Waste Part 1 Flashcards
What is solid waste?
Discarded material, sludge, liquid, gas
What are the 2 biggest producers of solid waste?
Mining and agriculture
What are the top 7 sources of waste?
1) paper
2) yard waste
3) metals
4) plastic
5) glass
6) food
7) other
The US generates __% of the world’s waste
33
What are 4 ways to reduce or condense waste?
1) landfills
2) incinerators
3) compost
4) recycling
What are the 2 types of landfills?
Open pit and sanitary
What is an open pit landfill, and where are they?
Waste is dumped in a hole in the ground. It’s messy, leaky, and primarily in LDCs
What are the 5 parts of a sanitary landfill?
1) daily cover
2) refuse cell
3) leachate collection
4) clay barrier
5) plastic liner
Sanitary landfills receive __% of US solid waste
70
What does SVE stand for?
Soil vapor extraction
What does an SVE do?
Collects CH4 from anaerobic decomposition and can be burned as fuel
What does WTE stand for?
Waste to energy
Incineration reduces waste by __%
85
What lead to an interest in incinerators?
The oil crisis in the 1970s
What are the 2 types of incineration?
Refuse-derived fuel and mass burn
What is refuse-derived fuel incineration?
Recyclables are removed (burns well, high energy)
What is mass burn incineration?
Everything is burned (cheap but pollutive)
__% of waste is burned
13
What are the pros of incineration?
Provides energy, reduces volume, cheap
What are the cons of incineration?
Pollution, refuse-derived is expensive, waste ash is toxic
Recycling aluminum cuts energy cost by __%
95
Recycling plastics cuts energy cost by __%
70
Recycling paper cuts energy cost by __%
40
What is primary or closed loop recycling?
Waste is recycled into same material (old pop cans become new pop cans)
Aluminum cans are __% post consumer
40%
What is downcycling?
Recycling a material into a less valuable material (white paper becomes cardboard)
What 3 things does the recycling symbol represent?
Collect, remanufacture, purchase
Which 2 countries recycle the most?
Japan and Denmark
What are the pros of recycling?
Makes waste a resource, reduces: landfills, carbon emissions dependence on foreign oil
What are the cons of recycling?
Not a huge market, creates hazardous materials, uses energy
