Solid and Hazardous Waste
Disposable?
• We live in a disposable society, trash is an
everyday reality for every American.
– What does this term mean?
• Wall-E
– Think about our habits and perception of
trash.
– What are the factors in identifying a
disposable society?
Central Case: Transforming New
York’s Fresh Kills Landfill
• The largest landfill in the world, it
closed in 2001
• Staten Island residents viewed the
landfill as an eyesore and civic
blemish
• It was briefly reopened to bury
rubble from the World Trade Center
after the September 11, 2001,
attack
• New York plans to transform the
landfill into a world-class public park
Core Case Study:
Love Canal — There Is No “Away”
• Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical
sealed multiple chemical wastes into steel
drums and dumped them into an old canal
excavation (Love Canal).
• In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to
Niagara Falls school board for $1.
• The company inserted a disclaimer
denying liability for the wastes.
Core Case Study:
Love Canal — There Is No “Away”
• In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the
school not to disturb the site because of
the toxic waste.
– In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields
and homes were built disrupting the clay cap
covering the wastes.
– In 1976, residents complained of chemical
smells and chemical burns from the site.
Core Case Study:
Love Canal — There Is No “Away”
• President Jimmy
Carter declared
Love Canal a
federal disaster
area.
– The area was
abandoned in
1980 (left).
Figure 22-1
Core Case Study:
Love Canal — There Is No “Away”
• It still is a controversy as to how much the
chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused
disease to the residents.
• Love Canal sparked creation of the
Superfund law, which forced polluters to
pay for cleaning up abandoned toxic waste
dumps.
What is your definition of waste?
WASTE
Waste
• Any discarded material for which no
further sale or use is intended
• examples: residue, chemical by-products,
unused virgin material, spill absorbent
material
WASTING RESOURCES
• Solid waste: any unwanted or discarded
material we produce that is not a liquid or
gas.
– Municipal solid waste (MSW): produce
directly from homes.
– Industrial solid waste: produced indirectly by
industries that supply people with goods and
services.
Solid Waste
• Any garbage; refuse; sludge from a waste
treatment plant or air pollution control
facility; and other discarded material
(including solid, liquid, semi-solid or
contained gaseous material) generated
from any industrial, commercial or
community activities; mining or agricultural
operations
Solid Waste Exclusions
• Solid or dissolved materials in domestic
sewage or irrigation return flows
• Industrial discharges subject to CWA
regulations, including POTW
• Source, special nuclear or by-product
material defined by the Atomic Energy Act
of 1954
Ways to reduce waste that enters
waste stream
• Waste stream = flow of waste as it moves
from its sources toward disposal destinations
– More efficient use of materials, consume less,
buy goods with less packaging, reusing goods
• Recovery (recycling, composting) = next
best strategy in waste management
– Recycling = sends used goods to manufacture
new goods
– Composting = recovery of organic waste
– All materials in nature are recycled
How Much Trash is Generated?
• Of the 251 million tons (228 million metric
tons) of trash, or solid waste, generated in
the United States in 2006, about 81.8
million tons (74.2 million metric tons), or
32.5 percent, was either recycled or
composted [source: EPA].
Materials Discarded in a Municipal
Landfill
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paper and paperboard
Yard waste
Glass
Metal
Rubber, leather, textiles
Food waste
Plastic
Miscellaneous inorganic
41.0%
17.9%
8.2%
8.7%
8.1%
7.9%
6.5%
1.6%
Electronic Waste: A Growing
Problem
• E-waste consists of toxic
and hazardous waste
such as PVC, lead,
mercury, and cadmium.
• The U.S. produces
almost half of the world's
e-waste but only
recycles about 10% of it.
Figure 22-4
Waste generation is rising in the
U.S.
In the U.S,, since
1960, waste
generation has
increased by 2.8 times
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTING RESOURCES
• Solid wastes
polluting a river in
Jakarta,
Indonesia. The
man in the boat is
looking for items
to salvage or sell.
