Solid Waste Notes
What is a solid waste?
Any material that we discard , that is not liquid or gas, is solid waste.
MSW- Municipal Solid Waste- solid waste generated at home or office.
Industrial Solid Waste- Solid waste produced from mines, agriculture or industry
Hazardous Waste- wastes that can cause harm to the environment or to people , can be industrial or municipal
Methods of Dealing with Municipal Waste
- On-site (at home)
- Open Dump
- Sanitary Landfill
- Incineration
-Ocean Dumping
Open Dump- unsanitary, several thousands in the USA, accounts for half of solid waste, has toxic gases
Sanitary Landfill- layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of Earth once a day and a thicker layer the site is full, 1 acre/10,000 people; acute space problem, wastes piling up over 150 million tons/ year.
Incineration- burns trash to solve space problems, but it produces toxic gases
Ocean Dumping- "out of sight , out of mind", contributes to ocean pollution, wash back on beaches, cause death of marine animals
Reducing Waste
Incineration, compacting, recycling, and reusing
Benefits of Recycling- USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW, benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better health and a more sustainable economy
Any material that we discard , that is not liquid or gas, is solid waste.
MSW- Municipal Solid Waste- solid waste generated at home or office.
Industrial Solid Waste- Solid waste produced from mines, agriculture or industry
Hazardous Waste- wastes that can cause harm to the environment or to people , can be industrial or municipal
Methods of Dealing with Municipal Waste
- On-site (at home)
- Open Dump
- Sanitary Landfill
- Incineration
-Ocean Dumping
Open Dump- unsanitary, several thousands in the USA, accounts for half of solid waste, has toxic gases
Sanitary Landfill- layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of Earth once a day and a thicker layer the site is full, 1 acre/10,000 people; acute space problem, wastes piling up over 150 million tons/ year.
Incineration- burns trash to solve space problems, but it produces toxic gases
Ocean Dumping- "out of sight , out of mind", contributes to ocean pollution, wash back on beaches, cause death of marine animals
Reducing Waste
Incineration, compacting, recycling, and reusing
Benefits of Recycling- USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW, benefits from recycling are cleaner land, air, and water, overall better health and a more sustainable economy
Guided Notes
(1) What is solid waste? How much of it do we produce in the U.S. each year? Solid waste is any discarded material that is not a liquid or a gas. Americans produce 10 billion tons of solid waste a year.
(2) Why has the amount of waste produced doubled in the U.S. since the 1960s? Many items today are made to be used once and then thrown away
(3) Compare and contrast biodegradable versus non biodegradable materials. Provide an example of each as well. Both are wastes, but biodegradable materials such as paper bags can be broken down by nature while non-biodegradable materials such as plastics cannot.
(4) Where does most of our solid waste come from (about 70%)? Manufacturing and mining
(5) What is municipal solid waste? What makes up the largest portion of this waste (Figure 12-8)?Municipal waste is waste created from home or office and most of it is paper
(6) What percentage of our trash is recycled? 27%
(7) Where does our trash that is not recycled go (you can use Figure 12-9)? Most of it is stored in landfills
(8) Describe three problems with storing waste in landfills. Leachate is water with chemicals in it that come from a landfill. Landfills also produce methane, a highly flammable gas. It is also really hard to find places to build these landfills.
(9) When is NC estimated to run out of landfill space (use Figure 12-12)? In about 5-10 years
(10) Describe two problems with incinerating waste. Some of it pollutes the air and the rest is ash that ends up in a landfill, anyways
(2) Why has the amount of waste produced doubled in the U.S. since the 1960s? Many items today are made to be used once and then thrown away
(3) Compare and contrast biodegradable versus non biodegradable materials. Provide an example of each as well. Both are wastes, but biodegradable materials such as paper bags can be broken down by nature while non-biodegradable materials such as plastics cannot.
(4) Where does most of our solid waste come from (about 70%)? Manufacturing and mining
(5) What is municipal solid waste? What makes up the largest portion of this waste (Figure 12-8)?Municipal waste is waste created from home or office and most of it is paper
(6) What percentage of our trash is recycled? 27%
(7) Where does our trash that is not recycled go (you can use Figure 12-9)? Most of it is stored in landfills
(8) Describe three problems with storing waste in landfills. Leachate is water with chemicals in it that come from a landfill. Landfills also produce methane, a highly flammable gas. It is also really hard to find places to build these landfills.
