Urban waste Flashcards
Give two reasons to why there is an increase in urban waste:
- Population increase
- Development
How does an increasing population case an increase in waste?
- Increase in consumption = increase in waste (e.g. food waste, packaging waste)
Give four impacts of waste:
- Pollution (e.g. water pollution, air pollution)
- Takes up limited space
- Waste management is expensive = strain on LICs
- Health issues (e.g. cholera, breathing issues)
What is waste recycling?
Where waste is sorted by material and used to create a new product.
What is waste recovery?
- Recycling materials
- Using waste for other projects (e.g. compost, turned into energy)
Define incineration in waste management:
The burning of waste
Give three positives of using incineration to manage waste:
- Effective at managing waste
- Can be used to generate energy (energy recovery)
- Saves landfill space
Give two negatives of using incineration to manage waste:
- Energy recovery creates harmful emissions
- Creates air pollution
What is waste submergence?
When waste is buried underwater
Define waste trade:
When waste is transported between countries due to being traded.
Give 2 positives of waste trade:
- LICs can benefit from buying in recyclable materials as it is cheaper than buying raw materials
- Save landfill space
Give 2 negatives of waste trade:
- LICs cannot deal with traded in hazardous waste safely
- Encourages countries not to reduce or reuse their own waste
What are the three main sources of waste in urban areas?
- Industrial waste
- Commercial waste
- Personal waste
What is a waste stream?
The flow of waste from its origin through to its eventual disposal.
What are the 7 ways to manage urban waste?
- Unregulated
- Recycling
- Incineration
- Recovery
- Landfill
- Submergence
- Trade
What is unregulated waste disposal?
- When waste is dumped in places that aren’t official disposal sites
- It can damage ecosystems e.g. if it gets into a watercourse or if animals consume waste.
What is recycling waste disposal?
- When waste is reprocessed into new products
- Reduces demand for new materials, decreasing the environmental impacts of resource extraction
- Uses less energy than making products from scratch
- However, recycling requires separate collection and the construction of new facilities to process waste, producing greenhouse gases.
What is incineration waste disposal?
- When waste is burnt.
- Recues amount of waste going itno landfill
- Burnt waste can be used to generate electricity (waste recovery).
- Reduces use of fossil fuels
- However, burning emits greenhouse gases.
- Burning some waste can release toxic chemicals into the air or water.
What is recovery waste disposal?
- Waste is used instead of new products.
- Reduced amount of waste being sent to landfill and means that fewer natural resources are used.
What is landfill waste disposal?
- Waste is put into landfill sites
- Many sites are lined to prevent contamination of the ground.
-Unregulated sites can cause hazardous chemicals to contaminate groundwater, while decomposing gases cause air pollution.
What is submergence waste disposal?
- Illegal disposal of waste by dumping it into oceans.
- Submerged waste can release toxic or radioactive substances, damaging ocean ecosystems
What is trade waste disposal?
- Waste being bought and sold by countries.
- Developing countries may not dispose of hazardous waste correctly and damage local environments.
