Solid and Hazardous Wastes: What to Do with the Garbage?

Question 1

Problems before on Solid Waste:

what year was it
how much garbage?
where was it banned from?
what time span was it reported?
what
what happened to it after 5 months? where did it go?

Answer 1

“garbage barge”

- 1987
- more than 3000 tons of commercial trash, banned from the local landfill in Islip,New York
 - was reported for 5 months
 - incinerated in New York after going through other places in 5 months

Question 2

greatest portion of Municipal solid waste is from?

Answer 2

Paper

Question 3

Composition of Municipal Solid Waste

Answer 3

1) Paper - 27%
2) Food - 15%
3) Yard Trimmings - 14%
5) Plastics - 13%
6) Metals - 9%
7) Rubber, Leather, and Textiles - 9%
8) Wood - 6%
9) Glass - 5%
10) Other - 3%

Question 4

Waste disposal methods

before:

Answer 4

1) Disposed in open dumps
2) incinerated
3) Poured in bodies of water

Question 5

Drawbacks on disposal methods before?

Answer 5

1) increased volume
2) water contamination
- river dumping
3) air pollution - incineration
4) produced toxic leachates
and vermin

Question 6

what did laws do to improve waste disposal methods

Answer 6

1) Clean Air Act -
illegalization of incineration
2) Clean water act - outlawed river dumping
3) Marine protection, research, and sanctuaries act of 1972
- prohibited ocean dumping
4) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA0
of 1976
– open dumps restriction
- set standards for sanitary landfills, which have replaced dumps as the most common method of municipal waste disposal

Question 7

Sanitary landfills necessities

Answer 7

1) sealed area
2) dry, with impervious clay soil
3) plastic lining is used in the hole
3) Refuse is spread in thin layers, compacted by bulldozer, and covered each day with a thin layer of soil
4) vents and drains for liquids
5) must be covered in 2-foot layer of soil after maximum capacity

Question 8

biggest drawback in sanitary landfills

Answer 8

Needs a lot of space -

Question 9

Tipping fee

Answer 9

availability of landfill space, when there is more then the fee is higher

Question 10

Mist known landfill

it was also called as?
how many tons of garbage was it? from when to when?
it was closed on?
by?
it was then turned into?

Answer 10

Fresh Kills landfill - Staten Island,

• “worlds largest dump”
• started 1948, by 1996 reached 17k tons of garbage
• closed on March 2001, by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
• turned into a park

Question 11

percentage of municipal solid waste is disposed in landfills

Answer 11

53%

Question 12

Alternatives to landfills

how much percentage of municipal waste was done with it?

Answer 12

1) Three R’s - reduce, reuse, recycle
- Reduce - most efficient approach
- reuse - became a
favorable trend
- recycle - “resource recovery”
- 2013, 34% recycled

2) Waste-to-energy 
incineration 
- reduces solid waste and produces heat and energy but still poses risks for
health safety and pollution
- 13% of garbage is 
incinerated

Question 13

what is the most efficient approach on taking care of garbage

Answer 13

reducing

Question 14

Greatest obstacle on

recycling is

Answer 14

lack of market for used glass, metals,

plastic, and paper.

Question 15

Hazardous wastes

Answer 15

• materials that are toxic to humans, plants, or animals; are likely to explode; or are corrosive and thus likely to burn through containers or human skin.

Question 16

Two categories of hazardous waste

Answer 16

1) radioactive waste

2) infectious medical wastes

Question 17

Hazardous waste problems before

Answer 17

1) 1978, Love Canal
2) 1971, Missouri horse arena/ times Beach
3) 2008, wet cool ash spill in Tennessee river

Question 18

Love Canal problem

it was on?
it was a?
it resulted to?
how many chemicals were there?
in the year?
in the year \_\_\_ it was declared as what by Pres. Carter? 
long term effects?

Answer 18

1) 1978
– abandoned industrial dump
- resulted to: bubbling of chemicals after heavy rains, rashes and eye irritation in children
- found 200 different chemicals, including benzene, dioxin, pesticides, and a number of other known carcinogens
and teratogens.
- declared a federal disaster are in1978 by President Carter
- long term effects: low birth weight, preterm birth, congenital malformation of infants, and lung cancer

Question 19

Missouri horse arena problem

it was on?
what happened?
how much dioxin was in?
it caused what?
what caused it?

Answer 19

2) 1971,
- had high level concentration of dioxin (31,000 parts per billion)

• caused chloracne, severe-flu symptoms, death of horses and birds that came in contact with the dirt
• The hauler was mixing this waste oil (from Agent Orange, a herbicide used in the Vietnam War) with used crankcase oil

Question 20

wet coal ash spill in Tennessee river

what happened?
it affected how much area? where?
it poisoned the river with?

Answer 20

3) 2008, wet coal ash spill
- Tennessee River tributary broke, spilling a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee
- polluted the river with arsenic, lead and other toxic and carcinogenic metals

Question 21

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of ___

scope?

Answer 21

a federal legislation first enacted in 1976 to deal with solid waste disposal, included special regulations on handling of wastes that potentially posed a hazard to health and the environment

• “cradle to grave”

Question 22

The The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) elements:

Answer 22

1) Tracking - that paperwork document the progress of hazardous waste from its site of generation through treatment, storage, and disposal
2) Permitting - facilities must have a permit that prescribes standards for management of waste from EPA or the state

Question 23

Comprehensive Environmental response, compensation, and liability Act

also known as?
how much was the budget?
until when?

Answer 23

• “Superfund”
  
  • priority list of waste sites that threatened the public health or environ mental quality, and it authorized $1.6 billion over a 5-year period for emergency cleanup
    of these sites.

Question 24

Drawbacks on Superfund law

Answer 24

1) Cost - the fund was exhausted as the number of places increased, plus it was slow
- to cope, 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated $600 million to facilitate further cleanup of Superfund sites
2) Shortage of clean-up options
- what can be done after the toxic materials are removed from the site

Question 25

Coal Ash

Answer 25

• used for construction landfill, mine reclamation, and “improvement” of soil for agricultural and golf courses