SOLID & HAZARDOUS

WASTE

CHAPTER 21
WHAT HAPPENED AT
LOVE CANAL?

Video
TYPES OF • Before the Industrial Revolution, almost
all waste was Biodegradable
WASTE • Now most is Nondegradable or
hazardous or both.
• TOXIC WASTE - can injure or kill - must
be disposed of without harming or
polluting
• SOLID WASTE - cannot go down
sewage system - must be disposed of.
HOW MUCH • We have 4.5% of the world’s population
and we produce about 33% of the
DO WE world’s solid waste.
• About 44 tons/person
GENERATE? • 98.5% of solid waste in U.S. comes
from mining, oil & natural gas
production, agriculture and industrial
activities to produce goods and
services. (GRAPH)
 Sources of
solid waste
in the
United
States
 • We throw away:
What is a – Enough Al to rebuild the
country’s commercial airline fleet
high-waste every 3 months
society? – Enough tires to encircle the
planet almost three times
– About 18 billion disposable
diapers/year
• About 2 disposable razors, 30
million cell phones, 18 million
computers, & 8 million TV sets
• About 2.5 million nonreturnable
plastic bottles/hour
• About 1.5 billion pounds of edible
food /year
• Enough office paper to build a 3.5
meter wall from NY City to San
Francisco / year.
 What is • Scrap metal, plastic, paper,
Industrial fly-ash and sludge
Waste? • Most is buried or incinerated
at site where it is produced.
MUNICIPAL • 1.5% comes from homes and
businesses
SOLID • Cause water pollution in fresh
WASTE and salt water, air pollution, etc.

(MSW) • GARBAGE
• Must be disposed of in landfills
and burned.
• Some is recycled or composted
or incinerated but most (58%)
ends up in a landfill.
 What is • Any discarded solid or liquid

hazardous material that contains:

waste?
– Carcinogenic, mutagenic, or
teratogenic compounds at levels
exceeding certain limits
– Catches fire easily (gasoline)
– Is reactive or unstable enough to
explode or release toxic fumes
– Is capable of corroding metal
containers such as barrels or drums.
 What is • Radioactive wastes

NOT • Household hazardous or toxic

included? materials
• Mining wastes
• Oil-and-gas drilling wastes
• Liquid waste containing organic
hydrocarbons (i.e. acetone)
• Cement kiln dust
• Small business and factory waste
95 % OF THE COUNTRY’S
HAZARDOUS WASTE IS NOT
REGULATED BY LAW!!!
Even less is regulated in developing countries
 There are • 1. Waste management
• High waste approach
two • Manage wastes in the best way not
approaches: to harm the environment
• Mainly by burying, burning, or
shipping to another country or state

• 2. Waste prevention
• Low waste approach
• Potential resources
• Recycle or reuse or don’t produce in
the first place
Dealing with solid waste
Dealing with hazardous waste
How can we • Decrease consumption

reduce • Redesign products to use less

waste and material - eliminate unnecessary

packaging.
pollution? • Design products that produce
less pollution and waste fewer
resources Use less hazardous
cleaning products
• Design products to last longer
• Trash taxes - pay by the bag
Reuse • Reduces waste, extends resource
supplies, reduces energy use and
pollution
• Refillable glass beverage bottles
• Refillable plastic soda bottles

• Metal or plastic lunch boxes

• Reusable plastic refrigerator
containers rather than plastic
bags
• KEEPS HIGH QUALIY MATTER
FROM BEING REDUCED TO LOW
QUALITY MATTER.
Recycle • Composting - humus made when
microorganisms break down
organic matter
• Many people don’t want to live
near a large composting site
• NIMBY COMPLEX
 PRIMARY • Closed-loop - wastes are

RECYCLING recycled to produce new

products of the same type
(aluminum cans into aluminum
cans)

• Which of these would be used in

primary recycling?
SECONDARY • Open loop - waste materials are
converted into different products
RECYCLING – Soda bottles into carpet
 Why • Pay-as-you throw - pay by the bag for
garbage that must be disposed of
recycle? • Recycling creates jobs
• Makes us feel like we are helping
• Does not make sense if it costs more
than to send to landfill or burn
• May not make sense for plentiful
resources
Why don’t • We don’t include the environmental
and health costs of raw materials in the
we recycle market prices of consumer items

more? • Need more tax breaks for companies

that recycle
• We don’t have large, steady markets
for recycled items.
Recycling: • Aluminum - produces less air/water
pollutants and uses less energy than
mining and processing aluminum ore
• 62% is recycled
• Cheaper to use refillable glass or plastic
bottles

