64: Waste Disposal

Question 1

What are the 4 ways to dispose solid waste?

Answer 1

1. dumping it
2. burying it
3. burning it
4. composting it

Question 2

What is composting?

Answer 2

turning organic waste into mulch or humus

Question 3

Where are open dumps common?

Answer 3

in less developed countries

Question 4

Are open dumps banned in more developed countries?

Answer 4

yes, but there is still lots of illegal dumping

Question 5

What occurs in open dumps in less developed countries?

Answer 5

they are full of rodents and people that go through the garbage trying to find something valuable to resell

Question 6

What do people do illegally in more developed countries?

Answer 6

200 million liters of wasted motor oil poured into sewers or dumped on ground every year

Question 7

What is happening to the ocean?

Answer 7

ocean dumping

Question 8

What is ocean dumping?

Answer 8

when people go to the middle of the ocean and dump their garbage there
- ocean is a giant dump for chemical weapons

Question 9

What is happening to the chemical weapons that have been dumped in the ocean?

Answer 9

old weapons are starting to corrode, toxic chemicals and gases will escape

Question 10

How much waste do sanitary landfills receive?

Answer 10

57% of waste

Question 11

What do sanitary landfills contain?

Answer 11

clay and plastic at bottom to prevent leaching
- makes them impermeable to water
- protects groundwater

Question 12

What is leaching?

Answer 12

water infiltrating and bringing down bad things with it

Question 13

What is done to waste in sanitary landfills?

Answer 13

waste is covered everyday with soil (fewer rats, less odor, less fires)

Question 14

What needs to be done before building a sanitary landfill?

Answer 14

geological studies should be done to make sure the site is not permeable or unstable

Question 15

What happens to tipping fees?

Answer 15

they go up with the land cost

Question 16

What are the components of a sanitary landfill?

Answer 16

1. aquifer: area underground where there is water, many people depend on this for drinking
2. plastic liner: makes landfill impermeable
3. soil: dumped on top of solid waste, produces methane due to decomposition
4. methane gas recovery well: methane is collected, otherwise it could explode
5. groundwater monitoring well: samples of aquifer water are taken to check if leaching has occurred
6. leachate treatment system: leachate is collected and processed here

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of sanitary landfills?

Answer 17

1. releases greenhouse gases
2. methane causes danger of explosion (could be used for energy)
3. surface water + groundwater contamination due to leacheate (garbage juice)
4. biodegradable and photodegradable plastics not degraded in landfills
5. discourages waste reduction and recycling

Question 18

What is an advantage of a sanitary landfill?

Answer 18

once a landfill is filled, it can be used for something else
ex: Fresh Kills Park

Question 19

What is Fresh Kills Park?

Answer 19

it was once fresh kills landfill (largest in the world) and it closed, New York transformed it into a park for recreation and a wetland that absorbs water (green park that generates oxygen)

Question 20

What is incineration?

Answer 20

burning up the waste

Question 21

What are the benefits of incineration?

Answer 21

1. reduces waste volume up to 90% (less need for land)
2. produce heat (energy). 1100 waste-to-energy incinerators in the world. They produce less CO2 emissions than oil
   - as we burn the waste, that waste becomes fuel to generate heat to vaporize water that moves a turbine to create electricity

Question 22

What are the problems with incineration?

Answer 22

1. it generates air pollution: CO2, particles, heavy metals
2. it produces ash that needs to be buried, the ash may contain toxins like dioxins and lead
3. there should be enough garbage to fulfill contracts
4. expensive to build
5. waste to energy incinerators are not functional unless they have a high amount of waste to burn (encourage production of waste)