Urban Waste And Other Contemporary Issues Flashcards
State 2 reasons urban waste needs to be managed
-Health issues e.g. cholera. Large killer in LDEs.
-Waste sector accounted for 3% of UK GHG emissions 2021.
Give 2 reasons why waste is growing
-Greater disposable incomes.
-Creation of products designed to be disposed of quickly. Consumerist societies.
Types of waste: Explain if possible
Domestic
Commercial
Animal/veg
Institutional
Ashes
Bulky
Construction/demolition
-Domestic: Household
-Commercial: Offices/businesses
-Animal/veg: Food waste. Putrid if left.
-Institutional: Schools/hospitals (may need special disposal)
-Ashes; Burnt compound.
-Bulky: Large household goods e.g. white goods/furniture.
-Constructin/demolition: Rubble of earth/waste.
Define Municipal Solid Waste.
Explain, if possible:
-Biodegradable
-Recyclable
-Inert
-Electrical
-Hazardous
Domestic waste that varies with location (MSW).
-Bio: Green waste
-Recyclable: Plastic bottles, glass jars, paper
-Inert: Construction/demolition
-Electrical: TVs, light bulbs
-Hazardous: Fertilisers, batteries.
Define waste stream
Flow of waste from its source to to its final disposal or recycling.
Describe an HIC waste stream
What LIC has started to develop Energy From Waste
-Regulated and managed
Landfill, recycle, trade or incinerate.
-Kenya (Nairobi) to be more sustainable.
LIC waste stream
-No waste treating services and waste is dumped. Unregulated.
-Source (lose recycled materials due to misplacement). HICS too.
-Landfill (leachates can contaminate land/water)
-Energy From Waste burning (air pollution locally with carcinogenic substances).
-Risk respiratory or skin health
Singapore Waste Stream Success: Small country large population
Landfill. What is it sealed by to prevent contamination?
-Perimiter sealed by impermeable membrane and clay. Clearly working because mangroves nearby, where the ashes are dumped, are thriving.
What % does incinerating a substance decrease the volume by?
90%.
Why do LICs only account for 5% of global waste (HICs are highest)?
-Less disposable income/products. More resourceful. Might be issue when they develop in future
What is the global waste trade? Who makes most waste? How many million times shipped per day? Describe waste process in LDEs.
-International exchange of refuse for disposal, treatment or recycling.
-Most from HDEs. 50 million tones of electronic waste shipped each day year.
-LDEs have less regulation for health and safety. New Delhi where people deconstruct obsolete computers
Manila. Phillipnes. How much of waste if officially recycled? London? Why might more be recycled in Manila than what data says. What is the large dump called?
10 percent officially recycled.
London is 52%.
4k waste pickers who sell parts to recycling companies. Smokey mountain. Lots of illness for nearby settlers or workers
What is landfill? Give 2 pros and cons. Give 1 that is either a pro or con
-Digging up earth and burying waste. Dumps in LICs but, in HICs, strict controls.
Can be sealed and recreation/vegetation can occur on top eg open golf course in Arizona
Easily managed and relatively cheap
Attracts vermin and flies
Leachates if liners break impacting groundwater
Methane gas (pro if utilised and con).
Give 2 pros and cons of incineration (case study is Bristol)
Energy to be used locally
Some fertile ashes eg Singapore . Saves space (90 percent)
Harmful pollutants (carcinogens) such as PM2.5
Costly to manage particulate emissions and scrub pipes.
Recycling: What? 2 pros and cons
Single stream recycling then separated
Wheelie bin collection is safe and convenient.
Reprocessing of materials (circular economy). Less space for landfill.
Misplacement
Expensive and safe operations
What continent has worst air pollution? Give the worst country and how many x above WHO standard air quality is. Describe Europe
Asia. Bangladesh. 23x above standard.
Europe is most improved region eg Croatia.
Give 4 sources of urban water pollution
-Domestic waste water (grey)
-Rainwater runoff
-Leachates from poorly managed/illegal landfill.
-Industrial effluent
Give 3 issues with water pollution
-Waterborne diseases like cholera
-Mixropollutants on tarmac roads eg heavy metals/oils that last a long time in water and require intensive treatment
-Industrial effluent can be toxic and impact aquatic ecosystems if not treated
Managing water pollution: (Governance link) The European Commission UWWDT. When was it made? Revised? Give 2 standards. Give 2 successes and failures
-1991. Recently revised
-Collect/treat wastewater in areas where pop >2k
-Reuse treated wastewater when appropriate
Success:
>90 percent of urban wastewater dealt with in line with standards
Benefits>financial costs
Failures:
Pollution not addressed in smaller areas
Requires lots of GHG for process. Conflicting objectives.
Non-sewer solution: What is the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation doing?
Janicki Omniprocessor in S African city. Remove pathogens from waste and generating electricity and safe drinking water.
Donated 75millioj for managing water pollution.
Describe UK waste management. How many liters of waste per day? What is combined sewerage/legal spills of sewage?
-11 billion liters per day.
-Surface water collection, combined sewerage (runoff, grey water and sewage) and foul drainage
-Combined sewerage needs to account for local weather fluctuations. Connected to combined sewer overflows to discharge waste in heavy rainfall conditions (legal). Dry spills are where sewage is dumped under normal conditions.
