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© Cengage Learning 2015

LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 18e G. TYLER MILLER • SCOTT E. SPOOLMAN


21 Solid and Hazardous Waste


• Electronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest

growing solid waste problem

• Most ends up in landfills and incinerators

• Composition includes:

– High-quality plastics

– Valuable metals

– Toxic and hazardous pollutants

Core Case Study: E-Waste – An Exploding

Problem


• Shipped to other countries

• International Basel Convention

– Bans transferring hazardous wastes from

developed countries to developing countries

• European Union

– Cradle-to-grave approach

Core Case Study: E-Waste – An Exploding

Problem (cont’d.)

Fig. 21-1, p. 576


• Solid waste contributes to pollution and

includes valuable resources that could be

reused or recycled

• Hazardous waste contributes to pollution,

as well as to natural capital degradation,

health problems, and premature deaths

21-1 What Are Solid Waste and Hazardous

Waste, and Why Are They Problems?


• Solid waste

– Industrial solid waste

• Mines, farms, industries

– Municipal solid waste (MSW)

• Trash

• Waste ends up in:

– Rivers, lakes, the ocean, and natural

landscapes

We Throw Away Huge Amounts of Useful

Things


• Hazardous waste (toxic waste)

– Threatens human health of the environment

• Classes of hazardous waste

– Organic compounds

– Toxic heavy metals

– Radioactive waste

Hazardous Waste Is a Serious and

Growing Problem


• Leader in solid waste problem

– In trash production, by weight, per person

• 98.5% of all solid waste is industrial waste

• Most wastes break down very slowly

– If at all

Case Study: Solid Waste in the United

States

Fig. 21-5, p. 579


• A sustainable approach to solid waste is:

– First to reduce it

– Then to reuse or recycle it

– Finally, to safely dispose of what is left

21-2 How Should We Deal with Solid

Waste?


• Waste management

– Reduce harm, but not amounts

• Waste reduction

– Use less and focus on reuse, recycle,

compost

• Integrated waste management

– Uses a variety of strategies

We Can Burn, Bury, or Recycle Solid

Waste or Produce Less of It


Fig. 21-6, p. 581

Raw materials

Processing and

manufacturing Products

Solid and hazardous wastes generated

during the manufacturing process

Waste generated by households

and businesses

Food/yard waste

Hazardous waste

Remaining mixed waste Plastic Glass Metal Paper

To manufacturers for reuse

or for recycling Compost Hazardous waste

management Landfill Incinerator

Fertilizer


• Waste reduction is based on:

– Refuse – don’t use it

– Reduce – use less

– Reuse – use it over and over

– Recycle

• Composting

– Using bacteria to decompose biodegradable

waste

We Can Cut Solid Wastes by Refusing,

Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling


• Six strategies:

– Change industrial processes to eliminate

harmful chemicals

– Redesign manufacturing process to use less

material and energy

– Develop products that are easy to recycle

– Eliminate unnecessary packaging

– Use fee-per-bag waste collection systems

– Establish cradle-to grave responsibility

Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, and

Recycling (cont’d.)


Fig. 21-7, p. 581

What We Should Do What We Do

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle/Compost

Incinerate

Bury Reduce

(<0.1%)

Reuse (0.2%)

Incinerate (9%)

Recycle/Compost (23.7%)

Bury (67%)


• By refusing and reducing resource use

and by reusing and recycling what we use,

we:

– Decrease our consumption of matter and

energy resources

– Reduce pollution and natural capital

degradation

– Save money

21-3 Why Are Refusing, Reducing,

Reusing, and Recycling So Important?


• We increasingly substitute throwaway

items for reusable ones

• In general, reuse is on the rise

• One solution: taxing plastic shopping bags

– Ireland, Taiwan, the Netherlands

There Are Alternatives to the Throwaway

Economy


Fig. 21-11, p. 583


• Primary, closed-loop recycling

– Materials recycled into same type

• Secondary recycling

– Materials converted to other products: tires

• Types of wastes that can be recycled

– Preconsumer, internal waste generated in

manufacturing process

– Postconsumer, external waste generated by

product use

There Is Great Potential for Recycling


• With incentives, the U.S. could recycle and

compost 80% of its municipal solid waste

• Composting

– Mimics nature’s recycling of nutrients

– Resulting organic matter can be used to:

• Supply plant nutrients

• Slow soil erosion

• Retain water

• Improve crop yield

There Is Great Potential for Recycling

(cont’d.)


