1. Solid Waste Generation and Disposal
Chapter 16
Solid Waste Generation and Disposal

2. Key Idea #1: Define waste generation from an ecological and systems perspective.2

3. Raw materials and energy are used to create products
Products are used and reused
Waste: anything that is produced but is not useful or is not consumed and therefore discarded when not needed.

4. In the natural world, detritivores and decomposers recycle wastes from other organisms
Only humans generate wastes that cannot be used by other organisms

5. Municipal Solid Waste
Refuse collected from households, small businesses, and institutions such as schools, prisons, municipal buildings, and hospitals.

6. People from the depression, have learned to never throw out anything
My grandma used to reuse her calendars every 8 years.

7. Three Things affect amount of waste an American Produces.
How much money do you make? More money = more waste (usually, buy new rather than fix old.
Geographic Location (Think about purchasing before ebay and Amazon.com
Time of year. How much trash do you have after Christmas?

8. Waste Stream How long does it take before it is in a landfill?
Which does not belong?

9. Composition by weight before recycling in 2008
Sources by weight 1/3 is from packaging our items.

10. MSW Household v Industry
60% Residential % Commercial

11. Composition of Municipal Solid Waste
31% - paper
33% - organic materials (yard waste, food scraps, wood)
12% - plastic
18% - durable goods (appliances, tires)

12. Planned obsolescence Labor saving devices, newer technology
Used and then thrown away.

13. E-Waste
Electronic waste (E-waste): For example, TVs, computers, and cell phones that contain toxic metals

14. E-Waste
Little E-waste is recycled (<20% of discarded computers and TVs in USA in 2007).
E-waste that is recycled is often exported to other countries.
Workers in those countries are exposed to serious health hazards.

17. Developing countries are producing more waste because they still have growing populations and some of the mass produced goods created in developed countries is accessible.

18. The three R’s and composting divert materials from the waste stream.

19. Reduce Reuse Recycle

20. Waste minimization (buy in bulk) Waste prevention
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce through:
Waste minimization (buy in bulk)
Waste prevention
Source reduction (e.g., print on both sides of a page)
Lunchables produces a lot of waste.
Key Idea #2: Describe how the three RsReduce, Reuse, and Recycleas well as composting can avoid waste generation. 20

21. Reusing something more than once
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reuse:
Reusing something more than once
Examples include reusing a disposable cup and refillable beverage bottles
Homemade lunchable 21

22. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Recycle:
Materials are collected and converted into raw materials used to produce new objects.
The best way to reduce the waste stream (going into landfills) is to reduce input by waste prevention.
Can you use it over again?
Can you use something you already have?
Do you really have to throw it out or can you save it just in case?
Don’t become a hoarder though.
Problem with Recycling: Sometimes there is not a market for the recycled products, such as glass. 22

24. Polar Fleece Jacket!

26. Composting
Compost: organic material that has decomposed under controlled conditions

28. Currently, most solid waste is buried in landfills or incinerated.

29. Landfills Landfills have replaced open dumps in the developed world.
Open dumps are still common in less-developed nations.

30. Open Landfills can: Attract pests and diseases Be harmful to children working in landfills Pollute water and chemical hazards

31. Landfills
Sanitary landfills: engineered ground facilities that hold MSW with minimal contamination of the environment
Leachate: water that becomes contaminated by traveling through solid waste and picking up various chemical compounds

32. Leachate:

33. Many landfills are located near poor neighborhoods with little political power.

37. A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year
A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. what volume infiltrates landfill annually?
A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. the leachate collection is 80% effective at collecting cadmium and other toxins. What volume of leachate that is treated annually?

38. .75m rain/year, .37m soaks in. .37m X 10,000m 2 = 3,750 m3
A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. what volume infiltrates landfill annually?
.75m rain/year, .37m soaks in.
.37m X 10,000m 2 = 3,750 m3
A landfill receives 75 cm of rain each year. 50% of the rain soaks into the landfill. The landfill has a surface area of 10,000 m2. the leachate collection is 80% effective at collecting cadmium and other toxins. What volume of leachate that is treated annually?
.75m rain/year, .37m soaks in.
.37m X 10,000m 2 = 3,750 m3
3,750 m3x .80 = 3000m3 treated leachate.

39. Incineration: process of burning waste materials to reduce volume and mass, sometimes also generating electricity and heat
Incineration

40. Incineration Requires higher tipping fees than landfills
Raises NIMBY issues, making siting difficult (not in my back yard).
May release air pollutants
Create concentrated ash that is toxic and must be landfilled. Safe ash can be made into roads, toxic must be treated before going to landfill.

