Waste Management

Municipal Solid Waste

Commonly known as trash or garbage; waste; landfills

NIMBY

Not in my backyard. Basically meaning that humans don't worry about things as long as they don't have to deal with it everyday.

Leachate

the liquid that seeps through solid waste at a sanitary landfill or other waste disposal site

Waste-to-Energy

example would be using methane release by anaerobic digestion at the waste water treatment plant as an energy source to heat the plant

chronic exposure

problems that occur due to exposure to a harmful substance over a long period of time

Threshold level

the maximum dosage that has no measurable effect

Lethal dose LD50

The dose lethal to 50% of a population; usually tested on animals

Pathogen

an agent that causes disease, virus

Hazardous Waste

Waste that is dangerous or potentially harmful to our health or the environment such as liquids, solids, gases, or sludges. They can be discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides, or the by-products of manufacturing processes

e-waste

electronic waste

Surface impoundment

Treatment, storage, or disposal of liquid hazardous wastes in ponds.

Deep well injection

A deep well into which pressurized fluids are injected for waste disposal, to which the recovery of petroleum resources out of underground reservoirs toward production wells so as to increase their yield.

Bioremediation

the branch of biotechnology that uses biological process to overcome environmental problems.

Phytoremediation

using plants to clean up hazardous waste

Radioactive Waste

useless radioactive materials that are left over after from a chemical process is complete (EX, nuclear energy and used fuel rods

Superfund(CERCLA). (AP 5)

the federal government's program to locate and investigate and clean up the worst uncontrolled and abandoned toxic waste sites nationwide; administered by the Environmental Protection Agency

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). (AP5)

Act put in place to regulate active hazardous wastes, cradle to grave

National Priorities List (NPL). (AP5)

List of national priorities among the known releases or threated releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States and its terrorities, used to primarily guide EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation

Brownfield. (AP5)

A piece of industrial/commercial property that is abandoned and often environmentally contaminated.

Love Canal

"is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. It was a town bulit on a toxic waste dump.

Biomagnification

The increasing concentration of a substance (persistent, toxic), in the tissues of an organism at successively higher levels in the food chain

Sludge

a muddy or slushy mass, deposit, or sediment

Effluent

A stream flowing out of a body of water.

BOD (biological oxygen demand)

The amount of oxygen needed for aerobic bacteria to break down organic waste material in a body of water.

Aeration

To supply with air or to expose to the circulation of air

Aerobic bacteria (used in ww treatment)

bacteria which require oxygen in order to grow and survive

Anaerobic bacteria

An organism that does not require oxygen for growth

acute exposure

Adverse effects that occur within a short period after exposure to a toxicant