1. 1 Solid and Hazardous Waste Chapter 21 Living in the Environment, 13 th Edition, Miller

2. 2 Wasting Resources United States 4.6% of the world's population 33% of the world's solid waste 75% of its hazardous waste <2% of solid waste is garbage from households & business!

3. 3 Solid Waste 98.5% is from 1. Mining 2. Oil and gas production 3. Agriculture 4. Sewage treatment 5. Industry 1.5% is municipal solid waste (MSW)

4. 4 MSW Several MSW management practices prevent or divert materials from the wastestream Source reduction Reuse Recycling Composting http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm

5. 5 Reduce/Reuse/Recycle Source reduction (waste prevention) means consuming and throwing away less Reusing items by repairing them, donating them to charity and community groups, or selling them Recycling, including composting, diverted 64 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 1999, up from 34 million tons in 1990

6. Types of Recycling – the details! Primary or Closed Loop – aluminum cans recycled into new aluminum cans – reduces pollution, conserves virgin resources and saves energy Secondary or Downcycling – wastes are converted into different and usually lower- qualtiy products – example? 6

7. 7 Landfills Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), landfills that accept MSW are primarily regulated by state, tribal, and local governments EPA, however, has established national standards these landfills must meet in order to stay open

8. 8 Federal Landfill Standards Location restrictions ensure that landfills are built in suitable geological areas away from faults, wetlands, flood plains, or other restricted areas Liners are geomembrane or plastic sheets reinforced with two feet of clay on the bottom and sides of landfills

9. Landfill Design

10. 10 Household Hazardous Waste Common household items such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides contain hazardous components Read the labels! Danger, warning, caution, toxic, corrosive, flammable, unstable or poison identify products that might contain hazardous materials Leftover portions of these products are called household hazardous waste (HHW)

11. 11 Proper Handling The best way to handle HHW is to reduce the amount initially generated by giving leftover products to someone else to use To deal with household hazardous waste, many communities have set up collection programs to prevent HHW from being disposed of in MSW landfills and combustors These programs ensure the safe disposal of HHW in facilities designed to treat or dispose of hazardous waste More than 3,000 HHW collection programs exist in the United States

12. 12 About Superfund Years ago, people were less aware of how dumping chemical wastes might affect public health and the environment On thousands of properties where such practices were intensive or continuous, the result was uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites, such as abandoned warehouses and landfills

13. 13 Superfund Legislation Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabilities Act (CERCLA); 1980 “Superfund” to clean up abandoned sites Emergency Response and/or Long-Term Remediation