• Paper - easy to recycle

• About 50% is recycled
• Saves energy
• Reduces pollution
• Prevents groundwater pollution by ink
• Saves water
• Saves landfill space
• Creates jobs
Recycling: • Plastics
• Made from petrochemicals
• One of the leading producers
of hazardous waste
• Made from many types of
resins - only 5-6% recycled
• Have to be separated by type
• Oil is cheaper than recycling
plastics
Detoxifying • Convert to less hazardous or non-

hazardous hazardous materials

• Bioremediation - biological
waste treatment
– Done by microorganisms
– Could clean up contaminated sites,
groundwater, etc.
– Seems to work well for organic wastes
but not heavy metals
• Phytoremediation - uses plants
 Using • Cyclodextrin – a type of sugar

chemicals made from corn starch to remove

toxic materials such as solvents,
to detoxify pesticides, and hydrocarbons
from contaminated soil and
groundwater
 Using a • Plasma arc torch exposes wastes to
extremely high temperatures
plasma torch – Break waste down into ions and atoms that
can be converted to simple molecules,
to detoxify cleaned up and released as a gas
– Convert hazardous inorganic matter into a
molten glassy material that captures toxic
metals and keeps them from leaching in to
groundwater.
Incineration • Mass-burn incinerators - don’t
separate materials
– Expensive
– Creates few long term jobs
– Creates bad air pollution
– Can cause cancer clusters
– *Many have been shut down for these
reasons*
Advantages & disadvantages of Incineration
Waste-to-energy
MSW-to-Energy By State
 Land • Before 1970 most municipal

disposal waste was taken to open dumps,

bulldozed & often burned, then
covered with dirt
• However dumps have become
inadequate and everyone has the
NIMBY complex
• Ocean dumping washes back on
the beach.
Sanitary • Solid wastes are spread out in
thin layers and covered daily
landfills with clay or plastic foam
• Lined with clay and plastic
• Has a second liner to collect
leachate
• Has pipes to collect leachate,
storage and disposal
• Usually built high on a hill
above water table
• Vented to recover methane
• Can be used for a park, golf
course later
State of the art sanitary landfill
Drawbacks • Traffic, noise and dust
• Emit toxic gases - methane,
H2S,smog
• Many things do not
biodegrade when covered
• Waste resources
• Can cause land subsidence
• Contaminate groundwater
with leachate
Disposal of • Deep well injection - pump
underground under pressure
hazardous into dry, porous geologic
waste formations below aquifers
• Surface impoundments -
ponds, pits, or lagoons
• About 5% of US waste is
concentrated, put in drums,
stored in landfills.
• Eventually leak and get into
groundwater
Deep well injection
Exporting • Ship to other states or other

waste countries - mainly developing

– Few states will now accept
– Can legally ship to other countries
• Does not need EPA approval
– Is done legally and illegally
– Waste disposal firms charge high prices,
dispose at low cost and pocket profit
Solution • Might be to have a worldwide
ban on all hazardous waste
exports
• would still have illegal trade
because of large profits
• Only real solution - not produce
waste in the first place
RCRA • Resources Conservation &
Recovery Act - 1976
• Prohibited open burning in
dumps
• EPA must identify hazardous
wastes & set standards for
their management by states
• Firms that produce more than
220 lbs/mo must have permit
stating how wastes will be
managed
• Cradle-to-grave tracking -
from production to disposal of
hazardous waste
SUPERFUND • Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and
- 1980 Liability Act
– Plus ammendments
• Clean up abandoned hazardous
waste sites such as Love Canal
• Try to find the culprit and have
the “polluter pay”
• Hard to get on the list
• Much of the money is spent
fighting the claims in court
 Once you • Test groundwater for
contamination
are on the • Isolate and stabilize wastes &
list... protect the public
• Put the worse sites on a National
Priorities List

• Do a total clean up:

– Remove and treat drum stored
waste
– Excavate contaminated soil &
burn it
– Clean up contaminated soil by
bio - or phytoremediation.
 What are • Industrial & commercial sites that

Brownfields? have been abandoned and in

most cases abandoned
– Empty factories, junkyards, old landfills,
and boarded-up gas stations.

• Many sites could be cleaned up

and developed by developers are
concerned about their legal
liability