Waste Notes

BHS Environmental Science

Mr. Walker

Central Case: Transforming New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill

• The largest landfill in the world, it closed in 2001
• Staten Island residents viewed the landfill as an eyesore and civic blemish
• It was briefly reopened to bury rubble from the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001, attack
• New York plans to transform the landfill into a world-class public park

Core Case Study: �Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical sealed multiple chemical wastes into steel drums and dumped them into an old canal excavation (Love Canal).
• In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to Niagara Falls school board for $1.
• The company inserted a disclaimer denying liability for the wastes.

Core Case Study: �Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not to disturb the site because of the toxic waste.
• In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields and homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering the wastes.
• In 1976, residents complained of chemical smells and chemical burns from the site.

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Core Case Study: �Love Canal — There Is No “Away”

• President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a federal disaster area.
• The area was abandoned in 1980 (left).
• It still is a controversy as to how much the chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease to the residents.
• Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund law, which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste dumps.

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Figure 22-1

Waste

What is your definition of waste?

Waste

• Any discarded material for which no further sale or use is intended
• examples: residue, chemical by-products, unused virgin material, spill absorbent material

Trash Bin:

• Each year, Americans generate more than 10 billion tons of solid waste.
• Solid waste: Any discarded material that is not a liquid or gas. It includes everything from junk mail and coffee grounds etc.
• Many products today are designed to be used once and discarded. The amount of waste each American produces has doubled since the 1960’s.
• There are two basic kinds of wastes: biodegradable materials and those made of nonbiodegradable materials.
• Biodegradable material: A material that can be broken down by living things into simpler chemicals that can be consumed by living things.
• Examples of biodegradable products include newspapers, paper bags, cotton fibers, and leather.
• Many products made from compounds that do not exist in nature. Some examples of synthetic materials are polyester, nylon, and plastic.
• Plastics are non-biodegradeable and made from petrochemicals (oil). When we throw away plastics, they may last for hundreds of years.

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Where is goes

• 70% of the solid waste produced in the US comes from manufacturing and mining. 6% is hazardous waste
• Hazardous waste: Contains dangerous chemicals and must be specially treated so that it will not contaminate the air, water, or soil.
• 2% is Municipal Solid Waste: The trash produced by households and businesses.
• 25% of our trash is recycled.

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Materials Discarded in a Municipal Landfill

• Paper and paperboard 41.0%
• Yard waste 17.9%
• Glass 8.2%
• Metal 8.7%
• Rubber, leather, textiles 8.1%
• Food waste 7.9%
• Plastic 6.5%
• Miscellaneous inorganic 1.6%

Landfills

• More than 50% of our waste ends up in landfills
• -Landfill: A waste disposal facility where wastes are put in the ground and covered each day with a layer of dirt, plastic or both.
• One problem with landfills is leachate.
• -Leachate: Water that contains toxic chemicals dissolved from wastes in a landfill.
• Another problem with landfills is methane. As organic waste decomposes deep in the landfill, where there is no oxygen, it produces methane. The methane may seep through the ground into basements of homes up to 1000ft of a landfill.
• Incinerators can reduce the amount of solid waste by burning it. It contributes to air pollution

Landfill Design

• The main waste contaminant features are
• Underlying soils
• Depth to groundwater
• Landfill liner (triple liner)
• A liner acts like a giant garbage bag
• Clay liner
• Synthetic liner
• Additional liner
• Leachate collection system
• Leachate prevention through infiltration and drainage control
• Cover soil and final landfill cap

Liner Construction

Landfill Construction

Landfills can produce gas for energy

• Bacteria can decompose waste in an oxygen-deficient environment
• Landfill gas = a mix of gases that consists of roughly half methane
• Can be collected, processed, and used like natural gas
• When not used commercially, landfill gas is burned off in flares to reduce odors and greenhouse emissions

Electronic Waste: A Growing Problem

• E-waste consists of toxic and hazardous waste such as PVC, lead, mercury, and cadmium.
• The U.S. produces almost half of the world's e-waste but only recycles about 10% of it.

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Figure 22-4

Burying Solid Waste

• Most of the world’s MSW is buried in landfills that eventually are expected to leak toxic liquids into the soil and underlying aquifers.
• Open dumps: are fields or holes in the ground where garbage is deposited and sometimes covered with soil. Mostly used in developing countries.
• Sanitary landfills: solid wastes are spread out in thin layers, compacted and covered daily with a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam.

Hazardous Waste:

• Hazardous waste: Wastes that are toxic or highly corrosive or that explode easily. Hazardous wastes may be solids, liquids, or gases.
• Because the safe disposal of hazardous wastes is expensive, companies that produce hazardous wastes may be tempted to illegally dump them to save money.
• Disposal Methods:
• Produce less
• Reuse where possible
• Convert to Nonhazardous substances
• Incineration
• Land disposal:
• Deep-well injection-Wastes are pumped deep into the ground where they are absorbed into a dry layer of rock below the level of groundwater.
• Surface impoundment-The containment of waste materials in a pond with a sealed bottom. The waste settles to the bottom of the pond and the water evaporates and leaves room to add more wastes. The wastes are then concentrated and put in drums then buried in landfills designed for hazardous wastes.

Hazardous wastes at home

• Our homes have numerous hazardous wastes such as:
• House paint
• Pesticides
• Batteries
• Motor oil
• Most cities have cites to collect hazardous wastes

Case Study: Lead

• Lead is especially harmful to children and is still used in leaded gasoline and household paints in about 100 countries.

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Figure 22-24

Case Study: Mercury

• Mercury is released into the environment mostly by burning coal and incinerating wastes and can build to high levels in some types of fish.

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Figure 22-26