Figure 22-3
Trash For Sale
• The US sells it’s trash to China for
recycling.
– The turn in the economy has devalued the
recycling industry
INTEGRATED WASTE
MANAGEMENT
• We can manage the solid wastes we produce
and reduce or prevent their production.
Figure 22-5
WASTING RESOURCES
• The United States produces about a third
of the world’s solid waste and buries more
than half of it in landfills.
– About 98.5% is industrial solid waste.
– The remaining 1.5% is MSW.
• About 55% of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills,
30% is recycled or composted, and 15% is burned
in incinerators.
Burying Solid Waste
• Most of the world’s MSW is buried in landfills
that eventually are expected to leak toxic
liquids into the soil and underlying aquifers.
– Open dumps: are fields or holes in the ground
where garbage is deposited and sometimes
covered with soil. Mostly used in developing
countries.
– Sanitary landfills: solid wastes are spread out in
thin layers, compacted and covered daily with a
fresh layer of clay or plastic foam.
Sanitary landfills are regulated
• Sanitary landfills = waste buried in the ground or piled in
large, engineered mounds
– Must meet national standards set by the EPA under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of
1976
– Waste is partially decomposed by bacteria and
compresses under its own weight to make more space
– Layered with soil to reduce odor, speed decomposition,
reduce infestation by pets
– When a landfill is closed, it must be capped and
maintained
40 CFR Parts 239-259
• The purpose of this part is to establish minimum
national criteria under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA or the
Act), as amended, for all municipal solid waste
landfill (MSWLF) units and under the Clean
Water Act, as amended, for municipal solid
waste landfills that are used to dispose of
sewage sludge. These minimum national criteria
ensure the protection of human health and the
environment.
Regulatory Guidelines
• Subtitle D, of RCRA regulates nonhazardous waste
– Siting
– Design
– Operation
– Monitoring
– Closure and post-closure
– Financial assurance
Why do we have landfills?
•
•
•
•
Protect groundwater
Protect surface water
Protect air quality
Control pathogenic migration
Landfill Design
• The main waste contaminant features are
– Underlying soils
– Depth to groundwater
– Landfill liner (triple liner)
– Leachate collection system
– Leachate prevention through infiltration and
drainage control
– Cover soil and final landfill cap
The Size of the Landfill
• Limit of Refuse filing (LRF) determines the
volume of waste that can be properly
stored at the site
– Determined by site characterization, proximity
to surface and groundwater
The Liner
• A liner acts like a giant garbage bag
– Clay liner
– Synthetic liner
– Additional liner
Liner Construction
Drainage Control
• Surface water infiltration is drained from
the landfill
Leachate
• Leachate is the liquid that migrates from
within a land disposal site which has come
in contact with solid waste.
Monitoring
• Groundwater monitoring wells are installed
around the landfill to monitor pollution
migration.
• Gas collection wells are installed to
remove methane which is a natural
decomposition product or organic material.
Procedures
• Waste is broken down and moved into the
landfill.
• A layer of dirt is used to cover the waste.
Closure
• Solid waste is layered with soil or clay and
capped off.
Closure
Landfill Construction
BURNING AND BURYING SOLID
WASTE
• Globally, MSW is burned in over 1,000
large waste-to-energy incinerators,
which boil water to make steam for heating
water, or space, or for production of
electricity.
– Japan and a few European countries
incinerate most of their MSW.
Burning Solid Waste
• Waste-to-energy incinerator with pollution
controls that burns mixed solid waste.
Figure 22-10
Landfills can produce gas for
energy
• Bacteria can decompose waste in an oxygendeficient environment
• Landfill gas = a mix of gases that consists of
roughly half methane
– Can be collected, processed, and used like
natural gas
– When not used commercially, landfill gas is
burned off in flares to reduce odors and
greenhouse emissions
THE “R’S”
Solutions: Reducing Solid
Waste
• Refuse: to buy items that we really don’t need.
