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Solid and Hazardous Waste Flashcards

1
Q

year that the EPA was formed

A

1972

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2
Q

year that RCRA passed

A

1976

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3
Q

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

A
  • forbade open dumping
  • introduced the sanitary landfill
  • removal of solid waste is the responsibility of the government
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4
Q

Subtitle C waste

A

hazardous waste

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5
Q

Subtitle D waste

A
  • non-hazardous waste
  • MSW
  • municipal sludge
  • industrial non-hazardous wastes
  • sometime construction and demolition waste
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6
Q

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

A

paper, paperboard, yard trimmings, food wastes, plastics, glass, metal, and wood wastes

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7
Q

sources of MSW

A

residential, institutional (schools, hospitals, prisons), commercial (restaurants, office buildings, stores), industrial packaging and administrative wastes

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8
Q

top landfill materials

A

paper, food, yard trimmings, plastics

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9
Q

top recycled materials

A

paper, cardboard, confidential documents

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10
Q

MSW vehicles

A

government owned or contractors, compacting

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11
Q

transfer station

A
  • MSW is concentrated before taken to a processing facility or a landfill
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12
Q

bottom layer of a Subtitle D landfill

A
  • 2 feet of compacted clay OR
  • bentonite clay (expands with water contact and becomes water proof)
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13
Q

landfill closure

A
  • caps or covers
  • meant to be impermeable
  • cannot build on top of it
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14
Q

methane release from closed landfills

A
  • generated by anaerobic microbe growth
  • venting required, relieves downward pressure
  • can be collected and used to add power to the grid
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15
Q

waste reduction

A

reducing the amount of wastes prior to entering the waste stream

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16
Q

waste reduction activities

A
  • package or product redesign that reduces material or toxicity
  • reducing use by modifying practices
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17
Q

landfill source reduction - recycling stream

A
  • conserve resources by reducing the need for virgin and nonrenewable materials
  • reduce the amount of pollution by using secondary materials that require less energy to process
  • save energy by using recycled materials, less is required for processing
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18
Q

Materials recycling facilities (MRF’s)

A

prepare recyclables for marketing

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19
Q

how much plastic packaging recycling is closed-loop

A

2%

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20
Q

composting

A

the process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms into a humus-like material

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21
Q

what does composted material do?

A

conditioning soil by improving soil porosity and aeration, and increasing water retention

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22
Q

uses for compost

A

wetlands mitigation, land reclamation, storm filtrates, soil amendments, mulches, and low-grade fertilizers

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23
Q

incineration

A

past combustion without harnessing the heat produced

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24
Q

waste-to-energy (WTE)

A

combustion of waste with the production of energy

25
Q

hazardous wastes

A

discarded solids or liquids with substances that are fatal in low concentrations, toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic

26
Q

characteristic waste

A

corrosive, explosive, reactive, and flammable materials

27
Q

how much toxic waste produced by US industry in a year

A

400 million tons

28
Q

largest industry sources of toxic waste

A

chemical and petroleum industries

29
Q

cradle-to-grave system

A

wastes are tracked to the point of disposal

30
Q

Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA)

A
  • focused on protecting groundwater
  • 1984
31
Q

3 major options for managing hazardous wastes

A
  • reducing the production of waste by reducing the amount generated or recycling/reusing the hazardous material after its generation
  • reducing the volume and/or hazard of the waste
  • long-term storage or disposal
32
Q

waste treatment to reduce toxicity, mobility, or volume

A

biologic, chemical, physical, stabilization/solidification, thermal

33
Q

long-term storage and disposal

A

landfills, surface impoundments, underground injection

34
Q

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund)

A

authorized the federal gov to spend $1.6 billion over a five year period for emergency clean-up activities

35
Q

potentially responsible parties (PRPs)

A

people/businesses responsible for hazardous waste contamination

36
Q

retroactive liability

A

parties may be held liable for acts that happened before Superfund’s enactment in 1980

37
Q

Joint and several liability

A

any one PRP may be held liable for the entire cleanup of the site (when the harm caused by multiple parties cannot be separated)

38
Q

Hazard ranking system (HRS)

A

based on the estimated hazard potential of the hazardous waste site, gives a numerical value

39
Q

National Priorities List (NPL)

A

sites with the highest scores from the hazard ranking system

40
Q

factors used in the Hazard Ranking System

A

waste characteristics, distance to the local population, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water supplies

41
Q

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

A
  • 1986
  • increased funding and provided new and stricter standards
42
Q

Title III of SARA

A
  • Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
  • established requirements for federal, states, and local governments, tribes, and industry regarding emergency planning and community right-to-know reposrting on hazardous and toxic chemicals
43
Q

how many sites on the NPL

44
Q

current superfund sites

A

more than 33,000

45
Q

paper landfill %

46
Q

yard trimmings landfill %

47
Q

plastics landfill %

48
Q

metals landfill %

49
Q

glass landfill %

50
Q

food landfill %

51
Q

paper recycling %

52
Q

metal recycling %

53
Q

plastic/glass recycling %

54
Q

MSW landfill %

55
Q

MSW recycling %

56
Q

MSW composting %

57
Q

MSW combustion with energy recovery %

Anthropology (2 decks)

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