Chapter 22

1. 22-1: Hazardous and solid waste

a. We throw away useful things and hazardous
i. No away in nature
ii. Solid waste
1. Industrial
2. Municipal
iii. In MDC, landfills and incinerators
iv. In LDC, open dumps
v. China has too much waste, needs to be moved out
vi. Hazardous wastes
1. Organic compounds pcb/pesticides/solvents/dioxins
2. Toxic heavy metals
3. Highly radioactive waste
a. Take 10k 240k years
b. No solution yet
4. US is #1
a. Military
b. Industrial
c. Mining
vii. Reasons to reduce haz waste
1. of haz was is unnecessary, violates cycling principle
2. Hurts ocean ecosystems
b. Solid waste in the US
i. Most waste per person, 1/3 of world wases
1. Mostly mining, agri.,industry
ii. Most of our waste in uncessary
iii. Municipal solid waste is 1.5%
1. Paper and cardvoard
2. Yard
3. Food
4. Plastic
2. 22-2: How to deal with solid waste
a. We can burn or bury it
i. Waste management
1. Burn or bury
ii. Waste reduction
1. Reduce the output
iii. Integrated waste management
1. Reduce
2. Reuse
3. Recycle
iv. Ways to reduce the resource use and waste
1. Redesign processes and products
2. Make products easy to reuse repair recycle or compost
3. Eliminate or reduce uncedessary packaging
4. Fee per bag waste collection
5. Cradle to grave responsibility
6. Restructure urban transport sytems

3. 22-3: Why Reuse and Recycle

a. Reuse is a way to reduce waste/pollution and save monet
i. Reward customers who bring reusable packaging
ii. Reduces overall waste, saves energy
iii. MDC use flea markets and resale
b. WE can use refillable containers
i. PET plastic can be resused
ii. It was easier and more $ to make throwaway bottles, ran small
bottlers out of business
iii. Denmark finland Prince Edward island have banned throwaway
bottles
iv. Plastic bags take forever to degrade but are thrown away
w=most of the tiem
Some governments tax plastic bags
San Francisco banned the plastic bags
are two types of recycling
Paper/glass/aluminum/steel/some plastic
Primary or closed loop
1. Product into same product
iii. Secondary
1. Product into a new
iv. Types of waste
1. Preconsumer / internal during manufacturing
a. of the total
2. Postconsumer / external generated by conxumers usage
v. Most things are recyclable, but do they get recycled and do we

v.
vi.
c. There
i.
ii.

buy recycled goods

vi. 33% of MSW in the US is recycled
d. We can mix or separate MSW for recycling
i. Msw can be sent to material recovery facility (MRF)
1. Separate the valuable
2. Recycle what can be
3. Burn the rest for energy
ii. MRFs encourage trash
iii. It is better to use pre sorted pay as you throw system
1. Makes more valuable recyclables
2. Saves energy
iv. Compostin
1. Saves 8% from landfill
2. Prevents landfills form overflow
3. Can be used as fertilizer, slow erosion, improve crop
yields
v. Recycling paper
1. 55% of tree harvest goes to paper
2. 5th largest energy user

3. More water for product than anything else

4. Dominant MSW
5. 49% recycled in the US,
6. Toilet paper should be recycled fiber
vi. Recycling plastics
1. Much plastic in ocean leads to plastic to be eaten by
animals, so we eat platic
2. 4% of plastic is recycled in th US, because there are so
many types
vii. Recycling has its disadvantages
1. Costly and taxpayer burde
2. Cities that have better recycling tend to have single
pickup and PAUT system
viii. Mark Biddle and MBA Polymers have reuced plastic waste with a
new method that save much resources
ix. Bioplastics
1. Could encourage too much disposal
2. Could be better, ut are coslty
x. We can encourage reuse and recycling
1. Factors that hinder recycling
a. Environmental harm price not included
b. Most countries give subsidies to resource extracting
business
c. Demand fluctuates, not a concern to buy rc good
2. How to encourage
a. Increase $ benefits for the recyclers and reusers
b. PAUT system
c. Require companies to take back packaging
d. Product labeling
4. 22-4 : burn or bury the solid waste
a. Burning
i. Waste to energy incinerators
1. US burns 13% of MSW
a. Low due to air pollution, opposition, cheap landfills
2. May have less pollution than landfill
3. China has too lax air pollution laws, leads to a lot of air
pollution
ii. Burying
1. 54% MSW is buried is sanitary landfills
2. Can=80,15=jap,4=den
3. Types
a. Open dumps
i. Rare in MDC
b. Sanitary Landfill

i. Layers of trash spread and covered daily,

1. Reduces vermin, odor, fire hazard
2. Prevents leachate
ii. Methane collection
5. 22-5: How to deal with hazardous waste?
a. Integrated management
i. 1/3 of industrial haz waste is sold in clearinghouses for reuse
ii. Not for dealing with the postconsumer haz wast, will cause mor
problems
b. Recycling E waste
i. 70% of worlds e waste goes to china
ii. It is dangerous for the workers who have to be in the removal
area
iii. Then the waste from removal is burned or water pollution
iv. HP and Dell take back their products, but only 18% of e waste

v.
c. Detox
i.
ii.

iii.

iv.

was recycled
1. 80% of that -> overseas
Too expensive to use high tech recycling for ewaste,
haz wastes
Physical methods
1. Charcoal or resins to filter
2. Natural processes
Chemical methods
1. Use cyclodxtrin to remove chemical from soil and water
2. Use chemicals reactions to create less harmful
3. Nanomagnets coated to target specific
Biological
1. Phytoremediation
a. Plants filter pollution from soil and water
b. Bioremediation ; bacteria destroy or convert haz
Inincerate them
1. Creates haz ash that must be permanently stored in

specialized vault
v. Plasma arc torch
1. Decompose the haz into H2 and CO
2. Creates a glassy like substance
d. We can store some forms of haz waste
i. Deep well storage system
1. Most used in the US, 64% of liquid haz
2. Can get into the water
ii. Surface inpoundments
1. Needs at least two good liners
2. Can evap harmful chems into the air
3. 70% of storage ponds in US threaten groundwater
4. Overflow
iii. Secure hazardous waste landfill

1. Least used due to cost

2. Metal barrels underground, can be inspected and
retrieved
e. Hazardous waste regulation in the US
i. RCRA
1. 5% of the waste
2. Issues permits that will let co. produce haz waste then
dispose of it
3. Must track cradle to grave
4. Only with approved methods
5. Resource conservation and recovery act
ii. CERCLA
1. Comprehensive environ.tal response, compensation, and
liability act
2. Superfund
3. Forces those responsible for pollution of a site to pay for
its cleanup
4. But in 1995 the legislation did not renew the part where
the oil and chem co.s payed for cleanup, taxpayers do
6. 21 6 : Transition to a low Waste Society
a. Grassroots action -> better solid and haz waste cleanup
i. People call for Not in my backyard/anyones backyard/planet

b.
c.

d.

e.

earth
ii. Co.s say that they must put it somwehre
iii. People say just reduce the amount
Environmental Justice
i. Everyone must be protected from pollution
International treaties Reduced Haz Waste
i. Basel Convention banned shipment of hazardous waste
1. US did not sign
ii. POPs banned
We can make the transition to low waste
i. Cut waste by 70-85%
ii. Everything is connected
iii. No away
iv. Polluters and producers should pay
v. Mimin nature by recycling and reusing
Industrial Ecosystems: copying nature
i. Biomimincry
ii. Recycle or reuse : resource exchange
iii. Ecoindustrial park
1. Exchange waste outputs
iv. Ecoindustral revolution
v.