• Materials-recovery facilities (MRFs)

– Can encourage increased trash production

• Source separation

– Pay-as-you-throw

– Fee-per-bag

We Can Mix or Separate Household Solid

Wastes for Recycling


• Production of paper versus recycled paper

– Energy use – world’s fifth largest consumer

– Water use

– Pollution

• Easy to recycle

– Uses 64% less energy

– Produces 35% less water pollution

– Produces 74% less air pollution

Recycling Paper


• Plastics

– Composed of resins created from oil and

natural gas

• Currently only 7% is recycled in the U.S.

– Many types of plastic resins

– Difficult to separate

Recycling Plastics


• Advantages

– Net economic health

– Environmental benefits

• Disadvantages

– Costly

• Single-pickup system

– No separation needed

Recycling Has Advantages and

Disadvantages


Fig. 21-14, p. 585

Trade-Offs

Disadvantages

Recycling

Reduces energy

and mineral use

and air and water

pollution

Can cost more than

burying in areas with

ample landfill space

Reduces

greenhouse

gas emissions

Reduces profits for

landfill and

incinerator owners

Reduces solid waste Inconvenient for

some

Advantages


• Technologies for burning and burying solid

wastes are well developed

– However, burning contributes to air and water

pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and

buried wastes eventually contribute to the

pollution and degradation of land and water

resources

21-4 The Advantages and Disadvantages

of Burning or Burying Solid Waste


• Waste-to-energy incinerators

– To heat water or produce electricity

• Landfills emit more air pollutants than

modern waste-to-energy incinerators

– Toxic chemicals that are filtered must be

disposed of or stored

Burning Solid Waste Has Advantages and

Disadvantages


Fig. 21-15, p. 588

Electricity

Smokestack

Furnace

Boiler

Waste

pit

Ash for treatment,

disposal in landfill, or

use as landfill cover

Fig. 21-16, p. 588

Waste-to-Energy Incineration

Advantages Disadvantages

Produces energy Produces a

hazardous waste

Concentrates

hazardous

substances into

ash for burial

Emits some CO2 and

other air pollutants

Sale of energy

reduces cost

Encourages waste

production

Reduces trash

volume

Trade-Offs

Expensive to build


• Sanitary landfills

– Compacted layers of waste between clay or

foam

– Bottom liners; containment systems

• Open dumps

– Widely used in less-developed countries

• Rare in developed countries

– Large pit

• Sometimes garbage is burned

Burying Solid Waste Has Advantages and

Disadvantages

Fig. 21-17, p. 589

When landfill is full, layers

of soil and clay seal in trash Topsoil

Sand Electricity

generator

building Clay

Garbage

Methane

storage and

compressor

building Leachate

treatment system

Probes to

detect

methane

leaks

Pipes collect explosive methane for use as fuel to generate electricity

Methane gas recovery well

Leachate storage tank

Compacted solid waste

Garbage Leachate pipes

Leachate pumped up to storage tank for safe disposal

Groundwater

monitoring

well

Synthetic liner

Leachate

monitoring

well

Sand Groundwater

Clay Clay and plastic lining to

prevent leaks; pipes collect

leachate from bottom of landfill Subsoil

Sand


Fig. 21-18, p. 589

Trade-Offs

Sanitary Landfills


Releases greenhouse

gases (methane and

CO2) unless they are

collected

Can handle large

amounts of waste

Filled land can

be used for

other purposes

Output approach that

encourages waste

production

No shortage of

landfill space in

many areas

Eventually leaks and

can contaminate

groundwater

Low operating

costs

Noise, traffic,

and dust


• A more sustainable approach to

hazardous waste:

– First, produce less of it

– Then, reuse or recycle it

– Then, convert it to less-hazardous materials

– Finally, safely store what is left

21-5 How Should We Deal with Hazardous

Waste?


• Integrated management of hazardous

wastes

– Produce less

– Convert to less hazardous substances

– Rest in long-term safe storage

• Increased use for postconsumer

hazardous waste

We Can Use Integrated Management of

Hazardous Waste

Put in

Perpetual Storage

Landfill

Underground injection wells

Surface impoundments

Underground salt formations

Stepped Art

Convert to Less Hazardous or

Nonhazardous Substances

Natural decomposition

Incineration

Thermal treatment

Chemical, physical, and biological

treatment

Dilution in air or water

Produce Less

Hazardous Waste

Change industrial processes

to reduce or eliminate

hazardous waste production

Recycle and reuse hazardous

waste

Fig. 21-20, p. 591


• 70% goes to China

– Hazardous working conditions

– Includes child workers

• U.S. produces roughly 50% of the world’s

e-waste

– Recycles only 14%

Case Study: Recycling E-Waste


• Collect and then detoxify

– Physical methods

– Chemical methods

– Use nanomagnets

– Bioremediation

– Phytoremediation

• Incineration

• Using a plasma arc torch

We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes

Fig. 21-22, p. 593

Radioactive contaminants

Organic contaminants

Inorganic metal contaminants

Poplar tree Brake fern

Sunflower Willow tree

Indian

mustard

Landfill Oil spill

Polluted groundwater in Decontaminated

water out Soil Polluted leachate Soil

Groundwater Groundwater

Rhizofiltration Roots of plants such as sunflowers with dangling roots on ponds or in greenhouses can absorb pollutants such as radioactive strontium-90 and cesium-137 and various organic chemicals.