-Grit chambers filter out gravel
-Biosolids can be extracted for fertilizer from settling tanks.
-Chemivaks added to sludge for aeration. Then advance treatment and it’s safe to put into streams.
How many hours of sewage spills in 2023? Who is to blame? Why are dry spills bad?
3.6 million. Water companies/OFWAT criticized. Windermere
Dry spills cause eutrophication (excessive algae growth due to nutrient rich waters. kills off other species).
Labour’s solution to waste water
Automatic and severe fines for wrongdoings of water companies
Define sustainability. What are the 4 pillars.
Satisfying needs and wants of today without sacrificing needs and wants of future generations.
Social (education, healthcare, green spaces and the 15 minute xity that you can easily access hence the name. But some low skilled limited to these local areas.)
Economic - reduced inequalities and thriving businesses with ethical jobs
Environment and green/blue spaces. Policies to help environment.
Physical buildings/ land use
How have the Phillipines aimed to improve environment with waste management?
Raise awareness of recycling in schools and local communities meaning less waste to landfill. Effectiveness?
What are the 4 parts of an ecological/carbon footprint? How much greater are footprints in HICS compared to LICs. How to measure global sustainability
-Food, home, stuff, travel.
10x greater in HICS.
Global sustainability measured by global hectare - average productivity of land and sea area.
Define live ability of a place? Measured 0- what? Who measures? What type of data? Give 3 egs of measures? What city has the highest?
Described natural, physical, social and economic measures of here and now in urban areas. Social cohesion and equity.0-100. Calculated. Quantified QoL. Vienna was 98.4. Intolerable to ideal
Health/wellbeing, education, economic.
Done by expert analysts. Quantitative and qualitative. But doesn’t account for other QoL measures such as racial tolerance and is an average of an area
Give 4 things impacting liveability (external events)
Wars, economic development, natural disasters and political parties
BedZED: Sustainable urban Living.
Where, when. Give 3 features of this area. Evaluate its success
- Suburbs of London. On brownfield site. Largest UK, small urban village.
-ZEDcars are electric cars for the residents with charging points (like Oslo).
-Buildings are well insulated meaning it is warm year round and natural light can enter (proven to make people happier).
-Biomass from wood chips from locally sourced dead trees.
Sense of place and community cohesion
-Is it scalable? Costs incurred were large to start with and it’s only small. Technical issues eg not treating food waste /securing it well meant there were rat infestations. Good locally, socially and good sense of liveabilty.
How are buildings measured for energy sustainability? Are filament bulbs efficient?
Install building codes rated from A+++ downwards based on efficiency.
Filament waste 90% as heat energy. Have others such as LEDs instead
Give some examples of social sustainability
Focusing on local communities. Schools, health, green houses, recreation
Where is Bristol? What L is it trying to improve locally? Give 2 aims of the local council and does data suggest they’re being met?
SW England. Liveability.
Trying to reduce MSW to landfill. Yes.
Increase recycling to 50%. Getting close
Avonmouth EfW/recycling: Give 3 pros of this and 3 cons
-200k tones if MSW annually treated.
-60k tones recycled.
Electricity for homes
BUT
-300mil installment with ongoing costs
-Eyesore/visual pollution
-EfW only contributes minute amount to total energy supply
Green biomethane terminal: Describe process of treating bio waste
Dec____
-Manure/wastes crops given to bacteria that anaerobically respire and produce biomethane as fuel for HGVs. Meets government target. De-carbonizing.
Give 2 other local Bristol initiatives concerning education/ targets. Evaluate them
Educating youth with experts. Will it be effective? Need more time
Set targets for private businesses recycling. Good because public community is quite vocal. Bad because there are no legal sanctions
Define dereliction. Give 2 causes. Why is it bad?
Place becoming abandoned/dilipidated. Deindustrialisation and changing urban activity eg suburbanization.
Environmental issues eg dangerous chemicals left from industry untreated can have harmful long term impacts on human health
Social issues as people break into houses and fear of crime
Out migration due to loss of place
Why might it be difficult to build on Derelict dock land?
Too costly to decontaminate/soil wash.
Neighboring land may be sewage or treatment which isn’t ideal
Give 2 benefits of brownfield redevelopment eg RAD
Reduce urban sprawl and pressure on green belt
Build houses to improve urban environment
Why do most companies try to dispose waste properly?
Avoid sanction and show environmental stewardship for customers
Why is irrigation using urban water bad?
May bio-accumulate pollutants in food impacting pregnant/ young impacting long run growth
Give example of causality with improved drainage systems and disease spread
Improving drainage can reduce standing water and thus potential breeding sites for mosquitoes. This reduces malaria cases.
Basel Convention in 1990s (Governance): What did this aim to do concerning waste trade? Evaluate
Aimed to limit waste transport from HDEs to LDEs particularly hazardous. Signficantly reduced but there has been illegal trafficking in Europe eg UK sending plastics to Malaysia 2016. Uneven
Where did a river turn red in January due to the dumping of chemicals? South American capital
Buenos aires
In Lancashire, what have locals suffered from, February, due to toxic landfill fumes?
Nosebleeds and awful stench
