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Treasures of the Cell Phone
1: What are the reasons why e-waste is not recycled more?
-We lack a simple, effective, small-scale, inexpensive way to do it.
23.1: The Importance of Resources to Society
1: Define the following:
* Renewable Resources-air, surface water, some groundwater, plants, animals, and some
energy sources
* Non-Renewable Resources-soil, some groundwater, oil, coal, and most minerals
What differentiates renewable and non-renewable resources?
-their availability in a human time framework.
2: How many tons of non-fuel minerals does the typical American use per year?-ten tons
23.2: Materials Management: What is it?
1: Define Materials Management: Has the visionary environmental goal of sustainably
obtaining and using renewable and nonrenewable resources.
2: What are 5 ways that this can be pursued? 1. Eliminate subsidies for extracting virgin
materials such as minerals, oil, and timber. 2. Establish "green building" incentives that
encourage the use of recycled-content materials and products in new construction. 3.
Provide financial incentives for industrial practices and products that benefit the
environment by enhancing sustainability 4. Assess financial penalties for production that
uses poor materials-management practices. 5. Provide more incentives for people, industry,
and agriculture to develop materials-management programs that eliminate or reduce waste
by using it as raw material for other products
3: How does the idea of materials management and recycling changing where paper mills
are located? -In the past, mills were built near forested areas where the timber for paper
production was being logged. Today, they are being built near cities that have large
supplies of recycled paper
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23.3: Mineral Resources
1: When metals are concentrated in such high amounts by geologic processes, ORE
DEPOSITS are formed.
2: In the Earth’s crust, which element makes up the most % by composition? What is 2nd?
1- 9 elements make up 99% of Earth's crust (oxygen, silicon, aluminum, sodium, potassium,
and titanium
2- the remaining elements are found in trace concentrations
3: How are sedimentary processes and weathering involved in mineral deposits?
-As sediments are transported, running water and wind help segregate them by size, shape,
and density.
23.4: Figuring Out How Much is Left
1: What is the difference between a mineral resource and a mineral reserve?
-Resource= broadly defined as known concentrations of elements, chemical compounds,
minerals or rocks.
-Reserve= Concentrations that at the time of evaluation can be legally and economically
extracted as a commodity that can be sold at a profit
2: Earth’s mineral resources can be divided into which broad categories?
-Elements for metal production and technology, building materials, minerals for the
chemical industry, and minerals for agriculture.
3: When the availability of a particular mineral becomes limited, there are four possible
solutions:
1: Find more sources
2: Recycle and reuse what has already been obtained
3: Reduce comsumption
4: Find a substitute
23.5: Impact of Mineral Development
1: What are some of the environmental impacts of surface mining (open-pit mines)?
-The dust may affect the air quality
2: What are some of the social impacts of large scale mining operations?
-Social impacts result from the rapid influx or workers into areas unprepared for growth
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3: What can be done to minimize the environmental effects of mining?
-Reclaiming areas, stabilizing soils, controlling air emissions, treating contaminated water
before it can leave a mining site or treating contaminated water that has left a mining site,
treating waste onsite and offsite, and practicing the 3 r's of waste management.
4: What are the 3 R’s of waste management?
-Reduce, reuse, recycle
23.6: Materials Management and Our Waste
1: Compare “dilute and disperse” to the contemporary method of “concentrate and
contain”.
-dilute and disperse= factories were located near rivers because the water provided a
number of benefits, including easy transport of materials by boat, enough water for
processing and cooling, and easy disposal of waste into the river. concentrate and contain.
2: In the next few years, how many U.S. cities will run out of landfill space?
-1/2 cities in US
3: What is “NIMBY”?
-Not in my backyard
4: Describe the concept of “industrial ecology” and how it will be essential in the future.
-The study of relationships among industrial systems and their links to natural systems.
5: What is your opinion of “pay as you throw”? Defend your opinion
-I think this is a good idea because if a family produces more trash than another family,
they should be charged for the amount of trash they are producing.
23.7: Integrated Waste Management
1: Define Integrated Waste Management (IWM): A set of management alternatives that
includes reuse, source reduction, recycling, composting, landfill, and incineration.
2: What is waste stream?
-The waste produced
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3: What is single-stream recycling?
-Paper, plastic, glass, and metals are not separated before collection
4: What are some creative ways that industry are encouraging recycling?
-fast food restaurants using less packaging and providing recycling bins for recycling paper
and plastic
-Grocery and supermarkets are providing recycling bins
5: How can human waste (night soil) be re-used and recycled? What are some drawbacks?
-Drawbacks= thousands of chemicals and metals flow through our modern waste stream.
23.8: Municipal Solid-Waste Management
1: Which product comprises the largest percentage of waste dumped in the United States?
Is this surprising?
-Paper, 31%. This is not surprising
2: Define Composting: (What are the pros and cons?)
-A biochemical process in which organic materials, such as lawn clippings and kitchen
scraps, decompose to a rich, soil-like material. Pros= it is good. Cons= a drawback is the
necessity of separating organic material from other waste
3: What are the pros and cons of incineration?
-Pros= Can reduce the volume of waste by 75%-95%.
-Cons= Can produce air pollution
4: What is a sanitary landfill and how is it accomplished? How is a sanitary landfill
selected? What things need to be considered?
-Sanitary landfill is designed to concentrate and contain refuse without creating a nuisance
or hazard to public health or safety. Things that need to be considered= topography,
location of the groundwater table, amount of precipitation, type of soil and rock, and
location of the disposal zone in the surface water and groundwater flow system. Selected by
choosing areas in arid regions
5: What is environmental justice?
