Waste Part 1

Question 1

What is solid waste?

Answer 1

Discarded material, sludge, liquid, gas

Question 2

What are the 2 biggest producers of solid waste?

Answer 2

Mining and agriculture

Question 3

What are the top 7 sources of waste?

Answer 3

1) paper
2) yard waste
3) metals
4) plastic
5) glass
6) food
7) other

Question 4

The US generates __% of the world’s waste

Answer 4

33

Question 5

What are 4 ways to reduce or condense waste?

Answer 5

1) landfills
2) incinerators
3) compost
4) recycling

Question 6

What are the 2 types of landfills?

Answer 6

Open pit and sanitary

Question 7

What is an open pit landfill, and where are they?

Answer 7

Waste is dumped in a hole in the ground. It’s messy, leaky, and primarily in LDCs

Question 8

What are the 5 parts of a sanitary landfill?

Answer 8

1) daily cover
2) refuse cell
3) leachate collection
4) clay barrier
5) plastic liner

Question 9

Sanitary landfills receive __% of US solid waste

Answer 9

70

Question 10

What does SVE stand for?

Answer 10

Soil vapor extraction

Question 11

What does an SVE do?

Answer 11

Collects CH4 from anaerobic decomposition and can be burned as fuel

Question 12

What does WTE stand for?

Answer 12

Waste to energy

Question 13

Incineration reduces waste by __%

Answer 13

85

Question 14

What lead to an interest in incinerators?

Answer 14

The oil crisis in the 1970s

Question 15

What are the 2 types of incineration?

Answer 15

Refuse-derived fuel and mass burn

Question 16

What is refuse-derived fuel incineration?

Answer 16

Recyclables are removed (burns well, high energy)

Question 17

What is mass burn incineration?

Answer 17

Everything is burned (cheap but pollutive)

Question 18

__% of waste is burned

Answer 18

13

Question 19

What are the pros of incineration?

Answer 19

Provides energy, reduces volume, cheap

Question 20

What are the cons of incineration?

Answer 20

Pollution, refuse-derived is expensive, waste ash is toxic

Question 21

Recycling aluminum cuts energy cost by __%

Answer 21

95

Question 22

Recycling plastics cuts energy cost by __%

Answer 22

70

Question 23

Recycling paper cuts energy cost by __%

Answer 23

40

Question 24

What is primary or closed loop recycling?

Answer 24

Waste is recycled into same material (old pop cans become new pop cans)

Question 25

Aluminum cans are __% post consumer

Answer 25

40%

Question 26

What is downcycling?

Answer 26

Recycling a material into a less valuable material (white paper becomes cardboard)

Question 27

What 3 things does the recycling symbol represent?

Answer 27

Collect, remanufacture, purchase

Question 28

Which 2 countries recycle the most?

Answer 28

Japan and Denmark

Question 29

What are the pros of recycling?

Answer 29

Makes waste a resource, reduces: landfills, carbon emissions dependence on foreign oil

Question 30

What are the cons of recycling?

Answer 30

Not a huge market, creates hazardous materials, uses energy