• Reduce: consume less and live a simpler and
less stressful life by practicing simplicity.
• Reuse: rely more on items that can be used
over and over.
• Repurpose: use something for another purpose
instead of throwing it away.
• Recycle: paper, glass, cans, plastics…and buy
items made from recycled materials.
REUSE
• Reusing products is an important way to
reduce resource use, waste, and pollution
in developed countries.
• Reusing can be hazardous in developing
countries for poor who scavenge in open
dumps.
– They can be exposed to toxins or infectious
diseases.
Case Study: Using Refillable
Containers
• Refilling and reusing containers uses fewer
resources and less energy, produces less
waste, saves money, and creates jobs.
– In Denmark and Canada’s Price Edward’s Island
there is a ban on all beverage containers that
cannot be reused.
– In Finland 95% of soft drink and alcoholic
beverages are refillable (Germany 75%).
REUSE
• Reducing
resource waste:
energy
consumption for
different types of
350-ml (12-oz)
beverage
containers.
Figure 22-7
Solutions:
Other Ways to Reuse Things
• We can use reusable shopping bags, food
containers, and shipping pallets, and
borrow tools from tool libraries.
– Many countries in Europe and Asia charge
shoppers for plastic bags.
RECYCLING
• Primary (closed loop) recycling:
materials are turned into new products of
the same type.
• Secondary recycling: materials are
converted into different products.
– Used tires shredded and converted into
rubberized road surface.
– Newspapers transformed into cellulose
insulation.
RECYCLING
• There is a disagreement over whether to
mix urban wastes and send them to
centralized resource recovery plants or to
sort recyclables for collection and sale to
manufacturers as raw materials.
– To promote separation of wastes, 4,000
communities in the U.S. have implemented
pay-as-you-throw or fee-per-bag waste
collection systems.
RECYCLING
• Composting biodegradable organic waste
mimics nature by recycling plant nutrients
to the soil.
• Recycling paper has a number of
environmental (reduction in pollution and
deforestation, less energy expenditure)
and economic benefits and is easy to do.
RECYCLING
• Recycling many plastics is chemically and
economically difficult.
– Many plastics are hard to isolate from other
wastes.
– Recovering individual plastic resins does not
yield much material.
– The cost of virgin plastic resins in low than
recycled resins due to low fossil fuel costs.
– There are new technologies that are making
plastics biodegradable.
RECYCLING
• Reuse and recycling are hindered by
prices of goods that do not reflect their
harmful environmental impacts, too few
government subsidies and tax breaks, and
price fluctuations.
Alternatives
• What can you do with waste other than
landfilling it?
– Compost piles
– Biodegradable
Compost
• Compost is a pile of organic debris.
– Roughly half of household waste is made up of food
and garden waste. Most of this material could be
composted to save landfill, improve soil condition and
provide fertiliser in the garden at no cost.
– Composting is the method of breaking down waste
organic materials in a large container or heap. The
decomposition occurs because of the naturally
occurring micro-organisms, such as bacteria and
fungi.
Compost Piles
Can go in Compost
Can't go in Compost
Vegetable and fruit scraps
Meat and Dairy products
Fallen Leaves
Diseased Plants
Tea Leaves and Tea Bags
Metals, plastic & glass
Coffee Grounds
Droppings of meat eating animals (eg dogs)
Vacuum Cleaner Dust
Fats or Oils
Soft Stems
Magazines
Dead Flowers
Large Branches
Used Vegetable Cooking Oil
Weeds that have seeds or underground stems
Egg Shells
Bread or cake (attracts mice)
Lawn Clippings
Bones
Old Newspapers
Sawdust (not from treated timber)
Hazardous Waste
The rules are different!
