APES Solid and Hazardous Waste Test Version 2
1. Which country burns 90% of its solid waste?
a. The U.S.
b. Great Britain
c. China
d. Canada
e. None of the above
2. Using a tire to make a swing is an example of
a. Refuse
b. Reduce
c. Reuse
d. Repurpose
e. Recycle
3. A serious pollutant that accumulates in human bones because it is not excreted is
a. Mercury
b. Phosphate
c. Nitrate
d. Lead
e. Oxygen-demanding waste
4. With about 5% of the world’s population, the United States produces about ____ of the world’s solid waste.
a. 1/10
b. 1/5
c. 1/4
d. 1/3
e. 1/2
5. 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 kg 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
6. Scientists estimate that in a low-waste society, ____ of solid and hazardous waste could be eliminated through
reduction, reuse, and recycling.
a. 5-10%
b. 15-25%
c. 25-50%
d. 65-80%
e. 75-90%
7. Mercury acts as a(an) _____.
a. Neurotoxin
b. Carcinogen
c. Allergen
d. Mutagen
e. poison
8. The real cost of dumping hazardous wastes is borne by the
a. Recyclers of the waste
b. Producer of the waste
c. The disposer of the waste
d. The people who live in affluent areas
e. The taxpayers who pay to clean up disposable messes
9. _____ percent of the solid waste produced in the United States is buried in landfills.
a. Fifty-five
b. Forty-eight
c. Thirty-eight
d. Forty
e. Ninety-eight
10. Which of the following statements about landfill leaching is false?
a. Older, unlined landfills may have particularly bad water pollution problems
b. Rain filtering through landfills leaches toxic materials
c. Contaminated leachate can seep from bottom of landfills
d. Contaminated groundwater is never a problem with landfills
e. None of these answers
11. Incinerators
a. Create many low-paying jobs
b. Are inexpensive to build
c. Release toxic substances in fly ash and bottom ash
d. Are inexpensive to operate and maintain
e. Create few high paying jobs
12. Which of the 5 Rs is the least desirable from an environmental standpoint?
a. Refuse
b. Reduce
c. Reuse
d. Repurpose
e. Recycle
13. Which of the following does not fit into one of the types of solid waste?
a. Food grower waste
b. Garbage
c. Potentially recyclable materials
d. Chemically active waste
e. Mining waste
14. The EPA estimates that approximately ____ tons of hazardous wastes are produced for each person in the
United States per year.
a. 5
b. 10
c. 15
d. 20
e. 30
15. Which of the following substances can be recovered from solid waste?
a. Metals
b. Plastic
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c. Paper
d. All of these answers
e. None of these answers
Compost can help restore
a. Eroded hillsides
b. Overgrazes areas
c. Strip-mined lands
d. All of these answers
e. None of these answers
Since 1995 Superfund has been primarily funded by:
a. Identified polluters
b. Taxpayers
c. Taxes on all industries
d. Taxes on all industries and fines on identified polluters
e. Superfund is no longer a funded program
Environmentalists saw that the best way to handle soft-drink and beer containers is to
a. Use landfills
b. use reusable glass bottles
c. Recycle aluminum cans
d. use stainless steel cans
e. bury them
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. Corrosive
d. Soluble
e. Carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic
The most desirable type of recycling is
a. Primary, or closed-loop recycling
b. Secondary, or open-loop recycling
c. Tertiary, or figure-eight recycling
d. High-tech resource recovery
e. Secondary or closed-loop recycling
____ percent of the municipal solid waste produced in the United States is burned.
a. Six
b. Sixteen
c. Twenty-six
d. Thirty-six
e. Twenty
Bioremediation
a. May be used at considerably less expense than landfills and incineration if toxin-degrading bacteria
can be found
b. Involves training bacteria to eat new foods
c. Results in the production of low-level hazardous wastes
d. Is widely accepted as the best way to cut hazardous wastes
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e. Does not exist
What law was implemented in reaction to Love Canal?
a. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
b. Toxic Substances Control Act
c. The Lacey Act
d. Superfund
e. None of the above
The Superfund program pays
a. To monitor hazardous wastes
b. To clean up inactive or abandoned hazardous-waste dump sites
c. For testing for lead in paint, water, and air samples
d. The doctors’ bills and lawyers’ fees for pollution events
e. All of these answers
Obstacles to recycling in the United States include
a. Lack of inclusion of environmental costs in market prices
b. Tax breaks for mining virgin materials
c. Lack of large, steady markets for recycled materials
d. All of these answers
e. None of these answers
The environmental justice movement attempts to dismantle
a. Exclusionary zoning ordinances
b. Differential enforcement of environmental regulations
c. Disparate citing of risky technologies
d. Discriminatory land-use practices
e. All of these answers
If a small business produces less than ____ pounds of waste per month, the EPA does not consider the
material hazardous.
