Global Geography 12
Waste Disposal Page 143
3 main problems with waste:
 It causes pollution.
 It is expensive to build and operate landfills.
 Many useful materials are thrown away instead of recycled or reused.
1. The three main categories of waste are:
a. Domestic sewage (what goes down your drains)
b. Solid waste (trash)
c. Toxic and hazardous wastes
2. Two ways of disposing of sewage are:
a. Dumping it untreated into lakes, rivers or the ocean
b. Treating by filtering out solids, then allowing bacteria to decompose waste matter
(primary and secondary treatment). Sometimes the sewage is also disinfected before
being released into waterways (tertiary treatment).
3. Three ways of dealing with solid waste (trash) are:
a. Landfills, where the trash is buried underground. (modern landfills have special barriers
to prevent contamination of groundwater and vents to prevent methane gas explosions)
b. Incinerators, which burn the trash (often modern incinerators generate heat or
electricity)
c. Recycling programs, which remove the materials that can be reused.
4. Definitions:
a. Hazardous waste is any material that have dangerous properties (such as gas or aerosol
canisters that might explode, or chemicals that are dangerous for living things)
b. Toxic waste is any material that is poisonous to humans or other living things (drugs too)
5. Six methods to dispose of hazardous wastes are:
a. Dump them into landfills, even though it is unsafe
b. Discharge (dump) treated, partially treated or untreated waste into waterways
c. Pump the waste into deep wells far underground
d. Store in pits, ponds or lagoons
e. Use specially designed landfills
f. Store in containers in abandoned mines or deep underground
6. How is hazardous waste destroyed?
a. Thermal treatment which means the waste is burned at high temperatures to ensure
the material is broken down
b. Neutralized by chemical reactions to make it safer (acidic or caustic waste)
(Not all hazardous waste can be destroyed – for example nuclear waste)
Today’s ACTIVITY Groups of 3-4
Page 235 Read “the Four Laws of Ecology”
Explain how each of the four laws show that there are serious problems with the way MDCs
currently deal with SOLID waste.
Answer in a well-organized response (answers may be point form as long as they are neat and
understandable).