Area IV: Pollution

IVA4: Solid Waste

24-1 Wasting Resources

Solid waste is another kind of resource; the U.S. is not utilizing this resource well U.S. produces 33% of world’s solid waste solid waste is unwanted/discarded material

that is not liquid/gaseous goods and services produce it indirectly municipal solid waste (garbage/trash) comes

mostly from homes and workplaces solid waste is a sign of a society’s waste of

its resources

Fig. 24-2 Sources of waste in U.S.

24-2 Producing Less Waste waste management: high-waste approach

that accepts waste production as a result of economic growth

it attempts to reduce environmental harm it transfers the waste from one part of the

environment to another

24-2 Producing Less Waste waste reduction: low-waste approach sees

solid waste as a potential resource, which should be reused, recycled, or composted

it discourages waste production it encourages waste reduction and prevention saves matter and energy resources, reduces

pollution, helps protect biodiversity, and saves money (maybe)

Fig. 24-3 Dealing with waste

24-2 Producing Less Waste to cut waste production and promote

sustainability: consume less use less materials and energy and produce

less waste and pollution by redesigning manufacturing processes and products

develop products that are easily repaired, reused, remanufactured, composted, or recycled

design products with long lives eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging

24-2 Producing Less Waste a design revolution has encouraged the

use of less material and energy for each unit of goods and services

products that use less material have been substituted for previous products

products, which take less material/energy to produce, have been made

a resource productivity revolution will get 75–90% more work/service from each unit of material resources that we use

24-3 Ecoindustrial Revolution

The ecoindustrial revolution will reduce waste production by copying nature one manufacturer’s wastes become raw

materials for another manufacturer; “industrial ecosystem” or “biomimicry”

this reduces the costs of controlling pollution it reduces exposure to toxic and hazardous

materials; improves the health of workers biomimicry stimulates companies to pursue

creative, beneficial products (for example, 3M Company’s Pollution Prevention Pays (3P))

Fig. 24-5 Industrial ecosystem

24-3 Ecoindustrial Revolution a service flow/product stewardship

economy is based on selling services instead of goods; customers lease or rent the services that goods provide

product uses minimum amount of materials product lasts as long as possible product is easy to maintain, repair,

remanufacture, reuse, or recycle this type of service is based on eco-leasing (for

example, Xerox Corporation and Ray Anderson’s INTERFACE company)

24-4 Reuse

Reusing products helps reduce resource use, waste, and pollution; it also saves money developing countries reuse their products,

but there is a health hazard for the poor U.S. e-waste goes to developing countries large city dumps expose scavengers to

toxins and infectious diseases refillable containers create jobs, costs less

for the product, and lessen waste many items can be reused/borrowed

Fig. 24-6 Energy consumption

24-5 Recycling

Recycling collects waste materials, turns them into useful products, and sells the new products five types of materials can be recycled:

paper products glass aluminum steel some plastics

recycling saves money and creates jobs, more than burning or landfilling wastes

Fig. 24-8 Benefits of recycling

24-5 Recycling recycling processing consists of two

methods; primary recycling is preferred primary/closed-loop recycling: new products of

the same type are created from the waste: new newspaper from old newspaper

secondary/downcycling converts waste materials into different products

pre-consumer/internal waste is generated from a manufacturing process that is recycled

24-5 Recycling post-consumer/external waste is generated

by consumer use of products composting biodegradable organic wastes

is a great way to mimic nature solid waste recycling can be done in a

materials-recovery facility (MRF) machines shred and separate the mixed waste

and sell raw materials to manufacturers wastes are recycled and/or burned to produce

energy, but such plants are expensive must process a large input of garbage

Sorting trash

Bales

Fig. 24-9 Materials recovery facility (MRF)

24-5 Recycling source separation recycling relies on

households and businesses to separate their trash

this produces less air and water pollution lower startup costs and operating costs saves more energy and provides more jobs pay-as-you-throw (PAUT) waste collection

systems charge for the mixed waste that is picked up but not for the recycled, separated materials

24-5 Recycling plastic recycling is not feasible because of

these problems plastics are difficult to isolate in different

materials not much individual plastic resin is recoverable

per product recycled resin is much more expensive than

virgin plastic resin

Fig. 24-10 How plastics are made

24-5 Recycling a new polymer, polyactide (ACT), made by

Cargill and Dow is being used to produce plastic containers, which can be composted for a soil conditioner

the economics of recycling depends on the costs one counts

environmental and health benefits outweigh the costs of recycling

some materials cost more than it is worth

24-5 Recycling factors that hinder reuse and recycling are:

cost of a product does not include harmful environmental health costs in its life cycle

resource-extracting industries receive government tax breaks and subsidies while recycle and reuse industries do not

landfill charges are low in the U.S. (due to lots of space?)

the demand and price for recycled materials fluctuates so less interest in committing to it

Fig. 24-11 Life-cycle analysis of a shirt

24-6 Burning and Burying Solid Waste municipal solid waste is burned in waste-to-

energy incinerators, which produces steam for heating or producing electricity

disadvantages of burning solid waste include:

high operating costs air pollution concerns citizen opposition to the process

Fig. 24-12 Waste-to-energy incinerator

24-6 Burning and Burying Solid Waste most solid waste is buried in landfills, which

can leak toxins into soil and water open dumps in the ground hold garbage;

sometimes it is covered with dirt sanitary landfills spread the solid waste out in

thin layers, compact it, and cover it daily with clay/plastic foam

modern landfills line the bottom with an impermeable liner, which collects leachate

leachate is collected, stored in tanks, and then sent to a sewage treatment plant

Fig. 24-14 Sanitary landfill

24-10 Achieving a Low-Waste Society NIMBY: Not In My Backyard NOPE: Not On Planet Earth or ‘not in

anyone’s backyard’ in 2000, a global treaty to control twelve

persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was developed; 50 countries must sign for effectiveness

POPs are toxic chemicals stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other organisms

12 chemicals, the dirty dozen, need to be phased out, detoxified, and/or isolated

24-10 Achieving a Low-Waste Society four principles for transitioning to a low-

waste society everything is connected there is no place to send wastes “away” diluting waste is not the solution to pollution the best solution is to prevent waste and

pollution and, then, reuse/recycle the materials that we use