(9) When is NC estimated to run out of landfill space (use Figure 12-12)? In about 5-10 years
(10) Describe two problems with incinerating waste. Some of it pollutes the air and the rest is ash that ends up in a landfill, anyways
Non- Renewable Resources
Traditional: wood, field crops, fecal matter, and peat
Conventional: coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear
Peat- accumulation of partially decayed vegetation and is the first stage in the formation of coal, must be dried to use and it makes a lot of smoke when burned. Longer than our lifetimes to make , so we consider it "non-renewable"
Oil:
Pros: Ample supply for 42-93 years, low cost, high net energy yield, easily internationally transported, low land use, technology is well-developed, and has an efficient system
Cons: Need to find substitutes in the next 50 years, large gov't subsidies , environmental costs aren't included in market price, artificially low price encourages waste and discourages search for alternatives, pollutes air and releases CO2 , can cause water pollution
Natural Gas:
Pros: Ample supplies, high net energy yield, low cost, less air pollution and lower in CO2 emissions, easily transported by pipeline, low land use, good fuel for fuel cells, gas turbines, and motor vehicles.
Cons: Non-renewable resource, releases some CO2 when burned, large gov't subsidies, environmental costs aren't included in market price, methane can leak from a pipeline, difficult to transfer internationally, , can be shipped across the ocean only as highly explosive LNG
Hydraulic Fracturing (AKA "Fraking") - technology used in drilling for oil and natural gases, controversial because of the risk to water systems in home and communities
Coal:
Pros: AMPLE supplies (225- 900 years) , high net energy yield, low cost, well-developed technology, air pollution can be reduced with improved technology
Cons: Severe land disturbance, air and water pollution, severe threat to human health when burned, environmental costs aren't included in market price, large gov't subsidies, LARGE CO2 emissions produced and burned radioactive particles and toxic mercury emissions
Nuclear Energy:
Pros: Large fuel supply, low environmental impact (without accidents), emits 1/6th of the CO2 coals does, moderate land disturbance and water pollution (without accident), moderate land use, low risk of accidents because of the multiple safety systems
Cons: HUGE gov't subsidies, low net energy yield, high environmental impacts (with accidents), environmental costs not included in market price, risk of catastrophic accidents, no widely acceptable solution for long-term storage of radio-active waste, subject to terrorist attacks, and spreads knowledge and technology for building nuclear weapons.
Conventional: coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear
Peat- accumulation of partially decayed vegetation and is the first stage in the formation of coal, must be dried to use and it makes a lot of smoke when burned. Longer than our lifetimes to make , so we consider it "non-renewable"
Oil:
Pros: Ample supply for 42-93 years, low cost, high net energy yield, easily internationally transported, low land use, technology is well-developed, and has an efficient system
Cons: Need to find substitutes in the next 50 years, large gov't subsidies , environmental costs aren't included in market price, artificially low price encourages waste and discourages search for alternatives, pollutes air and releases CO2 , can cause water pollution
Natural Gas:
Pros: Ample supplies, high net energy yield, low cost, less air pollution and lower in CO2 emissions, easily transported by pipeline, low land use, good fuel for fuel cells, gas turbines, and motor vehicles.
Cons: Non-renewable resource, releases some CO2 when burned, large gov't subsidies, environmental costs aren't included in market price, methane can leak from a pipeline, difficult to transfer internationally, , can be shipped across the ocean only as highly explosive LNG
Hydraulic Fracturing (AKA "Fraking") - technology used in drilling for oil and natural gases, controversial because of the risk to water systems in home and communities
Coal:
Pros: AMPLE supplies (225- 900 years) , high net energy yield, low cost, well-developed technology, air pollution can be reduced with improved technology
Cons: Severe land disturbance, air and water pollution, severe threat to human health when burned, environmental costs aren't included in market price, large gov't subsidies, LARGE CO2 emissions produced and burned radioactive particles and toxic mercury emissions
Nuclear Energy:
Pros: Large fuel supply, low environmental impact (without accidents), emits 1/6th of the CO2 coals does, moderate land disturbance and water pollution (without accident), moderate land use, low risk of accidents because of the multiple safety systems
Cons: HUGE gov't subsidies, low net energy yield, high environmental impacts (with accidents), environmental costs not included in market price, risk of catastrophic accidents, no widely acceptable solution for long-term storage of radio-active waste, subject to terrorist attacks, and spreads knowledge and technology for building nuclear weapons.