AP ENVIRONMENTL SCIENCE
CHAPTER 24 : SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE
NAME: ________________
DATE: ____________
CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER
1. Which material accounts for the greatest percentage of the weight of solid waste?
a) Food waste
b) Plastic
c) Paper
d) Yard waste
e) Wood
2. Typical modern municipal landfills contain which of the following?
a) Monitoring wells
b) Impermeable barriers
c) Methane retrieval systems
d) Leachate treatment facilities
e) All of the above
3. Which is not true about incineration of solid waste?
a) There are drastic reductions in the volume and weight of wastes
b) The ash can contain heavy metals and other toxic substances
c) The incinerators are relatively cheap to build
d) The incinerators can be built to generate electricity
e) All of the above are true
4. Which of the following is not a method of source reduction?
a) Making packages that weigh less
b) Recycling
c) Municipal composting
d) Incineration
e) All of the above are examples of source reduction
5. Currently, the United States recycles what percentage of the municipal waste it
generates?
a) About 1%
b) Close to 25%
c) About 50%
d) About 75%
e) Nearly 100%
6. After Love Canal was abandoned, it was sold and used for a(n)
a) Elementary school and housing project
b) Shopping mall
c) Amusement park
d) Industrial park
e) Office building
7. Which one of the following statements is true?
a) The United States generates approximately 230 million tons of municipal solid
waste a year, about 4.6 pounds per person per day.
b) Food waste is the third largest component of generated waste (after yard waste
and corrugated boxes) and the second largest component of discarded waste.
c) It takes 3 to 12 months to produce compost, depending upon the type of waste.
d) The average American college student produces 640 pound of solid waste each
year including 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper
e) All statements are true
8. The major source of solid waste in the United States comes from what source?
a) Homes
b) Factories
c) Agriculture
d) Petroleum refining
e) Mining waste
9. What is the largest type of domestic solid waste in the United States?
a) Yard waste
b) Paper
c) Plastic
d) Glass
e) Metal
10. Which of the following is most readily recyclable?
a) Plastic
b) Paper
c) Metal
d) Glass
e) All are equally readily recyclable
11. Which of the following statements is true?
a) Recycling is more expensive than trash collection and disposal.
b) Landfills and incinerators are most cost effective and environmentally sound than
recycling options.
c) The market place works best in solving solid waste management problems; no
public sector intervention is needed.
d) Landfills are significant job generators for rural communities
e) None of the above is true
12. Which of the following methods of handling solid wastes is against the law in the
United States?
a) Incineration
b) Dumping in the open landfills
c) Burying it underground
d) Exporting the materials to foreign countries
e) Dumping the materials in the open ocean
13. Love Canal is located in
a) Ohio
b) New York
c) California
d) Panama
e) Georgia
14. The company responsible for the dumping of toxic and cancer-causing wastes into an
old canal excavation called the Love Canal was
a) DuPont
b) Monsanto
c) Hooker chemicals and Plastics Corporation
d) The 3M company
e) Intel
15. After Love Canal was abandoned, it was sold and used for
a) An elementary school and housing project
b) A shopping mall
c) An amusement park
d) An industrial park
e) An office building
16. What law was implemented in reaction to Love canal?
a) Resource conservation and Recovery Act
b) Toxic Substances Control Act
c) Superfund
d) The Lacey Act
e) None of the above
17. Which of the following is not a type of e-waste?
a) Discarded TV sets
b) Discarded computer printer paper
c) Discarded cell phones
d) Discarded-toys
e) Discarded computer monitors.