Illegal dumping of hazardous
waste
• Since hazardous waste disposal is costly, it
results in illegal and anonymous dumping by
companies,
– Creating health risks
– Industrial nations illegally dump in developing
nations
– Basel Convention, an international treaty, should
prevent dumping but it still happens
• High costs of disposal encourages companies
to invest in reducing their hazardous waste
Superfund
• Later laws charged the EPA with cleaning up brownfields =
lands whose reuse or development are complicated by the
presence of hazardous materials
• Two events spurred creation of Superfund legislation
– In Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York, families were
evacuated after buried toxic chemicals rose to the
surface, contaminating homes and an elementary school
– In Times Beach, Missouri, the entire town was evacuated
after being contaminated with dioxin from waste oil
sprayed on roads
The Superfund process
• Once a Superfund site is identified, EPA
scientists evaluate:
– How close the site is to human habitation
– Whether wastes are currently confined or likely to
spread
– Whether the site threatens drinking water
supplies
Superfund: harmful sites
• Harmful sites are:
– Placed on the EPA’s National Priority List
– Ranked according to the level of risk to human
health that they pose
– Cleaned up on a site-by-site basis as funds are
available
• The EPA is required to hold public hearings
and inform area residents of tits findings and
to receive feedback
Who pays for cleanup?
• CERCLA operates under the polluter pays principle =
polluting parties were to be charged for cleanup
– However, the responsible parties often can’t be found
– A trust fund was established by a federal tax on petroleum
and chemical industries
– The fund is bankrupt, and neither the Bush administration
nor Congress has moved to restore it, so taxpayers now
pay all costs of cleanup
– Fewer cleanups are being completed
– An average cleanup costs $25 million and takes 12 - 15
years
Hazardous Waste Regulations in
the United States
• Two major federal laws regulate the
management and disposal of hazardous
waste in the U.S.:
– Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA)
• Cradle-to-the-grave system to keep track waste.
– Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Commonly known as Superfund program.
Hazardous Waste Regulations in
the United States
• The Superfund law was designed to have
polluters pay for cleaning up abandoned
hazardous waste sites.
– Only 70% of the cleanup costs have come
from the polluters, the rest comes from a trust
fund financed until 1995 by taxes on chemical
raw materials and oil.
The stepwise process of
determining a hazardous waste
•
•
•
•
•
Define the material as a “waste”
Define the waste as “solid waste”
Determine any solid waste exclusions
Define the solid waste as “hazardous”
Determine any hazardous waste
exclusions
Hazardous Waste
• Solid waste or combination of solid wastes
which because of its quantity, concentration,
or physical, chemical or infectious
characteristics may cause an increase in
mortality, incapacitating illness or pose a
present or potential hazard to the health or
environment when improperly treated, stored
or disposed of.
A Hazardous Waste is . . .
• listed by 40 CFR Part 261; or
• is characterized by analytical methodology
EPA Criteria for Hazardous
Waste
•
•
•
•
•
Toxicity
Persistence in the environment
Degradability in the environment
Bioaccumulation potential
Hazardous Characteristics: ignitibility,
corrosivity, reactivity, Toxicity
Characteristic Leachate Procedure (TCLP)
Hazardous Characteristics
• Ignitibility: flashpoint less than 140oF
(<140oF)
• Corrosivity: pH less than 2.0 S.U. or
greater than 12.5 S.U. (2.0 < S.U. <
12.5)
• Reactivity: a combination of greater
than 250 mg/kg of HCN and greater
than 500 mg/kg of H2S
Hazardous Characteristics
(cont.)
