1. Solid and Hazardous Waste

3. Disposable?
We live in a disposable society, trash is an everyday reality for every American.
What does this term mean?
Wall-E
Think about our habits and perception of trash.
What are the factors in identifying a disposable society?

4. Central Case: Transforming New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill
The largest landfill in the world, it closed in 2001
Staten Island residents viewed the landfill as an eyesore and civic blemish
It was briefly reopened to bury rubble from the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001, attack
New York plans to transform the landfill into a world-class public park

5. Core Case Study: Love Canal — There Is No “Away”
Between , 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 22-1

8. 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.

9. What is your definition of waste?

10. Waste
Any discarded material for which no further sale or use is intended
examples: residue, chemical by-products, unused virgin material, spill absorbent material

11. 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.

12. Solid Waste
Any garbage; refuse; sludge from a waste treatment plant or air pollution control facility; and other discarded material (including solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous material) generated from any industrial, commercial or community activities; mining or agricultural operations

13. Solid Waste Exclusions
Solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage or irrigation return flows
Industrial discharges subject to CWA regulations, including POTW
Source, special nuclear or by-product material defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954

14. Ways to reduce waste that enters waste stream
Waste stream = flow of waste as it moves from its sources toward disposal destinations
More efficient use of materials, consume less, buy goods with less packaging, reusing goods
Recovery (recycling, composting) = next best strategy in waste management
Recycling = sends used goods to manufacture new goods
Composting = recovery of organic waste
All materials in nature are recycled

15. How Much Trash is Generated?
Of the 251 million tons (228 million metric tons) of trash, or solid waste, generated in the United States in 2006, about 81.8 million tons (74.2 million metric tons), or 32.5 percent, was either recycled or composted [source: EPA].

16. Materials Discarded in a Municipal Landfill
Paper and paperboard %
Yard waste %
Glass %
Metal %
Rubber, leather, textiles 8.1%
Food waste %
Plastic %
Miscellaneous inorganic 1.6%

17. 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.
Figure 22-4

18. Waste generation is rising in the U.S.
In the U.S,, since 1960, waste generation has increased by 2.8 times

19. Waste disposal

20. WASTING RESOURCES
Solid wastes polluting a river in Jakarta, Indonesia. The man in the boat is looking for items to salvage or sell.
Figure 22-3

21. Trash For Sale The US sells it’s trash to China for recycling.
The turn in the economy has devalued the recycling industry

22. INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT
We can manage the solid wastes we produce and reduce or prevent their production.
Figure 22-5

23. 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.

24. Burying Solid Waste
Most of the world’s MSW is buried in landfills that eventually are expected to leak toxic liquids into the soil and underlying aquifers.
Open dumps: are fields or holes in the ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes covered with soil. Mostly used in developing countries.
Sanitary landfills: solid wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted and covered daily with a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam.

25. Sanitary landfills are regulated
Sanitary landfills = waste buried in the ground or piled in large, engineered mounds
Must meet national standards set by the EPA under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976
Waste is partially decomposed by bacteria and compresses under its own weight to make more space
Layered with soil to reduce odor, speed decomposition, reduce infestation by pets
When a landfill is closed, it must be capped and maintained

26. 40 CFR Parts
The purpose of this part is to establish minimum national criteria under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA or the Act), as amended, for all municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) units and under the Clean Water Act, as amended, for municipal solid waste landfills that are used to dispose of sewage sludge. These minimum national criteria ensure the protection of human health and the environment.

27. Regulatory Guidelines
Subtitle D, of RCRA regulates non-hazardous waste
Siting
Design
Operation
Monitoring
Closure and post-closure
Financial assurance

28. Why do we have landfills?
Protect groundwater
Protect surface water
Protect air quality
Control pathogenic migration

29. Landfill Design The main waste contaminant features are
Underlying soils
Depth to groundwater
Landfill liner (triple liner)
Leachate collection system
Leachate prevention through infiltration and drainage control
Cover soil and final landfill cap

30. The Size of the Landfill
Limit of Refuse filing (LRF) determines the volume of waste that can be properly stored at the site
Determined by site characterization, proximity to surface and groundwater

31. The Liner A liner acts like a giant garbage bag Clay liner
Synthetic liner
Additional liner

32. Liner Construction

33. Drainage Control
Surface water infiltration is drained from the landfill

34. Leachate
Leachate is the liquid that migrates from within a land disposal site which has come in contact with solid waste.

