste: produced indirectly by industries that supply people with
_________________________________________________________.
Hazardous (toxic) waste: threatens human ____________________ or the
______________________ because it is toxic, chemically active, corrosive or flammable.
 The United States produces about _______________ of the world’s solid waste and
buries more than _______________of it in landfills.
 About 98.5% is __________________________ 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.
Solutions: Reducing Solid Waste
 Refuse: to buy items that we really _________________________________.
 Reduce: consume ________________________ and live a simpler and less stressful life
by practicing ____________________________.
 Reuse: rely more on items that can be used ____________________________.
 Repurpose: use something for another _________________ instead of throwing it away.
 Recycle: paper, glass, cans, plastics…and buy items made from __________________
materials.
Using Refillable Containers
 Refilling and reusing containers uses ____________________ resources and less
_________________________, 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 ____________________
(Germany 75%).
We can use _________________________ shopping bags, food containers, and shipping pallets,
and borrow tools from tool libraries.
Many countries in Europe and Asia _______________________________ for plastic bags.
Recycling
 Primary (closed loop) recycling: materials are turned into new products of the
______________________________.
 Secondary recycling: materials are converted into ____________________________.
 Used tires shredded and converted into rubberized ________________________.
 Newspapers transformed into cellulose _________________________.
 Composting biodegradable organic waste mimics nature by
__________________________________________________________________.
 Recycling paper has a number of _______________________ (reduction in pollution and
deforestation, less energy expenditure) and _______________________ benefits and is
easy to do.
 Recycling many _____________________ is chemically and economically difficult.
 Many plastics are hard to _____________________ from other wastes.
 Recovering individual plastic _______________ does not yield much material.
 The cost of virgin plastic resins in lower than recycled resins due to low
________________________________________________
 There are new technologies that are making plastics ______________________.
 Reuse and recycling are hindered by prices of goods that do not reflect their
______________________________________________________________, too few
government subsidies and tax breaks, and price fluctuations.
Burning and Burying Solid Waste
 Globally, MSW is burned in over 1,000 large waste-to-energy incinerators, which
__________________________________________________________ for heating
water, or space, or for production of ______________________.
 Japan and a few European countries ____________________ most of their MSW.
Waste-to-Energy incinerator with pollution controls.
Sanitary Landfill
Hazardous Waste Regulations
 Hazardous waste: is any discarded solid or liquid material that is ___________________
_______________________________________________________________________
enough to explode or release toxic fumes.
 The two largest classes of hazardous wastes are _______________________
compounds (e.g. pesticides, PCBs, dioxins) and toxic
____________________________ (e.g. lead, mercury, arsenic).
 Two major federal laws regulate the management and disposal of hazardous waste in the
U.S.:

R______________ C_______________________ and
R________________________ Act (RCRA)

Cradle-to-the-grave system to keep track waste.

Comprehensive Environmental R_______________________,
C_____________________, and L__________________ Act (CERCLA)
Commonly known as “_______________________________________”.
 The Superfund law was designed to have polluters pay for cleaning up abandoned
_________________________________ 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.
Conversion to Less Hazardous Substances
 Physical Methods: using charcoal or resins to _________________________ harmful
chemicals.
 Chemical Methods: using chemical reactions that can convert hazardous chemicals to
____________________________________ or harmless chemicals.
 Biological Methods:

Bioremediation: bacteria or enzymes help _______________________________
and ______________________ waste or convert them to more benign substances.
Phytoremediation: involves using natural or genetically engineered
______________________ to absorb, filter and remove contaminants from
polluted soil and water.
 Incineration: heating many types of hazardous waste to high temperatures – ----up to
2000 °C --- in an incinerator can break them down and convert them to
__________________________________ or harmless chemicals.
 Plasma Torch: passing electrical current through gas to generate an electric arc and very
high temperatures can create ____________________________.
 The plasma process can be carried out in a torch which can decompose liquid or
solid hazardous _________________________ material.
Long Term Storage of Hazardous Waste
 Hazardous waste can be disposed of on or underneath the earth’s surface, but without
proper design and care this can pollute the air and water.
 Deep-well disposal: liquid hazardous wastes are pumped under pressure into dry
porous rock far beneath aquifers.
 Surface impoundments: excavated depressions such as ponds, pits, or lagoons
into which liners are placed and liquid hazardous wastes are stored.
 Long-Term Retrievable Storage: Some highly toxic materials cannot be detoxified or
destroyed. Metal drums are used to stored them in areas that can be inspected and
retrieved.
 Secure Landfills: Sometimes hazardous waste are put into drums and buried in carefully
designed and monitored site
 In the U.S. there are only 23 commercial hazardous waste landfills.
Example: Lead
Global Outlook: International Action to Reduce Hazardous Waste
 An international treaty calls for ____________________________ the use of harmful
persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
 POPs are ____________________ in water and ____________________ in fat.
 Nearly every person on earth has ____________________levels of POPs in their
blood.
 The U.S has ________________________ this treaty.
Making the Transition to a Low-Waste Society: A New Vision
 Everything is ____________________________.
 There is no “________________________” for the wastes we produce.
 Dilution is not always the _____________________ to pollution.
 The best and cheapest way to deal with wastes is _______________________ and
pollution _____________________________.