• TCLP with one or more compounds above
the Maximum Concentration Limit
Hazardous Waste Exclusions
•
•
•
•
•
Household waste
Agricultural waste returned as fertilizer
Mining overburden returned to mine site
Certain utility wastes from coal combustion
Certain oil & natural gas exploration
drilling waste
Hazardous Waste Exclusions
(continued)
•
•
•
•
Waste from mining and processing ores
Cement chromium bearing wastes
Cement kiln dust wastes
Arsenic-treated wood wastes from end
users
Dioxins
• Regulated by TSCA
• Group of more than 70 different
chlorinated dioxins
• By-product of certain manufacturing
processes
• Carcinogen
• Teratogen
• Mutagen
Bioaccumulators
•
•
•
•
•
Chlorinated Insecticides
Carbamates
Organophosphates
Herbicides
Metals
Hydrogen Sulfide
• Decomposition product of organic matter
• Sludge press by-product
• If the pH falls below 7 S.U., Hydrogen
Sulfide is released
• Toxic gas
Cyanides (-CN)
• Commonly found in plating operations and
sludges
• When mixed with an acid, Hydrogen
Cyanide gas is released
• Can cause instantaneous death
• Acutely toxic
Eight Heavy Metals (RCRA)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Arsenic
Barium
Cadmium
Chromium
Lead
Mercury
Selenium
Silver
Case Study:
Lead
• Lead is especially
harmful to children
and is still used in
leaded gasoline and
household paints in
about 100 countries.
Figure 22-24
Case Study:
Mercury
• Mercury is
released into the
environment
mostly by burning
coal and
incinerating
wastes and can
build to high
levels in some
types of fish.
Figure 22-26
AIR
WINDS
PRECIPITATION
PhotoElemental chemical
mercury
vapor
(Hg)
Hg2+ and acids
Inorganic
mercury
and acids
(Hg2+)
Inorganic mercury
and acids
(Hg2+)
Deposition
Incinerator
Coalburning
plant
PRECIPITATION
Hg2+ and acids
Hg and SO2
Human sources
WINDS
Runoff of Hg2+ and acids
WATER
Large fish
Deposition
Vaporization
Deposition
Deposition
Small fish BIOMAGNIFICATION
IN FOOD CHAIN
Phytoplankton
Oxidation
Elemental
mercury liquid
(Hg)
Settles
out
Inorganic
mercury
(Hg2+)
Bacteria
and acids
Bacteria
Settles
out
Zooplankton
Organic
mercury
(CH3Hg+)
Settles
out
SEDIMENT
Fig. 22-25, p. 542
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
(PCBs)
• Group of chlorinated hydrocarbons
• Arochlor 1016, 1254, etc.
• By-product of certain manufacturing
processes
• Transformer oil - dielectric properties
Waste Minimization
• Waste minimization is required by all
Large Quantity Generators and can be
achieved by
– using an alternative process;
– reducing the amount used; or
– solvent substitution
How is hazardous waste treated?
• The EPA decides the appropriate method
of disposal for each listed and typed
waste.
– Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities
(TSDF) are permitted to handle hazardous
waste.
– Transporters of hazardous waste are also
permitted.
Treatment Methods
• There are several categories of treatment
options.
– Landfill or Storage
– Incineration or Destruction
– Fuel Blending
– Neutralization
– Biological Treatment
Conversion to Less Hazardous
Substances
• Incineration: heating many types of
hazardous waste to high temperatures –
up to 2000 °C – in an incinerator can
break them down and convert them to less
harmful or harmless chemicals.
Conversion to Less Hazardous
Substances
• Plasma Torch: passing electrical current
through gas to generate an electric arc
and very high temperatures can create
plasma.
– The plasma process can be carried out in a
torch which can decompose liquid or solid
hazardous organic material.
Long-Term Storage of Hazardous
Waste
• Hazardous waste can be disposed of on or
underneath the earth’s surface, but without
proper design and care this can pollute the
air and water.
– Deep-well disposal: liquid hazardous wastes
are pumped under pressure into dry porous
rock far beneath aquifers.
– Surface impoundments: excavated
depressions such as ponds, pits, or lagoons
into which liners are placed and liquid
hazardous wastes are stored.
