Exam 1 Solid Waste Flashcards
Solid Waste Disposal Act (SDWA)
- Federal Regulation
- 1965
- Established research programs, investigations, case studies, training, demonstration, and surveys to address SW issues.
- Set minimum safety requirements for landfills.
- Was deemed insufficient by congress, so RCRA was enacted.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Federal Regulation
- 1976
- Was first to set national goals with a focus on protection of human health and environment, including things like adequate land for the creation of disposal sites and resource conservation overall.
- Set criteria for municipal SW landfills like site specifics.
- Prohibited open dumping of SW
- Subtitle D - put states in charge of non-hazardous waste.
Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA)
- Federal Regulation
- 1984
- Focus on waste minimization, encouraging less harmful/hazardous waste materials.
- Created more stringent standards for SW WM and phased out land disposal.
AB 2439
- State regulation
- 1976
- State law that started to issue permits for SW facilities and held them accountable.
AB 939
- State regulation
- 1989
- Established CA Integrated Waste Management Act, and created WM goals.
Heirarchy:
1. Source reduction
2. Recycling and composting
3. Environmentally safe transformation and land disposal.
Impact:
- 25% waste diversion by 1995
- 50% diversion by 2000
- Defined enforcement roles for Cal-Recycle and State Water Boards at SW facilities, as well as law enforcement roles.
AB 341
- State regulation
- 2011
- Increased goals for waste diversion to 75% by 2025 (we’re closer to 43% rn)
Municipal Solid Waste
- Considered to be non-hazardous waste generated by households, commercial activities, and institutions
- Makes up a relatively small portion of total SW, mining and agriculture contribute the most.
What happens to E waste?
- Our E waste management program is not effective, even though we try.
Most E waste collected for recycling in the US is exported to foreign destinations and even black markets where it is often dealt with under less stringent regulations, and exposes harmful toxins and heavy metals like cadmium to workers, the public, and the environment.
E waste policy and strategy
- International Basel Convention - Banned the transfer of HW from higher income nations into lower income nations.
- EU implements a cradle to grave approach - know where it came from, how it’s used, and how it’s disposed, staying in a contained system so it doesn’t get out into the environment.
Integrated solid waste management
Integrated hierarchical approach to waste management to manage increasing volumes of MSW.
- Pyramid, top down
Reduction
Reuse
Recycling and Composting
Incineration
Landfill/Treatment
Source Reduction
- Most preferred method of integrated solid waste management.
- Decrease packaging, toxicity of materials, make products last longer, paperless bills, etc..
- less material and thus less waste produced from the very beginning.
- requires an active role from consumers and manufacturers.
Reuse
- 2nd preferred ISWM
- Keeps waste from being disposed.
Recycling
The collection and treatment of a waste product for use as raw material in the manufacture of the same or another product.
- creates 5x more jobs than sending ish to a landfill
- labor intensive
- The places we export recycling to have been wanting higher and higher quality, making it harder to get rid of plastic and making more work for the consumer to wash and clean stuff.
Composting
Controlled biological breakdown of organic solid waste under aerobic conditions.
- Can decrease waste volume by 75%
Organic waste, in the presence of soil/microorganisms, water, and air, breaks down organic material into CO2, Heat, and digested finished compost.
- High head from the metabolism of microorganisms can reduce pathogens (131* F for 3 days or 15 for windrows)
- Chemically, creates NPK, but heavy metal content needs to be limited.
- pH needs to be between 6 - 8.
3 Phase for Recycling
- Collecting secondary materials
- Preparing materials for market
- Remanufacturing new products with recycled materials.
3 phases of composting
- Process waste, shred to uniform size
- Choose a compost technology: Windrow, static pile, in vessile.
- Post processing: Cured, Screened, Sold.
Material Recovery Facility (MRF)
- Collection of refuse and recyclables
- Tipping of materials from collection vehicles. Material moved onto conveyor belts into separation systems.
- Processing: sorting and baling.
- Reduces traffic, pollution, road wear
Combustion/Incineration
- decreases volume by 60 -90%
- public doesn’t like it, decreased property values
- Costly setup, size of facility and land cost, labor, training, ppe
- lots of regulatory standards, air emissions must be controlled.
Ash disposal, monofill landfill.
Incineration steps
- inspection station of MSW
- Shredded to small uniform size for efficient combustion.
- magnet pulls ferrous metals for recycling.
- BURN
- Steam system from heat goes to turbine generator.
- Metals recovered.
- Electrostatic precipitator for suspended particles.
- Fly ash.
- Scrubber system in smoke stacks remove chemicals before being released into the air.
Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration advantages
- Generates electricity to power the plant and give electricity to power companies.
- safely captures most toxic contaminants.
- produces sterile ash
- Volume and weight drastically reduced.
Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration disadvantages
- Air pollution
- Ash needs to go to a monofill.
- Cost- twice as expensive as a landfill.
Landfill anatomy
Bottom:
- Compacted clay - prevents movement of leachate into groundwater.
- Plastic liner.
- Leachate collection pipe embedded in washed rock that allows leachate to move into the pipe.
- Textile mat
- Granular drainage layer
- 12 - 18 inch soil layer.
- Cells of each day’s load, each day covered by 6” of compacted soil