18. Which U.S. state was the first to ban the disposal of computer and TV sets in landfills
and incinerators?
a) New Jersey
b) Pennsylvania
c) California
d) Mississippi
e) Massachusetts
19. Electronic waste contains all of the following except
a) Organochlorides
b) Polyvinylchloride
c) Copper
d) Nickel
e) Gold
20. In a low-waste approach, which of the following strategies should be given top
priority?
a) Incinerate
b) Reuse
c) Reduce
d) Bury
e) Recycle
21. In a low-waste approach, which of the following strategies should be given lowest
priority?
a) Incinerate
b) Reuse
c) Reduce
d) Bury
e) Recycle
22. Using a tire to make a swing is an example of _________
a) Refuse
b) Reduce
c) Reuse
d) Repurpose
e) Recycle
23. Taking a refillable coffee cup to the office and using it instead of throwaway cups is
an example of -------a) Refuse
b) Reduce
c) Reuse
d) Repurpose
e) Recycle
24. Which of the five Rs is the least desirable from an environmental standpoint?
a) Refuse
b) Reduce
c) Reuse
d) Repurpose
e) Recycle
25. All of the following reflect a low-waste approach except
a) Extending the useful lifetime for a product
b) Designing products that pollute less when used
c) Built in obsolescence
d) Modular construction for repair
e) Eliminate unnecessary packaging.
26. Environmentalists say that the best way to handle soft-drink and beer containers is to
a) Use landfills
b) Recycle aluminum cans
c) Use stainless steel cans
d) Use reusable glass bottles
e) Bury them
27. The most energy-efficient beverage container on the market is
a) Refillable glass
b) Recyclable aluminum
c) Stainless steel
d) Recyclable plastic
e) Carton
28. At the checkout counter, an environmentalist is most likely to
a) Say “ plastic please”
b) Say “paper please”
c) Say “I brought my own bag.”
d) Walk out of the store.
e) Say “either plastic or paper.”
29. The least desirable final resting place for a used tire is
a) In the foundation of a low-cost passive solar home
b) Asphalt pavement
c) In an incinerator to produce electricity
d) In the landfill
e) None of these answers
30. Compost can help restore
a) Eroded hillsides
b) Overgrazed areas
c) Strip-mined lands
d) All of these answers
e) None of these answers
31. Which of the following substances can be recovered from solid waste?
a) Metals
b) Plastic
c) Paper
d) All of these answers
e) None of these answers
32. Critics of recycling are most likely to claim
a) It isn’t worth the effort
b) There is no solid-waste problem
c) Incineration is the safest and most efficient way to dispose of solid wastes
d) It doesn’t make sense to recycle if it costs more than land filling or incinerating
e) There is abundant landfill space in all areas,
33. Recycling paper
a) Saves energy
b) Creates jobs and saves energy
c) Conserves water and landfill space
d) Decreases production costs
e) All of these answers
34. Plastics
a) Account for about 60% of the debris found on U.S beaches.
b) In landfills can release cadmium and plutonium from binders
c) Break down quickly in landfills
d) Can economically be converted to fuel oil
e) None of these answers
35. Partially biodegradable plastics need ________ to be broken down.
a) Light
b) Oxygen and moisture
c) Anaerobic conditions
d) Cool conditions
e) Heat
36. Of the following materials, the most difficult to recycle is
a) Glass
b) Plastic
c) Paper
d) Aluminum
e) Cardboard
37. Plastic is desirable because of its
a) Reusability
b) Light weight
c) Durability
d) Ubreakability
e) All of these answers
38. Which country burns 90% of its solid waste?
a) Great Britain
b) The U.S.
c) Canada
d) China
e) None of the above
39. Incinerators
a) Create many low-paying jobs
b) Are inexpensive to build
c) Are inexpensive to operate and maintain
d) Release toxic substances in fly ash and bottom ahs
e) Create few high paying jobs.
40. Components of a modern state-of the art landfill include
a) Wells to monitor potential contamination of groundwater
b) Collection, storage, and treatment of leachate
c) A cover to prevent water from seeping in when the landfill is full
d) Methane gas recovery well
e) All of these answers
41. Which of the following statements about landfill leaching is false?
a) Rain filtering through landfills leaches toxic materials
b) Contaminated leachate can seep from the bottom of landfills
c) Contaminated groundwater is never problem with landfills
d) Older, unlined landfills may have particularly bad water pollution problems.
e) None of these answers.