35. Monitoring
Groundwater monitoring wells are installed around the landfill to monitor pollution migration.
Gas collection wells are installed to remove methane which is a natural decomposition product or organic material.

36. Procedures Waste is broken down and moved into the landfill.
A layer of dirt is used to cover the waste.

37. Closure
Solid waste is layered with soil or clay and capped off.

38. Closure

39. Landfill Construction

40. BURNING AND BURYING SOLID WASTE
Globally, MSW is burned in over 1,000 large waste-to-energy incinerators, which boil water to make steam for heating water, or space, or for production of electricity.
Japan and a few European countries incinerate most of their MSW.

41. Burning Solid Waste
Waste-to-energy incinerator with pollution controls that burns mixed solid waste.
Figure 22-10

42. Landfills can produce gas for energy
Bacteria can decompose waste in an oxygen-deficient environment
Landfill gas = a mix of gases that consists of roughly half methane
Can be collected, processed, and used like natural gas
When not used commercially, landfill gas is burned off in flares to reduce odors and greenhouse emissions

43. THE “R’S”

44. 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.

45. REUSE
Reusing products is an important way to reduce resource use, waste, and pollution in developed countries.
Reusing can be hazardous in developing countries for poor who scavenge in open dumps.
They can be exposed to toxins or infectious diseases.

46. 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%).

47. REUSE
Reducing resource waste: energy consumption for different types of 350-ml (12-oz) beverage containers.
Figure 22-7

48. 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.

49. 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.

50. 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.

51. RECYCLING
Composting biodegradable organic waste mimics nature by recycling plant nutrients to the soil.
Recycling paper has a number of environmental (reduction in pollution and deforestation, less energy expenditure) and economic benefits and is easy to do.

52. RECYCLING
Recycling many plastics is chemically and economically difficult.
Many plastics are hard to isolate from other wastes.
Recovering individual plastic resins does not yield much material.
The cost of virgin plastic resins in low than recycled resins due to low fossil fuel costs.
There are new technologies that are making plastics biodegradable.

53. RECYCLING
Reuse and recycling are hindered by prices of goods that do not reflect their harmful environmental impacts, too few government subsidies and tax breaks, and price fluctuations.

54. Alternatives What can you do with waste other than landfilling it?
Compost piles
Biodegradable

55. Compost Compost is a pile of organic debris.
Roughly half of household waste is made up of food and garden waste. Most of this material could be composted to save landfill, improve soil condition and provide fertiliser in the garden at no cost.
Composting is the method of breaking down waste organic materials in a large container or heap. The decomposition occurs because of the naturally occurring micro-organisms, such as bacteria and fungi.

56. Compost Piles Can go in Compost Can't go in Compost
Vegetable and fruit scraps
Meat and Dairy products
Fallen Leaves
Diseased Plants
Tea Leaves and Tea Bags
Metals, plastic & glass
Coffee Grounds
Droppings of meat eating animals (eg dogs)
Vacuum Cleaner Dust
Fats or Oils
Soft Stems
Magazines
Dead Flowers
Large Branches
Used Vegetable Cooking Oil
Weeds that have seeds or underground stems
Egg Shells
Bread or cake (attracts mice)
Lawn Clippings
Bones
Old Newspapers
Sawdust (not from treated timber)

57. The rules are different!
Hazardous Waste
The rules are different!

58. Illegal dumping of hazardous waste
Since hazardous waste disposal is costly, it results in illegal and anonymous dumping by companies,
Creating health risks
Industrial nations illegally dump in developing nations
Basel Convention, an international treaty, should prevent dumping but it still happens
High costs of disposal encourages companies to invest in reducing their hazardous waste

59. Superfund
Later laws charged the EPA with cleaning up brownfields = lands whose reuse or development are complicated by the presence of hazardous materials
Two events spurred creation of Superfund legislation
In Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York, families were evacuated after buried toxic chemicals rose to the surface, contaminating homes and an elementary school
In Times Beach, Missouri, the entire town was evacuated after being contaminated with dioxin from waste oil sprayed on roads

60. The Superfund process
Once a Superfund site is identified, EPA scientists evaluate:
How close the site is to human habitation
Whether wastes are currently confined or likely to spread
Whether the site threatens drinking water supplies

61. Superfund: harmful sites
Harmful sites are:
Placed on the EPA’s National Priority List
Ranked according to the level of risk to human health that they pose
Cleaned up on a site-by-site basis as funds are available
The EPA is required to hold public hearings and inform area residents of tits findings and to receive feedback

62. Who pays for cleanup?
CERCLA operates under the polluter pays principle = polluting parties were to be charged for cleanup
However, the responsible parties often can’t be found
A trust fund was established by a federal tax on petroleum and chemical industries
The fund is bankrupt, and neither the Bush administration nor Congress has moved to restore it, so taxpayers now pay all costs of cleanup
Fewer cleanups are being completed
An average cleanup costs $25 million and takes years

63. Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States
Two major federal laws regulate the management and disposal of hazardous waste in the U.S.:
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Cradle-to-the-grave system to keep track waste.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
Commonly known as Superfund program.

64. Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States
The Superfund law was designed to have polluters pay for cleaning up abandoned hazardous 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.

65. The stepwise process of determining a hazardous waste
Define the material as a “waste”
Define the waste as “solid waste”
Determine any solid waste exclusions
Define the solid waste as “hazardous”
Determine any hazardous waste exclusions

66. Hazardous Waste
Solid waste or combination of solid wastes which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause an increase in mortality, incapacitating illness or pose a present or potential hazard to the health or environment when improperly treated, stored or disposed of.

67. A Hazardous Waste is . . . listed by 40 CFR Part 261; or
is characterized by analytical methodology

68. EPA Criteria for Hazardous Waste
Toxicity
Persistence in the environment
Degradability in the environment
Bioaccumulation potential
Hazardous Characteristics: ignitibility, corrosivity, reactivity, Toxicity Characteristic Leachate Procedure (TCLP)

69. Hazardous Characteristics
Ignitibility: flashpoint less than 140oF (<140oF)
Corrosivity: pH less than 2.0 S.U. or greater than 12.5 S.U. (2.0 < S.U. < 12.5)
Reactivity: a combination of greater than 250 mg/kg of HCN and greater than 500 mg/kg of H2S

70. Hazardous Characteristics (cont.)
TCLP with one or more compounds above the Maximum Concentration Limit

71. Hazardous Waste Exclusions
Household waste
Agricultural waste returned as fertilizer
Mining overburden returned to mine site
Certain utility wastes from coal combustion
Certain oil & natural gas exploration drilling waste

72. Hazardous Waste Exclusions (continued)
Waste from mining and processing ores
Cement chromium bearing wastes
Cement kiln dust wastes
Arsenic-treated wood wastes from end users

73. Dioxins Regulated by TSCA
Group of more than 70 different chlorinated dioxins
By-product of certain manufacturing processes
Carcinogen
Teratogen
Mutagen

74. Bioaccumulators Chlorinated Insecticides Carbamates Organophosphates
Herbicides
Metals

75. Hydrogen Sulfide Decomposition product of organic matter
Sludge press by-product
If the pH falls below 7 S.U., Hydrogen Sulfide is released
Toxic gas

76. Cyanides (-CN) Commonly found in plating operations and sludges
When mixed with an acid, Hydrogen Cyanide gas is released
Can cause instantaneous death
Acutely toxic

77. Eight Heavy Metals (RCRA)
Arsenic
Barium
Cadmium
Chromium
Lead
Mercury
Selenium
Silver

78. Case Study: Lead
Lead is especially harmful to children and is still used in leaded gasoline and household paints in about 100 countries.
Figure 22-24

79. Case Study: Mercury
Mercury is released into the environment mostly by burning coal and incinerating wastes and can build to high levels in some types of fish.
Figure 22-26

80. Fig. 22-25, p. 542 AIR WINDS PRECIPITATION WINDS PRECIPITATION
Hg and SO2
Hg2+ and acids
Hg2+ and acids
Photo-
chemical
Human sources
Elemental
mercury
vapor
(Hg)
Inorganic mercury
and acids
(Hg2+)
Inorganic mercury
and acids
(Hg2+)
Coal-
burning
plant
Incinerator
Deposition
Runoff of Hg2+ and acids
Deposition
WATER
Large fish
Vaporization
Deposition
Small fish
BIOMAGNIFICATION
IN FOOD CHAIN
Deposition
Figure 22.25
Science: cycling of mercury in aquatic environments, in which mercury is converted from one form to another. The most toxic form to humans is methylmercury (CH3Hg+), which can be biologically magnified in aquatic food chains. Some mercury is also released back into the atmosphere as mercury vapor. QUESTION: What is your most likely exposure to mercury?
Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Bacteria
and acids
Oxidation
Elemental
mercury liquid
(Hg)
Inorganic
mercury
(Hg2+)
Organic
mercury
(CH3Hg+)
Bacteria
Settles
out
Settles
out
Settles
out
SEDIMENT
Fig , p. 542

81. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
Group of chlorinated hydrocarbons
Arochlor 1016, 1254, etc.
By-product of certain manufacturing processes
Transformer oil - dielectric properties

82. Waste Minimization
Waste minimization is required by all Large Quantity Generators and can be achieved by
using an alternative process;
reducing the amount used; or
solvent substitution

83. How is hazardous waste treated?
The EPA decides the appropriate method of disposal for each listed and typed waste.
Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDF) are permitted to handle hazardous waste.
Transporters of hazardous waste are also permitted.