41. Hazardous waste requires special means of disposal.

42. Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste: liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge waste harmful to humans or ecosystems
The United States:
has >20,000 hazardous waste generators
annually produces 40 million U.S. tons of hazardous waste
Key Idea #4: Understand the problems associated with the generation and disposal of hazardous waste. 42

43. Hazardous Waste More expensive to handle than MSW
Collection sites for hazardous waste must be staffed with specially trained personnel
Often materials of unknown composition must be processed
Key Idea #4: Understand the problems associated with the generation and disposal of hazardous waste. 43

44. Hazardous Waste Hazardous waste must be treated before disposal.
By EPA definition, treatment means making the waste less environmentally harmful.
No good solution to the hazardous waste problem exists except to create less of it in the first place.
Key Idea #4: Understand the problems associated with the generation and disposal of hazardous waste. 44

45. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): enacted to reduce or eliminate hazardous waste
Provides “cradle-to-grave” tracking
RCRA ensures proper disposal of hazardous waste

46. L aws
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA): also know as “Superfund”
Taxes chemical and petroleum industries
Tax revenue used to clean up abandoned and non-operating hazardous waste sites where a responsible party cannot be found

47. 1200 Superfund Sites
Idaho has 7 sites an 3 proposed
3 cleaned up
Red current
Yellow proposed
Green cleaned up

48. Eastern Michaud Flats Contamination
Blackbird Mine Groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment contamination bycopper, cobalt andarsenic. Acid rock drainage from mine tunnels and waste has decreased water quality in local creeks, affectingchinook salmon and other threatened and endangered species.[10][11]
Eastern Michaud Flats Contamination
Groundwater and surface water contamination by arsenIc and phosphorus from phosphorus ore processing plants. Off-site soil contamination from airborne release offluoride, radium-226 and cadmium; on-site soil contamination bycadmium,chromium, copper,lead, nickel, silver,vanadium, zinc, radium-226 and fluoride.[14][15]
Coeur d'Alene River basin contains millions of tons of mine tailings, waste rock and ore concentrates. Soil, sediments, groundwater and surface water are contaminated with heavy metals including cadmium,lead and zinc from former mining and smelting operations.[12][13]
IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
Groundwater contamination byhexavalent chromium, iodine-129, strontium-90,technetium-99,tritium, carbon tetrachloride andTCE; soil contamination byheavy metalsincluding lead andmercury, by VOCs, and byradionuclides, including cesium-137, strontium-90, andplutonium.[16][1

49. L aws
CERCLA (Superfund) requires a direct federal government response to the release of any substances that may pose a threat to human health or the environment.

50. Contaminated industrial or commercial sites that may require cleanup before they can be redeveloped or expanded
Old factories, industrial areas and waterfronts, dry cleaners, gas stations, landfills, and rail yards are some examples.

51. There are newer ways of thinking about solid waste.

52. I Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
IWM seeks to develop as many options as possible to reduce environmental harm and cost
IWM is an analysis and planning process that starts with source reduction and ends with waste reduction
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 52

53. I Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
Waste reduction, recycling, composting, landfills, and incineration are some tools used in IWM.
Life-cycle analysis is also useful as a cradle-to-grave analysis to determine how wastes can be eliminated or reduced.
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 53

54. I Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
Undoubtedly, holistic approaches to resource and waste management will be used more extensively in the future as it becomes more and more expensive to deal with wastes.
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 54

55. Review Questions Define waste.
How are wastes usually handled in natural systems?
What is unique about the wastes human generate?
What is MSW?
Describe E-waste.
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 55

56. Review Questions What are some sources of waste?
What are the three Rs? Give an example of each one.
Differentiate between open- and closed- loop recycling.
What is compost, and why is composting a uniquely valuable recycling method?
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 56

57. Review Questions What happens currently to most solid waste?
What is a landfill? How does a landfill differ from an open dump?
Describe the design of a sanitary landfill.
Where does leachate originate, and why is it an environmental concern?
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 57

58. Review Questions
Is incineration a good method for getting rid of solid waste? Why or why not?
What is hazardous waste?
What is the Superfund?
What is life-cycle analysis, and how can it help solve the waste crisis?
What is Integrated Waste Management?
Key Idea #5: Present a holistic approach to avoiding waste generation and to treating solid waste. 58