Chapter 21: Solid and Hazardous Waste

21.1 What Are Solid and Hazardous Waste, and Why Are They Problems?

Wasting Resources

• Solid Waste
• Industrial Solid Waste
  • Mining
  • Agriculture
  • Industry
• Municipal Solid Waste
• Hazardous or toxic waste
  • Threatens human health or the environment
  • Poisonous
  • Reactive
  • Corrosive
  • Flammable
  • Developed countries produce 80-90%
• Solid waste and hazardous waste
  • About 3/4 of unnecessary resource waste
  • Create air and water pollution, land degradation

What Harmful Chemicals Are in Your Home?

Cleaning

• Disinfectants
• Drain, toilet, and window cleaners
• Spot removers
• Septic tank cleaners

Paint Products

• Paints, stains, varnishes, and lacquers
• Paint thinners, solvents, and strippers
• Wood preservatives
• Artist paints and inks

General

• Dry-cell batteries (mercury and cadmium)
• Glues and cement

Gardening

• Pesticides
• Weed killers
• Ant and rodent killers
• Plea powders

Automotive

• Gasoline
• Used motor oil
• Antifreeze
• Battery acid
• Brake and transmission fluid

21.2 How Should We Deal with Solid Waste?

Dealing with Solid Waste

• Waste management

• Waste reduction

• Integrated waste management

  

First Priority

Primary Pollution and Waste Prevention

• Change industrial processes to eliminate the use of harmful chemicals
• Use less of a dangerous product
• Reduce packaging and materials in products
• Make products that last longer and are recyclable, reusable, or easy to repair

Second Priority

Second Pollution and Waste Prevention

• Reuse
• Repair
• Recycle
• Compost
• Buy reusable and recyclable products

Last Priority

Waste Management

• Treat waste to reduce toxicity
• Incinerate waste
• Bury waste in landfills
• Release waste into the environment for dispersal or dilution

What Can You Do?

Solid Waste

• Follow the three Rs of resource use: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
• Ask yourself whether you really need a particular item, and refuse to package where possible
• Rent, borrow, or barter goods and services when you can, buy secondhand, and donate or sell unused items
• Buy reusable, recyclable, or compostable things, and be sure to reuse, recycle, and compost them.
• Avoid disposables, and do not use throwaway paper and plastic plates, cups, eating utensils, and other disposable items when reusable or refillable versions are available
• Use email or text messaging in place of conventional paper mail
• Read newspapers and magazines online
• Buy products in bulk or concentrated form whenever possible

Reducing Resource Use, Waste, and Pollution

• Redesign processes and products to use less material
• Redesign processes and products to generate less waste
• Make products easy to repair, reuse, remanufacture, compost, or recycle
• Eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging
• Use fee-per-bag waste collection systems
• Establish cradle-to-grave laws

21.3 Why Is Reusing and Recycling Materials So Important?

Reuse

• Reuse: Clean and use materials over and over
• The downside of reuse in developing countries
• Salvaginf automobiles parts
• Rechargeable batteries

What Can We Do?

• Buy beverages in refillable glass containers instead of cans or throwaways bottles
• Use reusable plastic or metal lunchboxes
• Carry sandwiches and store food in the refrigerator in reusable containers instead of wrapping them in aluminum foil or plastic wrap
• Use rechargeable batteries and recycle them when their useful life is over
• Carry groceries and other items in a reusable basket, a canvas or string bag, or a small cart
• Buy used furniture, computers, cars, and other items instead of buying new
• Give away or sell items you no longer use.

There Are Two Types of Recycling

• Primary, closed-loop recycling
• Second recycling
• Types of wastes that can be recycled
  • Preconsumer: Internal waste
  • Postconsumer: external waste

Bioplastics

• Plastics from soybeans: not a new concept
• Key to bioplastics: catalysts
• Source
  • Corn
  • Soy
  • Sugarcane
  • Switchgrass
  • Chicken feathers
  • Some garbage
  • CO2 from coal-burning plant emissions
• Benefits
  • lighter, stronger, cheaper, and biodegradable

Trade-Offs: Recycling

Advantages

• Reduces air and water pollution
• Saves energy
• Reduces mineral demand
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions
• Reduce solid waste production and disposal
• Helps protect biodiversity
• Can save landfill space
• An important part of the economy

Disadvantages

• Can cost more than burying in areas with ample landfill space
• May lose money for items such as glass and some plastics
• Reduces profits for landfill and incinerator owners
• Source separation is inconvenient for some people.

We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling

• Encourage reuse and recycling
  • Government
  • Increase subsidies and tax breaks for using such products
  • Decrease subsidies and tax breaks for making items from virgin resources
  • Fee-per-bag collection
  • News laws
  • Citizen pressure

21.4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Burning or Burying Solid Waste

• Waste-energy incinerators
• 600 Globally

Tradeoffs- Incineration

Advantages

• Reduce trash volume
• Less need for landfills
• Low water pollution
• Concentrates hazardous substances into asking for burial
• The sale of energy reduces the cost
• Modern controls reduce air pollution
• Some facilities recover and sell metals

Disadvantages

• Expensive to build
• Costs most than short-distance
• hauling to landfills
• Difficult to the site because of citizen opposition
• Some air pollution and CO2 emissions
• Order or poorly managed facilities can release large amounts of air pollution
• Outputs approach that encourages waste production
• Can compete with recycling for burnable materials such as newspaper

Tradeoffs- Sanitary Landfills

Advantages

• No open burning
• Littler order
• Low groundwater pollution if sited properly
• Cna be built quickly
• Low operating cost
• Can handle a large amount of water
• Filled land can be used for other purposes

Disadvantages

• Noise and traffic
• Dust
• Air pollution from toxic gases and trucks
• releases greenhouse gases (methane and CO2) unless they are collected
• Slow decomposition of wastes
• Output approach that encourages waste production
• Eventually, leaks can contaminate groundwater

21.5 How Should We Deal with Hazardous Waste

We Can Use Integrated Management of Hazardous Waste

• Integrated management of hazardous wastes: produce less, convert to less hazardous substances, rest in long-term safe storage
• Increase the use of post-consumer hazardous waste.

We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes

• Collect and then detoxify
  • Physical methods
  • Chemical methods
  • Use nonmagnetic
  • Bioremediation
  • Phytoremediation
• Incineration
• Using a plasma arc torch

Phytoremediation

• Rhizofiltration: Roots of plants such as sunflowers with dangling roots absorb pollution.
• Phytostabilization: Plants such as willow trees and popular can absorb chemicals and keep them from reaching groundwater or nearby surface water
• Photodegradation: Plants can absorb toxic organic chemicals and break them down into less harmful compounds which they store or release slowly into the air
• Phytoextraction: Roots of plants can absorb toxic metals

We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste

• Burial on land or long-term storage
• Deep well disposal: disposal of fluids
• Surface impoundments: holds an accumulation of liquids
• Secure hazardous landfill: a built-on or depression of the ground to hold waste.

United States

• 1979: Resource Conservation and recovery act
• 1980: Comprehensive Environmental, compensation, and liability act
  • The pace of cleanup has slowed
  • Superfund is broke