42. Why are tires health hazards?
a) They release PVC as they break down.
b) They serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes that can transmit diseases
c) Tire dumps are unsightly
d) They can burn for weeks to years in highly polluting fires
e) B and d
43. Which of the following is not a typical reuse for discarded tires( whether shredded,
melted, reused or otherwise reprocessed)?
a) A fuel source for internal combustion engines
b) Dumped along coastlines to rebuild reefs
c) A fuel source for power plants and cement kilns
d) An ingredient for fertilizer manufacturers
e) An ingredient in playground swings and garden hoses
44. A waste is considered hazardous if it possesses one of four properties. Which of the
following is not one of those properties?
a) Flammable
b) Unstable
c) Soluble
d) Corrosive
e) Carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic
45. The Resource conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
a) Requires the EPA to set standards for hazardous-waste management
b) Requires all firms that handle more than 100 kilograms of hazardous waste per
month to have a permit stating how such wastes are to be managed.
c) Provides guidelines and financial aid to establish state waste management
programs
d) All of these answers
e) None of these answers
46. The superfund program pays
a) To clean up inactive or abandoned hazardous waste dump sites
b) To monitor hazardous wastes
c) For testing for lead in paint, water, and air samples.
d) None of these answers
e) All of these answers.
47. Enforcement of Superfund has failed because
a) Polluters deny responsibility
b) Polluting businesses campaign that toxic dumps are not that threatening
c) Big polluters sue local governments and small businesses to make them
responsible for cleanup.
d) Of all the above reasons
e) Of none of the above reasons
48. Deep well disposal of liquid hazardous wastes is
a) A complex process
b) Less visible than other waste-disposal methods
c) More carefully regulated than other waste-disposal methods
d) The most expensive waste-disposal method
e) All of these answers
49. Of the following methods of reducing hazardous wastes, the most desirable is
a) Recycling and reusing hazardous wastes
b) Substitution of safer products that don’t produce hazardous wastes
c) Conversion into less hazardous and non hazardous materials
d) Incineration
e) Perpetual storage
50. Evaluations of bioremediation indicate that it is most effective for
a) Toxic metals
b) Concentrated chemical wastes
c) Complex mixtures of toxic chemicals
d) A few specific organic wastes
e) None of these answers
51. Phytoremediation
a) Uses bacteria to detoxify hazardous wastes
b) Uses plants to remove contaminants
c) May be especially useful in removing acidic contaminants,
d) May be especially useful in removing organic contaminants
e) Uses fungi to detoxify hazardous wastes.
52. A serious pollutant that accumulates in human bones because it is not excreted is
a) Phosphate
b) Nitrate
c) Lead
d) Oxygen-demanding waste
e) Mercury
53. Mercury acts as a(an)
a) Carcinogen
b) Neurotoxin
c) Allergen
d) Mutagen
e) Poison
54. Garbage produced directly by households and businesses accounts for _______ % of
the solid waste produced in the United States.
a) Less than 2
b) 5
c) 10
d) 15
e) 20
55. The amount of solid waste produced in the United States in 1996 would fill a convoy
of garbage trucks stretching around the world almost
a) 2 times
b) 4 times
c) 6 times
d) 8 times
e) 10 times
56. ___ percent of the solid waste produced in the United States is buried in landfills
a) 90%
b) 54%
c) 48%
d) 38%
e) 40
Answers
1. C
2. E
3. C
4. D
5. B
6. A
7. E
8. E
9. B
10. B
11. E
12. E
13. B
14. C
15. A
16. C
17. B
18. E
19. A
20. C
21. D
22. D
23. C
24. E
25. C
26. D
27. A
28. C
29. D
30. D
31. D
32. D
33. E
34. A
35. B
36. B
37. E
38. A
39. D
40. E
41. C
42. B
43. D
44. C
45. D
46. A
47. A
48. E
49. C
50. D
51. B
52. C
53. B
54. A
55. D
56. B