Chapter 16

Waste Disposal

Photo from Sandia National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy

Solid Wastes

Major source of solid waste in U.S. are:

Agriculture (crops and animals): more than 50% Mineral industry (spoils, tailings, slag, and other rock and mineral wastes) Municipalities (small amount of municipal waste) Industry (highly toxic)

Municipal Waste Disposal

Open Dumps unsightly, unsanitary, and smelly Sanitary Landfills alternate layers of compacted trash and a covering material

In U.S. open dumps no longer tolerated Landfill design is important Barriers need to lock in toxins and chemicals; must reduce leakage into the environment Important to control the migration of leachate out of the landfill

Sites for sanitary landfills often controversial

NIMBY, NIMFY, NIMEY, and NOPE laws apply

Sanitary landfills

Landfill and Leachate

bathtub effect

Remaining landfill capacity

Incineration

Partial solution to space problems faced by landfills Burning waste produces abundant carbon dioxide plus other toxic substances Recent technology have improved incinerators to burn hotter that breakdown complex toxic substances to less dangerous ones Expensive to operate and still produce a residual waste; often toxic and require proper storage The considerable heat generated by an incinerator can be recovered and used

Proportions of municipal waste

Waste-to-energy incineration facility

Ocean Dumping

Ship board incineration, over the open ocean, and dumping residual waste into the ocean
Similar to land-based incineration but at sea Incineration not 100% effective, residual toxic materials and chemicals dumped into the ocean will still pollute the ocean

Ocean dumping without incineration still popular in many places around the world
Very disastrous to local oceans where practiced

A dumping site for one very high-volume waste product: dredge spoils

Dumping sediments with pollutants

Reduce Waste Volume

Less volume means less landfill space and slower filling of available sites Handling (Nontoxic) Organic Matter
Treated nontoxic organic waste can be fed to swine or composted

Recycling any reuse of waste reduces volume at landfills

Recover recyclable waste by source separation; separate waste into useful categories (wood, paper, plastics, various metals, ) at the users site Deposits on reusable material (glass, cans, containers, ) often attractive incentive Many applications to this idea yet unexplored

Solid wastes and paper recycle

Recycling Symbols

Recycling

Reduce Waste Volume

Another options
Recycle crushed pavement as new roadbed material Recycle steel into other useful objects Re-use bricks as footpaths Innovation has no limit here

Municipal waste disposal

Main generators of hazardous wastes

Liquid-Waste Disposal
Sewage and by-products of industrial processes Strategies:

Dilute and disperse Concentrate and contain

Neither strategy is safe in long term Secure Landfills is it possible?

Placing liquid-waste into sealed drums, and covering with impermeable lining material; idea is to assure that the leachate will not migrate

Deep wells inject deep into the crust

Leachate not contained May act to lubricate faults Expensive and unsafe

Careless toxic-waste disposal leads to pollution

A secure landfill design for toxic-waste disposal

Deep-well disposal for liquid wastes

Other Strategies
Incineration produces carbon dioxide Treatment by chemicals to breakdown or neutralized liquid waste is a possibility

Generate a less toxic liquid or residue Would still require proper storage

Sewage Treatment

Septic Systems: individual user-level treatment

Settling tank: solids separated and bacterial breakdown begins Leach field or absorption field: liquid with remaining dissolved organic matter seeps out of porous pipes Soil microorganisms and oxygen complete the breakdown of the organic matter Soil permeability and field size are controlling factors

Septic tank system

Sewage Treatment

Municipal Sewage Treatment

Primary treatment: removal of solids from organic liquid waste Secondary treatment: bacteria and fungi act to dissolve and breakdown the organic matter Tertiary or advanced treatment: filtration, chlorination, and other chemical treatment may occur

Primary, secondary, and tertiary stages of municipal treatment

Ghosts of Toxins Past:

Superfund
Disposal of identifiable toxic wastes in U.S. is currently controlled Congress has mandated and provided billions of dollars to control and clean-up toxic spills from the past

Expensive Political dynamite

The first 951 toxic-waste dump sites

Completed removals of Superfund, 1980-1990

Radioactive Wastes

Radioactive Decay unstable nuclei decay and produce energy Radioisotopes each have their own rate of decay measured in a half-life Half-lives of different radioisotopes vary from microseconds to billions of years The decay of a radioisotope can not be accelerated or delayed Energetic radioisotopes must be contained out of the environment for ever

Effects of Radiation
Alpha, beta, and gamma rays are types of ionized radiation given off by the decay of various radioisotopes Cancer, tumors, tissue burns, and genetic mutation can result due to exposure of high doses of radiation Large doses result in death Accidents have occurred:

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island

Nature of Radioactive Wastes

Radioisotopes with half-lives of a few years to hundreds of years present the most risk
Radioactive enough to cause harm Persistent in the environment long enough to require management Some are toxic chemical poisons

Levels of radioactive waste:

Low-level: do not require extraordinary disposal precautions High-level: require extraordinary precautions; must be isolated from the biosphere with confidence for a long time

Historical Suggestions for Storage

Space Antarctic Ice Plate Tectonic Subduction Zones Seabed Disposal Bedrock Caverns for Liquid Waste Bedrock Disposal of Solid High-Level Wastes

Multiple barrier concept

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

Southeast New Mexico site for storage of transuranic wastes

Opened March 26, 1999

WIPP is located in bedded salt underlain by evaporites and overlain by mudstone

Located 2150 feet below the surface in a dry and stable tectonic region Tectonic stable for over 200 million years

Yucca Mountain
Established by Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 establish a high-level disposal site in the west Yucca Mountain Attractive Characteristics:

Rhyolitic tuff host rock Arid climate Low population density (but Las Vegas is 60 miles to the southeast) Low regional water table Apparent geologic stability

Geological studies were detailed and revealing