a. 50
b. 220
c. 550
d. 1,500
e. 2,000
____ percent of the U.S. hazardous waste is not regulated by hazardous-waste laws.
a. Sixty-five
b. Seventy-five
c. Eighty-five
d. Ninety-five
e. Fifty-five
Of the following sources of lead in the United States, the one that probably causes the least problems is
a. Lead solder from seamed food cans
b. Atmospheric lead that settles on the ground
c. Chewing on pencils
d. Paints used in older buildings
e. Lead glazing on ceramic ware used to serve food
In a low-waste approach, which of the following strategies should be given top priority?
a. Incinerate
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b. Reuse
c. Bury
d. Reduce
e. Recycle
Consumers of recycled products are most effective when they maximize the amount of ____ waste in the
products.
a. Pre-consumer
b. Post-consumer
c. Pre-producer
d. Post-producer
e. Producer
The recycling/composting rate of U.S. municipal solid waste is about
a. 5%
b. 10%
c. 20%
d. 30%
e. 40%
Deep-well injections of hazardous wastes can result in contamination of groundwater by
a. Surface wastes leaching down
b. Leaking seals
c. Earthquake fractures
d. All of these answers
e. None of these answers
Currently, the United States recycles about ____ of all its wastepaper.
a. 19%
b. 29%
c. 49%
d. 59%
e. 69%
Lead may cause
a. Partial paralysis
b. Mental retardation
c. Palsy
d. Neurological damage
e. All of these answers
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
Which of the following is not a problem with plastic materials?
a. They are made of many different types of resin
b. They decompose readily in landfills
c. Toxic lead and cadmium can leach out of plastics
d. They are necessarily and excessively used as single-use and throw-away packaging
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e. They can harm animals that swallow them or become entangled in them
Plastic is desirable because of its
a. Reusability
b. Light weight
c. Durability
d. Unbreakability
e. All of these answers
Of the following methods of reducing hazardous wastes, the most desirable is
a. Incineration
b. Perpetual storage
c. Conversion to less hazardous materials
d. Deposit in ocean trenches
e. Recycling and reusing hazardous wastes
Of the following materials, the most difficult to recycle is
a. Glass
b. Paper
c. Plastic
d. Aluminum
e. Cardboard
Over half of U.S. municipal solid waste is
a. Composted
b. Recycled
c. Incinerated
d. Dumped in landfills
e. Buried
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
Enforcement of Superfund has failed because
a. Polluters deny responsibilities
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. All of the above reasons
e. None of the above reasons
Individuals can reduce inputs of hazardous waste by all of the following except
a. Consulting local environmental agencies for safe disposal methods for hazardous chemicals
b. Using rechargeable batteries
c. Using biodegradable cleaning products
d. Changing automobile oil and dumping it carefully in marked storm drains
e. None of these answers
Garbage produced directly by households and businesses account for ____% of the United States’ solid waste.
a. Less than 2
b. 5
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c. 10
d. 15
e. 20
Which of the following principles does not contribute to a transition to a low-waste society?
a. There is no “away”
b. Economic growth and free markets reduce waste
c. Everything is connected
d. Reduce, reuse, recycle are the best priorities for using matter
e. Dilution is not always the solution to pollution
Phytoremediation
a. Uses fungi to detoxify hazardous wastes
b. Uses bacteria to detoxify hazardous wastes
c. Uses plants to remove contaminants
d. May be especially useful in removing acidic contaminants
e. May be especially useful in removing organic contaminants
Evaluations of bioremediation indicate that it is most effective for
a. Complex mixtures of toxic chemicals
b. Toxic metals
c. Concentrated chemical wastes
d. A few specific organic wastes
e. None of these answers
Of the following methods of reducing hazardous wastes, the most desirable is
a. Incineration
b. Perpetual storage
c. Recycling and reusing hazardous wastes
d. Substitution of safer products that don’t produce hazardous wastes
e. Conversion into less hazardous and nonhazardous materials
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using a plasma torch to detoxify hazardous waste?
a. Mobility
b. Toxic ash production
c. Production of SO2 gas
d. Cost
e. Low energy use