Test 4

Question 1

Municipal Waste

Answer 1

Combination of household and commercial waste
Has increased over time

Question 2

What trends can we see with waste in the US?

Answer 2

Mainly comes from food, paper, and cardboard
Mainly disposed of in landfills (50%), unlike other countries who mainly incinerate and recycle

Question 3

What trends can we see with waste worldwide between countries of different incomes?

Answer 3

High income: produces more waste and more paper
Low/middle income: produces mostly organic waste

Question 4

What is the Waste Management Hierarchy?

Answer 4

A way of determining the most preferred ways to deal with waste (reduce, reuse, recycle, compost) and the lesser/least preferred ways (energy recovery from incineration, treatment + disposal)

Question 5

Landfills

Answer 5

Priority is to keep things contained by compacting the trash and covering it with dirt to discourage smells, pests, wind-blown litter, etc.

Question 6

Incinerators

Answer 6

Burning waste to minimize the space it takes up in landfills
Energy in the form of heat and steam can be harnessed

Question 7

Recycling

Answer 7

Reprocessing discarded material into new, useful products to prevent it from ending up in a landfill
Better for the environment

Question 8

What are some ways of incentivizing recycling?

Answer 8

Single stream: not separating paper, metal, plastic, glass, etc. to make it more convenient for the consumer
Can/bottle returns

Question 9

What are some of the problems we see with plastic recycling?

Answer 9

Different kinds need to be separated because they won’t melt together
Downcycling (recycled plastic generally can’t be recycled again)
Undesirable for companies: making new plastic is cheaper + recycled plastic is less durable

Question 10

What percent of plastic waste in the US is recycled?

Answer 10

5%

Question 11

Wish-Cycling

Answer 11

Throwing things in the recycle (even if you don’t know if they can be recycled) and hoping for the best

Question 12

E-Waste

Answer 12

Waste from electronics like computers, phones, TVs, and batteries
Contains a lot of toxic materials such as mercury and lead, which can contaminate soil and groundwater if left in landfills

Question 13

What did the US previously do with its e-waste and plastics? What’s happening to it now?

Answer 13

Shipped it to China
China banned trash imports including e-waste and plastics
Now this trash burden falls onto other nations such as India and Thailand

Question 14

Composting

Answer 14

Type of recycling that converts organic waste to soil-enriching organic fertilizer

Question 15

Anaerobic Digesters

Answer 15

Captures methane being released by livestock manure, sewage, and other organic waste and producing energy from it

Question 16

What are the benefits of anaerobic digesters?

Answer 16

Reduces food waste in landfills + methane that ends up in the atmosphere
Economically beneficial to farmers, grocery stores, and energy consumers

Question 17

Hazardous Waste

Answer 17

Any discarded material (liquid or solid) that contains substances known to be fatal, toxic, carcinogenic, ignitable/explosive, corrosive, or highly reactive

Question 18

Love Canal

Answer 18

Area that used to be an industrial waste dump for an electrical company and was later turned into a suburb
People started getting sick
They discovered that the company had been dumping hazardous waste that contaminated the soil and groundwater

Question 19

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Answer 19

Requires industries using hazardous chemicals to track them from “cradle to grave”
Makes them responsible for the chemicals they’re using and how they dispose of them

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Tracks/identifies abandoned hazardous waste dumps
Comes up with plans to clean them
Compensates people for cleaning them + holds companies liable for it
EPA has access to a “superfund” to help pay for these cleanups

Question 21

Phytoremediation

Answer 21

Type of bioremediation that uses plants to clean up toxic waste
Exs:
- Sunflowers near Chernobyl
- Bracken fern to absorb aresenic
- Genetically modified poplars (trees) that extract mercury from the soil and convert it to a less toxic form

Question 22

What percentage of the world lives in cities?

Answer 22

56% = about 4.4 billion people
Prediction that this number with continue to grow to about 2/3

Question 23

What is a city?

Answer 23

An urban area with more than 2,500 residents
Areas that deal with commerce, manufacturing, government, the exchange of ideas, etc.

Question 24

What causes urban growth?

Answer 24

Natural population increases due to better sanitation, healthcare, etc.
Increased migration to cities due to both push and pull factors

Question 25

What are some push factors that encourage people to move out of rural areas?

Answer 25

Climate change and mechanization affecting agricultural production
Fewer jobs
Social and political conflict (persecution and forced displacement)
Less affordable housing

Question 26

What are some pull factors that encourage people to move to cities?

Answer 26

More cultural activities and entertainment
Public transportation = no car to pay for
More job opportunities
More social services
Better access to food, healthcare, and affordable housing

Question 27

What are some problems with cities and rapid urban growth?

Answer 27

Air pollution
Inadequate wastewater treatment
Water shortages
Rising sea levels + more severe storms + sinking grounds = problems for coastal cities
Informal settlements (aka slums) have decreased access to food, electricity, healthcare, etc.

Question 28

Urban Sprawl

Answer 28

The outward extension of a city’s boundaries, causing lower population density
Migration to suburbia to avoid the negative effects of urban growth

Question 29

What are some problems associated with urban sprawl?

Answer 29

Taking open space away from recreation and agriculture
Cars are required to move around = pollution + traffic congestion
Decay in central cities

Question 30

Smart Growth

Answer 30

Strategies for well-planned developments that make efficient and effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure
Offers the benefits of walking, social contact, natural surroundings, physical exercise, and mental respite

Question 31

What are some examples of smart growth strategies?

Answer 31

Mixed-use areas
More greenery/green areas for recreation, exercise, water conservation, air quality, natural beauty, open space, farmland, etc.
Centralized areas for shopping and entertainment that are close to residential communities
Walkable neighborhoods
More public transportation

Question 32

Conservation Development
(AKA Cluster Development or Open-space Zoning)

Answer 32

Developers preserve at least half of an area as natural, open space
Can be achieved by clustering houses closer together (giving people smaller yards) to preserve larger pieces of land
Can also add trails and encourage community development