E: Terrestrial pollution

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Refuse collected by municipalities from households, small business, institutions, etc

Waste system inputs

Raw materials, energy

Waste system outputs

Materials that can be recycled/disposed of, waste

Waste stream

Flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, placed in landfill, or disposed of another way

Electronic waste/E- waste

Waste from televisions, computers, music players, cell phones, etc

Source reduction

Cut waste by reducing use of potential waste materials in early stages of design/manufacturing (may include substituting with less toxic materials)

Landfill sitting

Designation of landfill location. Considers soil type, distance from drinking water, distance from population centers, scavengers

Environmental injustice

“Not in my backyard”, landfill locations often close to people who don’t have resources to advocate for self

Incineration

Waste burned at high temperature to reduce volume and mass (if effective, may reduce volume by 90% and weight by 75%)

Waste as energy

System where heat generated by incineration used as energy source rather than released into atmosphere

Dose response study

Exposes organisms to different amounts of chemicals and observe responses (mortality, behavior/reproduction changes)

LD50

Dose that is lethal to 50% of species population

LC50

Concentration of substance that can cause 50% deaths when exposed to population

Bioaccumulation

Selective absorption and concentration of elements/compounds by cells in living organisms (usually fat-soluble)

Biomagnification

Increase in chemical concentration per unit of body tissue occurring in higher trophic levels of food chain/food web