84. Treatment Methods There are several categories of treatment options.
Landfill or Storage
Incineration or Destruction
Fuel Blending
Neutralization
Biological Treatment

85. Conversion to Less Hazardous Substances
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 less harmful or harmless chemicals.

86. Conversion to Less Hazardous Substances
Plasma Torch: passing electrical current through gas to generate an electric arc and 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.

87. 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.

88. Deep Underground Wells
Trade-Offs
Deep Underground Wells
Advantages
Disadvantages
Safe method if
sites are chosen
carefully
Leaks or spills at
surface
Leaks from
corrosion of well
casing
Wastes can be
retrieved if
problems
develop
Existing fractures
or earthquakes
can allow wastes
to escape into
groundwater
Figure 22.20
Trade-offs: advantages and disadvantages of injecting liquid hazardous wastes into deep underground wells. QUESTION: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important?
Easy to do
Encourages
waste production
Low cost
Fig , p. 539

89. Low construction costs
Trade-Offs
Surface Impoundments
Advantages
Disadvantages
Groundwater
contamination
from leaking liners
(or no lining)
Low construction costs
Low operating costs
Air pollution from
volatile organic
compounds
Can be built quickly
Overflow from
flooding
Figure 22.21
Trade-offs: advantages and disadvantages of storing liquid hazardous wastes in surface impoundments. QUESTION: Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do you think are the most important?
Wastes can be retrieved if necessary
Disruption and
leakage from
earthquakes
Can store wastes indefinitely with secure double liners
Promotes waste
production
Fig , p. 539

90. Long-Term Storage of Hazardous Waste
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 sites.

91. Secure Hazardous Waste Landfill
In the U.S. there are only 23 commercial hazardous waste landfills.
Figure 22-22

92. Brownfields
Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
In other words, an abandoned property that is potentially contaminated

93. How many?
It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.
Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.

94. Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is the use of living green plants for in situ risk reduction and/or removal of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments, and air.

95. Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is actually a term for several ways in which plants can be used to clean up contaminated soils and water.
Phytoextraction or inorganics or metals
Rhizofiltration for metals
Phytostabilization to stabilize soil
Phytodegradation of organic compounds
Rhizodegradation for organics
Phytovolatilization

96. Advantages of phytoremediation
It is more economically viable using the same tools and supplies as agriculture
It is less disruptive to the environment and does not involve waiting for new plant communities to recolonize the site
Disposal sites are not needed
It is more likely to be accepted by the public as it is more aesthetically pleasing then traditional methods
It avoids excavation and transport of polluted media thus reducing the risk of spreading the contamination
It has the potential to treat sites polluted with more than one type of pollutant

97. Disadvantages of phytoremediation
It is dependant on the growing conditions required by the plant (ie climate, geology, altitude, temperature)
Large scale operations require access to agricultural equipment and knowledge
Success is dependant on the tolerance of the plant to the pollutant
Contaminants collected in senescing tissues may be released back into the environment in autumn
Contaminants may be collected in woody tissues used as fuel
Time taken to remediate sites far exceeds that of other technologies
Contaminant solubility may be increased leading to greater environmental damage and the possibility of leaching

99. ACHIEVING A LOW-WASTE SOCIETY
In the U.S., citizens have kept large numbers of incinerators, landfills, and hazardous waste treatment plants from being built in their local areas.
Environmental justice means that everyone is entitled to protection from environmental hazards without discrimination.

100. Global Outlook: International Action to Reduce Hazardous Waste
An international treaty calls for phasing out the use of harmful persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
POPs are insoluble in water and soluble in fat.
Nearly every person on earth has detectable levels of POPs in their blood.
The U.S has not ratified this treaty.

101. Making the Transition to a Low-Waste Society: A New Vision
Everything is connected.
There is no “away” for the wastes we produce.
Dilution is not always the solution to pollution.
The best and cheapest way to deal with wastes are reduction and pollution prevention.