APES - Unit 10 - Waste & Human Health

US Waste Problem

US generates more waste per capita than any other country - 4.9lbs per person per day

• consumer/materialism

• single use items - planned obsolescence

• bigger is better mentality

• food waste

• bulky packaging

• online shopping/shipping

• ease of replacement

• affluence/wealth

Non Municipal Solid Waste

waste from mining (tailings), agriculture and industry - much larger total amount produced compared to MSW

Municipal Solid Waste

solid materials discarded by homes, offices, retail stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and commercial/institutional facilities

Total MSW before recycling

1. paper products

2. food waste

3. yardwaste

Total MSW after recycling/composting

1. food waste

2. plastics

3. paper products

(packaging and single use)

Solid waste disposal

• 53% landfill

• 35% recycled

• 12% biomass incinerated for electricity

Sanitary landfills

• layers of compacted clay or plastic as lining

• leachate collection system

• methane extraction system

Leachate collection system

collection of contaminated liquid formed when water percolates through solid waste, extracting soluble, toxic, and hazardous materials - goes to a wastewater treatment plant or becomes hazardous waste - aluminum, copper, batteries, metal, cleaners, electronics, etc can all make hazardous liquid

methane extraction system

collecting the gas generated by the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste - prevents escape of the greenhouse gas

Tires

• 250+ million discarded each year in US

• take up lots of space in landfills

• major fire hazard

• collect rainwater and breed insects/diseases

some recycling can use them in asphalt, playgrounds, tracks/fields, etc.

Leachate over time

• some leachate will inevitably release from landfill

• MSW compacted with soil and vegetation to limit rainwater getting in waste (creates more leachate)

• monitored for decades after closing to make sure leachate isnt contaminating groundwater

• can be reclaimed as parks

MSW Locations

• costly to build carefully

• charge tipping fees to accept solid waste

• less MSW = less cost

• want to be far away (smell) but no too far (transportation energy)

Incinerators

way to reduce the volume of MSW

• burned in a waste-to-energy place producing electricity

• higher tipping fee than sanitary landfill

• recyclable materials/metals sorted out

• heat can be used to turn turbine → generate electricity

• Ash leftover materials not combusted → goes to landfill

Air treatment in landfills

use baghouse filters, scrubbers and/or electrostatic precipitators - captures mostly POCs

• releases small amount of SOx compared to FF

• releases a similar amount of NOx as FFs

• produces CO2 but mostly modern carbon

Incinerator pros and cons

Pros:

• sig. volume/mass reduction

• energy production

• reduced greenhouse gases compared to landfills (no CH4)

• safe disposal of hazardous waste in MSW

• material recycling and metal recovery

Cons:

• air pollution (PM)

• Toxic ash

• high capital cost

• environmental justice - near low income

Hazardous Waste

discarded materials that are toxic to humans and/or chemically reactive - most comes from industrial processes like electronics or textile production or machinery cleaning

• Ex: dry cleaning waste, hospital/medical waste. car batteries, pesticide products, sludge/ash from power plants, radioactive waste (spent fuel and low level trash), cleaning supplies, bleach, batteries, oil, paint thinner, CFC bulbs

E-waste

Discarded electronic devices and components, often containing valuable metals and hazardous substances.

Bioremediation

Using organisms, usually microbes, to break down hazardous substances.

phytoremediation

Using plants to absorb, accumulate, or detoxify pollutants.

Deep well injection

Pumping hazardous waste into deep underground rock formations for long-term storage.

Surface impoundment

A shallow pond or lagoon used to store liquid hazardous waste.

Secure hazardous waste landfill

A landfill designed with special liners and monitoring to safely store hazardous waste

RCRA

US Resource Conservation & Recovery Act

• protect against and reduce hazardous waste

• cradle to grave tracking

• reduce disposal on land

• enforcement of violations

CERCLA

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act

• Superfund Act

• taxes on chemical and petroleum industries used to clean up hazardous waste sites

• federal government cleaning up released hazardous waste

• EPA maintains the National Priority List of Superfund sites

Superfund Sites

A program that identifies and cleans up the nation’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites.

• highest risk to public health

• managed by fed. gov.

• often resulting from industrial or commercial facilities, open dumps or landfills before regulations

• Ave. clean up cost of $20 million

Brownfield

A contaminated site that may be cleaned up and reused.

• EPA gives some aid to state and local

Love Canal

local industry disposed of 22000 tons of toxic waste and covered with topsoil - donated to public and houses built - releasing toxic waste (over 300 chemicals and carcinogens)

• 1st Superfund Site - took years and $232 million

Source reduction

Reducing waste before it is created by using fewer materials or choosing reusable products or using non toxic alternatives

Recycling

Processing used materials into new products.