-The study of social issues in siting waste facilities, chemical plants, and other such
facilities
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6: What is leachate?
-Waste water from landfills
7: How can pollutants enter the environment from sanitary landfills?
-1. methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen gases can be produced from
compounds in the waste and the soil and can enter the atmosphere
-2. Heavy metals can be retained in the soil
-3. Soluble materials can readily pass through the waste and soil to the groundwater
system
-4. Overland runoff can pick up leachate and transport it into streams and rivers
-5. Some plants growing in the disposal area can selectively take up heavy metals and other
toxic materials
-6. If plant residue from crops left in fields contains toxic substances, these substances
return to the soil
-7. Wind can transport toxic materials to other areas
8: What are the federal mandates for sanitary landfills?
-Landfills must have liners, landfills must have a leachate collection system, landfill
operators must monitor groundwater for many specified toxic chemicals, landfills may not
be sited on floodplains, wetlands, earthquake zones, unstable land, or near airports
9: What are some actions you can take to reduce the waste you generate?
-Keep track of the waste you personally generate, recycle as much as is possible and
practical, reduce packaging, use durable products, reuse products, purchase produces made
from recycled material, and purchase products designed for ease in recycling
23.9: Hazardous Waste
1: Where is most of the hazardous waste generated in the U.S.? What are the sources of
hazardous waste in the United States?
-East of Mississippi River.
2: Summarize (in 3-4 sentences) the story of Love Canal.
-In 1892, William Love made a canal used for dumping of wastes. 1920-1952- 20k tons of
>80 chemicals dumped into canal. Canal donated to the city of Niagara Falls for $1 in 1953.
Homes and schools built on canal, 1976-1977 many people got hurt from the chemicals
23.2: A Closer Look: “e-waste: A Growing Environmental Problem”
1: Summarize the problem with e-waste in the United States.
-Much of the e-waste is shipped to other countries to be handled with. In US, computers
cannot be recycled profitably w/out charging the people who dump them. More profits made
when shipping e waste outside us
23.10: Hazardous-Waste Legislation
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1: What is the purpose of RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)?
-Identification of hazardous wastes and their life cycles.
2: What is the purpose of CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act)?
-Defined policies + procedures for release of hazardous substances into the environment.
Also mandated development of a list of sites where hazardous substances were likely to
produce or already had produced the most serious environmental problems
23.11: Hazardous-Waste Management: Land Disposal
1: Look at the chart on pg. 541- List the PROS/CONS of each of the Hazard Reduction
Technologies
-Landfills and Impoundments= pros: low costs, cons: no resource recovery potential,
Injection Wells= pros: low cost, cons: no resource recovery potential, Incineration and other
thermal destruction= pros: high effectiveness, cons: no resource recovery potential, Hightemp decomposition= pros= energy and some metals are recoverable, cons: high costs,
chemical stabilization= pros: possible building materials are recoverable, cons: moderate
cost, microbial breakdown= pros: some metals are recoverable, cons: moderate cost
23.13: Ocean Dumping
1: What are some of the ways that ocean pollution has affected ocean life?
-death or retarded growth, reduction of dissolved oxygen, eutrophication, habitat changes
2: Why are the marine waters of Europe in trouble?
-Urban and agricultural pollutants have raised concentrations of nutrients in seawater.
3: Why is the microlayer of the ocean considered to be so important?
-Consists of abundant planktonic life and small fish and shellfish begin growing here.
23.14: Pollution Prevention
1: What are the steps of ocean pollution prevention?
-Purchasing the proper amount of raw materials so that no excess remains to be disposed of
-Exercising better control of materials used in maunfacturing processes so that less waste is
produced
-substituting nontoxic chemicals for hazardous or toxic materials currently used
-Improving engineering and design of manufacturing processes so less waste is produces
23.15: Sustainable Resource Management
1: What is the R to C Ratio- What does it tell us?
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-R= known reserves, and C= rate of consumption.
Read: Can We Make Recycling a Financially Viable Industry?
Answer the following:
1: What can be done about the global problem of e-waste? Could more be recycled
safely?
-We can not ship our waste to other countries. Yes, more could be recycled safely.
2: What can be done to assist recycling industries to become more cost-effective?
-Incentives can help make it more effective in cost
3: What are some of the indirect benefits to society and the environment from recycling?
-There is not so much trash and the quality of the environment is better
4: Define or criticize the contention that if we really want to do something to improve the
environment through reduction of waste, we have to move beyond evaluating benefits of
recycling based simply on the fact that it may cost more than dumping waste in a landfill.
-People have to be motivated to do something they want or need to do, not just sat that they
are going to do it and do nothing about it. Moving beyond evaluating benefits of recycling is
to actually do it
5: What are the recycling efforts in your community and university, and how could
improvements be made?
-There is a recycling center in the shopping center near my house. Some improvements
could be made through putting more recycling bins in stores and fast food restaurants so
people would be more motivated to recycle their used products
Summary: Suppose you found that the home you had been living in for 15 years was
located over a buried waste disposal site. What would you do? What kinds of studies
could be done to evaluate the potential problems?
-I would contact the person or company who sold me the house to evaluate the issue and
protest. I would also research the effects of the toxins/chemicals that were being released
from the site to see if they are giving me any health effects. One study to evaluate the
potential problems is to look for the leachate that is being produced from the waste site.