Solid Waste Management

Did you know??

• One ton of recycled paper uses •64% less energy•50% less water•Causes 74% less air pollution

•Saves 17 trees

•Creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper product made from virgin wood pulp.

Did you know??

• New York City alone throw out enough garbage each DAY to fill the Empire State Building.

• In one day, Americans get rid of 20,000 cars and 4,000 trucks.

In the U.S.

• Industry, people and institutions produced 230 million pounds of waste in 1999.

• This amount of trash equals almost 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day.

Four Main Categories of Waste

•Municipal solid waste• Industrial waste• Hazardous waste•Wastewater

• Municipal solid waste is waste that consists of paper, yard waste, food and plastic. Solid waste management can be handled in several ways.

• Industrial waste comes from the production of consumer goods, mining, agriculture & petroleum extraction & refining.

• Hazardous waste is solid or liquid waste that is toxic, chemically reactive, flammable or corrosive. This includes paint, batteries, household cleaners to medical waste.

•Wastewater is another type of waste that includes the water that is used in our households, business, industries, or public facilitates. All the water that goes down the DRAINS!!

Waste Management

• How we deal w/any unwanted material or substance

• Sanitary landfills - A landfill is a regulated area where wastes are placed in the land.

• Landfills are constructed in several layers to prevent contamination of the soil and water around them and to handle odor, gases and waste volume.

• Examples: • Municipal Waste Landfill, • Construction and Demolition Waste • Resource Recovery (Waste-to-energy facilities)

Steps in creating a sanitary landfill

1. Landfill is lined with a plastic liner and several feet of clay on the bottom and sides of the hole.

• This lining prevents most substances from leaking out of the landfill into the ground and water.

2. Wastes are compacted and covered with several inches of soil on a daily basis to help reduce odor, and to control litter, insects and rodents.

3. Landfills must be monitored in order to prevent the contamination of groundwater and other areas around the landfill.

4. Newer landfills have leachate collection systems. Collects water that has percolated through the landfill and contains contaminate substances (leachates/leeching).

5. Methane collection system. Landfill gas (LFG) forms when trash begins to decompose in an anaerobic environment. Landfill gas consists of 50 % methane and 50% carbon dioxide. Some landfills collect the gases and convert them to electricity.

6. The primary decomposers of garbage are bacteria and fungi.

Decomposers – organisms that break down dead organic wastes.

7. The amount of moisture and air, temperature, light and the decomposing material all affect the rate at which microbes can digest the garbage.

8. According to the EPA, 25% of all monitored landfills in the US are leaking their contents into the groundwater.

 

Capturing Energy from Landfills

• Deep inside the landfills, bacteria decompose waste in an oxygen-deficient (anaerobic) environment.

• This decomposition produces landfill gas called methane. We collect this methane thru a network of pipes by vacuum pressure.

• The collected gas can provide energy for 25,000 homes.

Landfill Construction Simulation

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/mts/ENVM/newsimu/02-constr/constr.html

• Largest landfill in US – Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NY

Incineration

• One way in which we try and reduce the amount of waste is by combustion. Combustion is disposing of trash by controlled burning.

• These stations are sometimes called WTE facilities because as the wastes burn energy is produced.

1. Combustion of trash reduces the volume of the wastes by 90% and the mass by 75%.

2. Burning at such high temperatures destroys harmful compounds and kills disease-causing bacteria.

3. Burning trash also creates energy and it can convert water into steam to generate electricity.

4.Combustion also pollutes the air. A scrubber uses a liquid spray to neutralize acidic gases in combustion smoke. Filters are also used to remove ash particles from the smoke.

5. Facilities are called Waste to Energy Facilities b/c we capture energy from the burning of trash to help create electricity.

SOLID WASTE BREAKDOWN• Paper: 2-4 weeks

• Cotton rags: 1-5 months• Orange peel: 6 months• Wool sock: 12 months• Plastic bags: 10-20 yrs.• Leather shoes: 25-40 yrs.• Aluminum cans: 200-500 yrs.• Glass bottle: undetermined• Cardboard box: 2 months• Diapers – 450-550 years!!• Kleenex – almost as soon as it gets wet• Jeans – 7 years• Rubber (sole of boot): 50-80 years….tire: 1000

years

Paper vs. Plastic

• Plastics buried in a landfill can take an estimated time of up to 500 years to break down..

• Plastic is made from long complicated chains of atoms called polymers. Bacterial and other decomposers do not find these polymers very appetizing.

• Some plastics are photodegradable, which means they break down in the presences of light.

• Other plastics are biodegradable, which means that they degrade by the action of microbes(bacteria/fungi)

• Biodegradable plastic bags have been developed. They are made of plastic webbing and cornstarch.

