Trashing the Planet Flashcards
waste can be seen as:
- manifestation of a worldview (that says that waste doesn’t matter, all that matters is the use we get out of the product)
- symptom of affluenza (if we have the wealth, we can afford to dispose and replace products)
- source of pollution (most waste that can’t be recycled has chemicals that prove toxic to env when degraded and react with other chemicals)
- lost opportunity (value in waste since it can be used to profit)
full-cost accounting
considering all the costs and effects in the lifetime of a product, leads to making more informed decisions
pressures that lead to more waste generation
- industry: pressure to buy new products
- tech: some materials produce waste due to being refined, tech can’t restructure it to be reusable
- social: social media, influenced by env and ppl around us
food loss
occurs between production and retail phases due to harvesting, storage, or transportation
food waste
occurs at the consumer level where safely consumable food is consciously discarded
biodegradable waste
typically originates from plant or animal materials which will be degraded by other living organisms over time (ex. food waste, paper)
non-biodegradable waste
composed of materials which are not degradable by natural processes and remain in their primary form for long periods of time (ex. plastics), often slowly leak chemicals into the env that can be toxic and act as pollution
2 major problems that arise out of landfills
- locally unwanted land use: using land as a landfill has implications on those living in proximity
- not in my backyard: protests against disposing wastes in areas close to communities
4 types of waste
- municipal solid: comes from homes, institutions, small businesses
- industrial solid: comes from industry, commerce, institutions, consumer goods and products
- solid/liquid hazardous: toxic, chemically reactive, flammable, corrosive,
- wastewater: comes from households, businesses, industries, polluted runoff from streets and storm drains
principal components of municipal waste
paper, organics, food, glass, plastic, scraps
problems with landfills
- no location is ideal, methane and other pollutants (produced from breakdown of materials), leachate (when the materials break down and leach into groundwater), finite capacity (can be filled up), problem is only delayed not solved
industrial solid waste
comes from ag, manufacturing, mining/oil/gas, waste is generated at all stages of extraction, manufacturing, commercial sales, distribution, and disposal
how economics and regulations affect industrial waste generation:
- waste generated is a metric of efficiency of manufacturing processes
- physical efficiency doesn’t equal economic efficiency
- rising costs of waste disposal
- forcing waste disposal from private to public sites increases accountability and public awareness of the scale of industrial waste generation
how to make industry more sustainable:
- basing it on ecological systems: everything produced is used by some organism (waste produced has a use after being used)
- redesign industrial systems: reduce resource inputs, minimize physical inefficiencies, maximize economic efficiencies
- life-cycle analysis: make industrial processes more ecologically efficient, make products more durable, recyclable, or reusable
- pollution prevention strategies: reduce waste at all downstream points, prevent pollution at the source
industrial ecology
a closed loop where all wastes are recycled back thru the system, circular function, raw material wastes exchange for diff processses,
eco-industrial parks
industries clustering together to efficiently share resources, including waste materials
hazardous waste
discarded chemicals that threaten human health or env by being corrosive, reactive, explosive, and toxic,
household hazardous waste
households are currently the largest source of unregulated hazardous waste (ex. paints, batteries, oils)
organic compounds
readily absorbed by the skin
toxins
bioaccumulate (contamination accumulates and can be passed down) and biomagnify (contamination is passed thru trophic levels)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world, located in the central North Pacific Ocean, currents and countercurrents lead waste to coagulate in a circular fashion in the middle of oceans
why marine debris is extremely harmful to marine life:
- plastic bags, plastic resin pellets are consumed and lead to starvation/death, marine mammals get entangled in fishing nets
electronic waste
- growth of electronic device sales outpaces the growth of electronic device adoption (individuals own multiple devices)
- components contain metals and (in)organic toxins
- many contain rare earth metals (that have low concentrations in the lithosphere and have low yields)
- frequently disposed of in landfills, when it should be treated as hazardous waste
- tremendously underused opportunity for recycling and reusing
2 major ways to reduce waste
- source reduction: using less to make less, prioritizing needs over wants
- design efficiency: dematerializing production of goods, reduction of quantities of materials needed to produce goods
waste management evolution
- companies are encouraged to evolve by designing products for reuse and recyclability and reducing product materials
- correct market signals to the consumer
- incorporate waste management costs
- promoting innovation
zero waste approach
- education about front-end reduction
- eliminating reuse before it’s made
- maximize recycling to minimize waste
- reduce consumption
- enduring goods
- redesign industrial production
- manufacture things that are able to return to nature
concerns with recycling
- generates pollution
- separation may be difficult
- still encourages consumption
- market fluctuations
- low awareness
suggestions on how to manage waste
- use reusable bags
- eliminate junk mail
- use reusable containers
- buy in bulk
- less fast food
- durable products
- rechargeable batteries
- avoid online shopping
- research
