evr Landfill solid waste Learning objectives

Items that make up municipal trash, and the relative percentages of each

Paper, plastic, glass, metals(tin, aluminum), food wastes, yard wastes

• Largest % is made up of paper

Methods of trash source reduction

Source Reduction- reduce the amount of trash produced each year(reduce the amount collected)

• Reduce cloth grocery bags

• Avoid throwing away disposable items(plastic forks, etc.)

• Reduce packaging

• Reduce product weight

Methods of disposal of collected municipal trash,(recycling, incineration, landfill burial, composting) and their relative percentages

Composting

• Thermal depolymerization process breaks down organic waste into oil and water

• About 9% gets turned into compost

Recycling

• Sorted and removed from the collected trash

• Approximately 26% of all collected trash in the U.S. gets recycled

Incineration

• About 16% of collected trash is incinerated

Landfill burial

• Approximately 52% of municipal trash ends up in landfills.

The difference between open looped and closed looped recycling

Open Loop

• used again for its orginal purpose

Closed Loop

• Used again, but as a raw material for a new product

The relative amount of solid waste produced by municipalities and the mining industry

Total Solid Waste U.S.

• More than half is rock waste from mining

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The advantages and disadvantages of incineration and landfill burial

Incineration

• Postives

  • Electricity is produced

  • biohazardous waste can be destroyed

• Negatives

  • CO2 and other air pollutants

  • Toxins are concentrated in the ash

Landfill burial

• Methane(biogas) collection from biodegrading trash

• Negatives

  • Methane contributes to global warming and methane explosions

• Positives

  • methane could be burned to produce electricity

What can tires and e-waste be recycled as

Tires

• could be closed loop recycled(rubber mulch)

• could be burned to produce electricity

• could be made into oil(thermal conversion)

E-waste

• lead, mercury and other toxins

• gold and other valuable materials could be recovered

The positive/negative aspects of the cloth/disposable diaper debate

Cloth Diapers

• washed 100 times

• repeated hot water washing produces both air and water pollution and consumes energy resources

Disposable Diapers

• 200 yr + biodegrading time

How energy can be produced from incineration and biogas collection

Energy is produced from incineration through combustion of waste, generating heat that can be converted into electricity. Biogas collection from landfills harnesses methane gas from decomposing organic material, which can also be burned to generate energy.

A sanitary landfill

• Geologic aquitard/aquiclude to protect the watertable

• Plastic/clay impermeable bottom liner

• Sand bottom linersfor leachate drainage and collection(Leachate=pollutants dissolved in water)

• Monitoring wells around the perimeter

• Methane(biogas) collection from the biodegrading trash