Pros:

• conservation

• reduce mining pollution

• less manufactoring energy

• less death from mining

• less habitat destruction (acid mine drainage)

• reduces CH4 from landfills

• creates jobs

Cons:

• high cost/infrastructure

• contamination possibility

• reduced quality

• cheaper to make new

• less mining jobs

Closed-loop recycling

Recycling a material into the same type of product.

Open-loop recycling

Recycling a material into a different type of product.

Composting

controlled decomposition of organic waste, producing organic fertilizer

Life Cycle Analysis

A study of the environmental impacts of a product from raw materials to disposal.

Integrated waste management

A strategy that combines source reduction, recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling.

Neurotoxins

Chemicals that damage the nervous system and interfere with nerve signaling, such as lead and mercury.

Lead

A heavy metal neurotoxin that can damage brain development, especially in children - from paint/gasoline/water pipes

Mercury

A neurotoxin that can build up in fish and harm the brain and nervous system - coal burning releases

Carcinogens

Substances that can cause cancer, such as radon, asbestos, PCBs, arsenic, dioxins, and some pesticides.

Radon

underground radioactive gas that can accumulate indoors and increase lung cancer risk

Asbestos

A fibrous mineral once used in building materials; inhalation can cause lung disease and cancer.

PCBs

Polychlorinated biphenyls; persistent industrial chemicals that can cause cancer and hormone disruption.

Arsenic

toxic element that can contaminate water and cause cancer and other health problems.

Dioxins

Toxic by-products of combustion and some industrial processes; linked to cancer and reproductive harm.

Endocrine Disruptors

Chemicals that interfere with hormones, affecting growth, reproduction, and development

DDT

A pesticide and persistent organic pollutant that harms wildlife, especially birds, by thinning eggshells - created to kill mosquitos

Atrazine

A widely used herbicide that can act as an endocrine disruptor in wildlife.

Phthalates

Chemicals used to make plastics flexible; some can disrupt hormones and reproduction.

Teratogen

Any chemical, biological agent, or environmental factor that can harm a developing embryo or fetus and cause birth defects or developmental problems - Alcohol, certain drugs, mercury, PCBs, radiation, pesticides

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Long-lasting toxic chemicals that resist breakdown, spread long distances, and accumulate in living organisms.

Dirty Dozen

The original group of 12 POPs targeted by the Stockholm Convention for global restriction or elimination.

Stockholm Convention

An international agreement to reduce or eliminate the dirty dozen POPs

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

A U.S. law that regulates the manufacture and use of industrial chemicals.

Dose-response study

A study that measures how an organism’s response changes as the dose of a chemical increases.

LD50

The dose of a substance that is lethal to 50 percent of a test population.

Acute study

Research on the effects of short-term exposure to a chemical or hazard.

Chronic study

Research on the effects of long-term exposure to a chemical or hazard.

Retrospective study

A study that looks backward using past records or exposures to find links between a hazard and disease. - chernobyl, fukushima, natural disasters

Prospective study

A study that follows people forward in time to see how exposure affects health - framingham heart study

Bioaccumulation

The buildup of a chemical in an individual organism over time.

Biomagnification

The increase in concentration of a toxin at higher trophic levels in a food chain

Routes of exposure

Ways a chemical enters the body, such as inhalation, ingestion, or absorption through skin

Developed countries

stronger pollution controls and more access to healthcare, so health risks from environmental hazards are often lower.

Developing countries

fewer pollution controls, weaker waste management, and less access to healthcare, so environmental health risks are often higher.

Bubonic Plague

A bacterial disease spread mainly through fleas that have fed on infected rats - Swollen lymph nodes called buboes, fever, weakness, and rapid illness - antibiotics

Malaria

parasitic disease spread by infected mosquitoes, especially in warm regions - fever/chills, sweats, headache, etc. - antimalarial drugs

tuberculosis

contagious bacterial disease - airborne droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or speaks - attacks the lungs - long antibiotic courses

AIDS

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - advanced HIV infection - spread through sex, needles, mothers - flulike - PrEP

Ebola

viral disease caused by an ebolavirus - spread through bodily fluids - vomit/diarrhea/weakness - no specific cure

Mad Cow Disease

prion disease that affects cattle and damages the brain - neurological changes - no cure

Bird Flu

influenza virus that primarily infects birds - fever and respiratory issues - antiviral treatment

West Nile

mosquito-borne virus - no symptoms or severe brain/spinal inflammation - no specific antiviral

Zika

mosquito-borne viral disease - can cause birth defects if a pregnant person is infected

COVID

viral respiratory disease - person to person - vaccines