• Paper presents a space problem. There is more paper used than plastics but it does not compact. Paper will not rot when sealed air tight.

WASTE REDUCTION & RECOVERY

• There are three goals of waste reduction & recovery.

• Reduce the amount of waste

• Reuse as much as possible

• Recycle materials

REDUCE

•We have many disposable materials in our society. We have been referred to as the “throw away society.”

• Source Reduction is preventing waste generation.

• Less consumption - only purchase what you need • Less packaging

• Reducing using non-biodegradable plastics• Design goods that last!• Financial incentives – “Bottle Bills”

• Zero Waste – the design & management of products & processes to decrease the amount of waste and the toxicity of materials are not burned or buried.•  

Composting

• Biological way to rid of wastes.•Worm, bacteria, fungi decompose fruit and other organisms decompose piles of fruit & veggies, food scraps, wood and lawn clippings

• Composting begins by microorganisms digesting and excreting the organic matter into the pile. As the temperature rises more organisms are attracted to the pile.

• The product of composting is a dark brown substance called humus. Humus is very rich in nutrients and an important part of good soil

REUSE

• Reusing items rather than throwing them in the trash is another way in which we can reduce the amount of waste. • Give items away for redistribution.

RECYCLE

• Recycling is a series of activities that reuse a product’s raw materials to manufacture new products.

1. Collect the materials: glass, plastic, steel, paper, plastic and aluminum

• Curbside pick-up is growing in popularity.

2. Manufacturing: • Each recyclable has its own process where it is broken down and then made into something new.

3. Recycling loop is completed when recycled products are bought. Buying recycled products also saves resources for future generations.

• Amount of items being recycled:

–42% of all paper–40% of plastic soft drink bottles–55% of aluminum cans–56% of all steel packaging

• Paper, especially newsprint, is recycled and used on farms to enrich soil and livestock bedding.

 

• Not all glass can be recycled.

• Plastics are recycled based on their SPI code numbers 1-7.

• Metals that are commonly recycled are steel and aluminum.

• Recycling aluminum cans have diverted more than two billion pounds of aluminum from the landfills.

• Recycling DOES make a difference!!!!!!

Benefits of Recycling

• Saves Natural Resources

• In 2005, Pennsylvanians recycled 1.2 million tons of steel which saved 1.4 million ton iron ore, 829, 786 ton of coal, & 71, 124 ton of limestone.

• Recycling newsprint, office paper & mixed paper saved the equal to 78 million tree seedlings.

• Saves Energy

• Saves Environment

• Value to economy–52, 316 jobs in PA

 • Good Business

• In 2008, Pennsylvania recycled over 5.4 million tons of resources.

• The materials Pennsylvanians recycled in 2005 saved almost 98 trillion British thermal units of energy and cut more than 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the air.

• Respectively, that's the equivalent of eliminating the output from three large coal-fired power plants and taking 1.7 million cars and light trucks off the road.

• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions–In 2005, recycling reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE) or 9 million tons of Carbon Dioxide (MMTCO2).

• Reduces emissions of air & water pollutants–Reduced water emissions total nearly 9,000 tons

• Value to economy52, 316 jobs in PA

• Good Business

• In 2008, Pennsylvania recycled over 5.4 million tons of resources.

• The materials Pennsylvanians recycled in 2005 saved almost 98 trillion British thermal units of energy and cut more than 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the air.

• Respectively, that's the equivalent of eliminating the output from three large coal-fired power plants and taking 1.7 million cars and trucks off the road.

Penn Waste Single Streaming

Hazardous Waste

•metals,• paints, • e-waste, •medical waste, etc.

1. Landfills that have been especially designed...water tight liners away from aquifers. 

2. Surface Impoundment: liquid hazards waste mixed w/water. When the water evaporates it just leaves the solid wastes residue. Process is repeated many times. Then the solid residue is gathered & buried.•  

3. Deep well injection: A well is drilled deep beneath the water table. Wastes are injected into it & its kept deep underground.

4. Radioactive wastes (radon): It is also buried deep underground in containers that will not corrode. Tanks near nuclear power plants can also store it.

RCRA

• Resource conservation and Recovery Act (1976)

• This is a federal law which helps to govern our waste management system.

• *To protect public from harm caused by waste disposal.• *To encourage reuse, reduction and recycling• *To clean-up spilled or improperly stored wastes

CERLCLA

• This law established a federal program to clean up U.S. sites polluted w/hazardous waste from past activities. The EPA administers this cleanup program that is called the Superfund.

Complete the chart in your notes…