Trade-Offs
Deep Underground Wells
Advantages
Disadvantages
Safe method if
sites are chosen
carefully
Leaks or spills at
surface
Wastes can be
retrieved if
problems
develop
Leaks from
corrosion of well
casing
Easy to do
Existing fractures
or earthquakes
can allow wastes
to escape into
groundwater
Low cost
Encourages
waste production
Fig. 22-20, p. 539
Trade-Offs
Surface Impoundments
Advantages
Low construction
costs
Low operating
costs
Can be built
quickly
Wastes can be
retrieved if
necessary
Can store wastes
indefinitely with
secure double liners
Disadvantages
Groundwater
contamination
from leaking liners
(or no lining)
Air pollution from
volatile organic
compounds
Overflow from
flooding
Disruption and
leakage from
earthquakes
Promotes waste
production
Fig. 22-21, p. 539
Long-Term Storage of Hazardous
Waste
• Long-Term Retrievable Storage: Some
highly toxic materials cannot be detoxified
or destroyed. Metal drums are used to
stored them in areas that can be inspected
and retrieved.
• Secure Landfills: Sometimes hazardous
waste are put into drums and buried in
carefully designed and monitored sites.
Secure Hazardous Waste
Landfill
• In the U.S. there
are only 23
commercial
hazardous waste
landfills.
Figure 22-22
Brownfields
• Brownfields are real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of
which may be complicated by the
presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant.
– In other words, an abandoned property that is
potentially contaminated
How many?
It is estimated that there are more than
450,000 brownfields in the U.S.
•Cleaning up and reinvesting in these
properties increases local tax bases, facilitates
job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes
development pressures off of undeveloped,
open land, and both improves and protects the
environment.
Phytoremediation
• Phytoremediation is the use of living green
plants for in situ risk reduction and/or
removal of contaminants from
contaminated soil, water, sediments, and
air.
Phytoremediation
• Phytoremediation is actually a term for
several ways in which plants can be used
to clean up contaminated soils and water.
– Phytoextraction or inorganics or metals
– Rhizofiltration for metals
– Phytostabilization to stabilize soil
– Phytodegradation of organic compounds
– Rhizodegradation for organics
– Phytovolatilization
Advantages of
phytoremediation
 It is more economically viable using the same tools and
supplies as agriculture
 It is less disruptive to the environment and does not involve
waiting for new plant communities to recolonize the site
 Disposal sites are not needed
 It is more likely to be accepted by the public as it is more
aesthetically pleasing then traditional methods
 It avoids excavation and transport of polluted media thus
reducing the risk of spreading the contamination
 It has the potential to treat sites polluted with more than one
type of pollutant
Disadvantages of phytoremediation
• It is dependant on the growing conditions required by the
plant (ie climate, geology, altitude, temperature)
• Large scale operations require access to agricultural
equipment and knowledge
• Success is dependant on the tolerance of the plant to the
pollutant
• Contaminants collected in senescing tissues may be released
back into the environment in autumn
• Contaminants may be collected in woody tissues used as fuel
• Time taken to remediate sites far exceeds that of other
technologies
• Contaminant solubility may be increased leading to greater
environmental damage and the possibility of leaching
• http://arabidopsis.info/students/dom/mainp
age.html
ACHIEVING A LOW-WASTE
SOCIETY
• In the U.S., citizens have kept large
numbers of incinerators, landfills, and
hazardous waste treatment plants from
being built in their local areas.
• Environmental justice means that
everyone is entitled to protection from
environmental hazards without
discrimination.
Global Outlook: International
Action to Reduce Hazardous
Waste
• An international treaty calls for phasing out
the use of harmful persistent organic
pollutants (POPs).
– POPs are insoluble in water and soluble in fat.
– Nearly every person on earth has detectable
levels of POPs in their blood.
– The U.S has not ratified this treaty.
Making the Transition to a LowWaste Society: A New Vision
• Everything is connected.
• There is no “away” for the wastes we
produce.
• Dilution is not always the solution to
pollution.
• The best and cheapest way to deal with
wastes are reduction and pollution
prevention.