1. Solid Waste

2. Solid Waste Hazardous Waste – poses danger to human health
Industrial Waste – comes from manufacturing
Municipal Waste – household waste

3. Reduce – Reuse - Recycle
Reduce – minimizing disposal waste
Reuse – get products that can be used over and over again for their purpose
Recycle – give materials “another life”
Primary Recycling – used to rebuild the same product (Plastic, Aluminum)
Secondary Recycling – materials are used for lower quality goods – tires to form a track, plastic bottles to make decking materials
Composting – other animals may eat, or…organic materials get decomposed and return to environment (reduces smell form garbage)

6. EPA 2012 DATA: Material % of material that is recycled
Lead-acid batteries
95.9
Steel can
70.8
Newspaper 70
Yard Trimmings
57.7
Soda cans
54.6
Tires
44.6
Glass
34.1
Pet bottles
30.8
Electonics
29.2

7. P-A-Y-T – In order to encourage recycling, towns are beginning “Pay As You Throw”

9. Garbage Barge (1987) - NIMBY

10. “Old Landfills” No one wanted close to their home No regulation
No testing for leachate – fluid at bottom of landfill
“Heaps of Garbage”

11. “Modern Landfills”

12. Modern Landfills
Federal laws prohibit them from being located near faults, floodplains, or wetlands
Holes lined with membranes, and clay (impermeable)
Frequently covered with soil
Leachate is piped to “pond” and closely monitored
Gases from site are piped and used to make electricity
When hole is filled, it must be closed and capped, monitoring continues

13. Incinerators
Waste can also be burned, and used to generate electicity

14. Hazardous Waste
Tracking of hazardous materials from “Cradle to Grave” through the RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
Corrosive – waste that corrodes metal
Ignitable – Substances such as alcohol and gasoline that can catch on fire
Reactive – Chemically unstable or react readily with other compounds
Toxic – creates health risks when inhaled, injected, or absorbed

16. Disposal of Hazardous Waste
Landfills – special areas that are heavily monitored, higher standards (liquids)
Deep well injections – hole dug below water table

17. Radioactive Waste, Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Not NIMBY
Can keep secure
Previous nuclear testing ahs been done there

18. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Receives TransUranic Waste (TRU) – waste left over from the building of nuclear weapons

19. Low level vs high level waste
EPA lists
High Level – reactor waste, repossessing nuclear fuel, mining of uranium ore
Low level – industrial, research, natural materials

20. Contaminated Waste Sites
Superfund – sites established that need to be cleaned up

21. Love Canal Homes and school were built on top of a landfill
Many Cancer Cases