Phytostabilization Plants such as willow trees and poplars can absorb chemicals and keep them from reaching groundwater or nearby surface water.

Phytodegredation Plants such as poplars 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 such as Indian mustard and brake ferns can absorb toxic metals such as lead, arsenic, and others and store them in their leaves. Plants can then be recycled or harvested and incinerated.


• Burial on land or long-term storage

– Last resort only

• Deep-well disposal

– 64% of hazardous liquid wastes in the U.S.

• Surface impoundments

– Lined pools for evaporation

• Secure hazardous waste landfills

– Expensive

We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous

Waste


Fig. 21-24, p. 594

Deep-Well Disposal


Safe if sites are

chosen carefully Leaks from corrosion

of well casing

Emits CO2 and

other air pollutants Wastes can often

be retrieved


encourages waste

production Low cost

Trade-Offs


Fig. 21-26, p. 594

Surface Impoundments

Advantages

Water pollution

from leaking liners

and overflows

Wastes can often

be retrieved Air pollution from

volatile organic

compounds

Can store wastes

indefinitely with

secure double

liners


encourages waste

production

Trade-Offs

Disadvantages

Low cost


Fig. 21-28, p. 595


• 1976 – Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA)

– EPA sets standards and gives permits

– Cradle to grave

– Covers only 5% of hazardous wastes

Case Study: Hazardous Waste Regulation

in the United States


• 1980 – Comprehensive Environmental,

Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

– National Priorities List

• 2013 – 1320 Superfund sites; 365 cleaned

– Pace of cleanup has slowed

– Superfund is broke

• Laws encouraging the cleanup of

brownfields

– Abandoned industrial sites

Case Study: Hazardous Waste Regulation

in the United States (cont’d.)


Fig. 21-29, p. 596


• Shifting to a low-waste society requires

individuals and businesses to:

– Reduce resource use

– Reuse and recycle wastes at local, national,

and global levels

21-6 How Can We Make the Transition to

a More Sustainable Low-Waste Society?


• Prevent construction of:

– Incinerators, landfills, treatment plants,

polluting chemical plants

• Something must be done with hazardous

wastes

Grassroots Action Has Led to Better Solid

and Hazardous Waste Management


• Environmental justice

– Everyone is entitled to protection from

environmental hazards

• Which communities in the U.S. have the

largest share of hazardous waste dumps?

• Environmental discrimination

Providing Environmental Justice for

Everyone Is an Important Goal


• Factors that hinder reuse and recycling:

– Market prices do not include harmful costs

– Economic playing field is uneven

– Demand for recycled products fluctuates

• Governments can pass laws requiring

companies to reuse and recycle

We Can Encourage Reuse and Recycling


• Freecycle network

• Upcycling

– Recycling materials into products of higher

value

• Dual-use packaging

Reuse, Recycling, and Composting

Present Economic Opportunities


• Basel Convention

– 1992 – in effect

– 1995 amendment – bans all transfers of

hazardous wastes from industrialized

countries to less-developed countries

– 2012 – ratified by 179 countries, but not the

United States

International Treaties Have Reduced

Hazardous Waste


• 2000 – delegates from 122 countries

completed a global treaty

– Control 12 persistent organic pollutants

(POPs)

– DDT, PCBs, dioxins

– Everyone on earth has POPs in blood

• 2000 – Swedish Parliament law

– By 2020 ban all chemicals that are persistent

and can accumulate in living tissue

International Treaties Have Reduced

Hazardous Waste (cont’d.)


• Norway, Austria, and the Netherlands

– Committed to reduce resource waste by 75%

• Key principles

– Everything is connected

– There is no away

– Producers and polluters should pay

– We can mimic nature by recycling and

composting

We Can Make the Transition to Low-Waste

Societies


• Resource exchange webs

– Waste as raw material

– Ecoindustrial parks

• Two major steps of biomimicry

– Observe how natural systems respond

– Apply to human industrial systems

Case Study: Industrial Ecosystems:

Copying Nature


• Reduce outputs of solid hazardous waste

• Mimic nature’s chemical cycling process

– Reuse and recycle

• Integrated waste management

• Include harmful environmental and health

costs in market prices

Tying It All Together: E-Waste and

Sustainability

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