SOLID WASTE

Solid Waste• Hazardous Waste – poses danger to human health• Industrial Waste – comes from manufacturing• Municipal Waste – household waste

Reduce – Reuse - Recycle• Reduce – minimizing disposal waste• Reuse – get products that can be used over and over

again for their purpose• Recycle – give materials “another life”

• Primary Recycling – used to rebuild the same product (Plastic, Aluminum)

• Secondary Recycling – materials are used for lower quality goods – tires to form a track, plastic bottles to make decking materials

• Composting – other animals may eat, or…organic materials get decomposed and return to environment (reduces smell form garbage)

EPA 2012 DATA:

Material % of material that is recycled

Lead-acid batteries 95.9

Steel can 70.8

Newspaper 70

Yard Trimmings 57.7

Soda cans 54.6

Tires 44.6

Glass 34.1

Pet bottles 30.8

Electonics 29.2

P-A-Y-T – In order to encourage recycling, towns are beginning “Pay As You Throw”

Garbage Barge (1987) - NIMBY

“Old Landfills”• No one wanted close to their home• No regulation• No testing for leachate – fluid at bottom of landfill

“Heaps of Garbage”

“Modern Landfills”

Modern Landfills• Federal laws prohibit them from being located near faults,

floodplains, or wetlands• Holes lined with membranes, and clay (impermeable)• Frequently covered with soil • Leachate is piped to “pond” and closely monitored• Gases from site are piped and used to make electricity• When hole is filled, it must be closed and capped,

monitoring continues

Incinerators• Waste can also be burned, and used to generate electicity

Hazardous WasteTracking of hazardous materials from “Cradle to Grave” through the RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)• Corrosive – waste that corrodes metal• Ignitable – Substances such as alcohol and gasoline that can

catch on fire• Reactive – Chemically unstable or react readily with other

compounds• Toxic – creates health risks when inhaled, injected, or absorbed

Disposal of Hazardous Waste• Landfills – special areas that are heavily monitored, higher

standards (liquids)• Deep well injections – hole dug below water table

Radioactive Waste, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

• Not NIMBY• Can keep secure• Previous nuclear

testing ahs been done there

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant • Receives TransUranic Waste (TRU) – waste left over from

the building of nuclear weapons

Low level vs high level waste• EPA lists• High Level – reactor waste, repossessing nuclear fuel,

mining of uranium ore• Low level – industrial, research, natural materials

Contaminated Waste Sites• Superfund – sites established that need to be cleaned up

Love Canal• Homes and school were built on top of a landfill• Many Cancer Cases

What happened in Toms River?

LegislationHazardous Materials Transportation Act – 1975 – required ID plaques, monitors haz transport

Resources Conservation and Recovery Act – 1976 – control of haz waste “cradle to grave” ; encourages states to handle non hazardous municipal/hazardous waste – prohibit open dumping

Toxic Substances Control Act – 1976 - gave EPA authority to track and control industrial chemicals

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) – 1980 - create tax for clean up, allows federal government ability to respond directly for haz clean-up, provides liability guidelines, trust fund for clean – up

Nuclear Waste Policy Act – 1982 – set up federal government to provide site for nuclear waste