Unit 6: Waste & Toxicity
Readings: Chapter 16 & Chapter 17
Unit Objectives Ch. 16: Waste Management and “Trashed” Video
1. Distinguish among industrial solid waste, municipal solid waste (MSW), and hazardous (toxic) waste and
give an example of each.
2. Describe conventional waste disposal methods: landfills and incineration
3. Describe the structure of a landfill, how does it attempt to protect groundwater, what are the flaws.
4. Evaluate approaches for reducing waste: source reduction, reuse, composting, and recycling
5. Assess issues in managing hazardous waste
6. Give two reasons for sharply reducing the amount of solid and hazardous waste we produce.
7. Explain the “Waste – to – Energy” concept and its pros and cons.
8. Describe six ways in which industries and communities can reduce resource use, waste, and pollution.
9. What is leachate? What effect might leachate from a landfill have on drinking water or water quality in
general?
10. What is Dioxin, how is it created and why is it a concern?
11. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of recycling?
12. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of using incinerators to burn solid and hazardous
waste?
13. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of burying solid waste in sanitary landfills?
14. What is bioremediation?
15. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of disposing of liquid hazardous wastes in (a) deep
under-ground wells and (b) surface impoundments?
16. Describe the regulation of hazardous waste in the United States under the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability (or
Superfund) Act.
17. What is a brownfield?
18. What is environmental justice and how well has it been applied in locating and cleaning up hazardous
waste sites in the United States?
19. What is a materials-recovery facility?
20. What is marine debris and why is it a concern? How is biomagnification involved?
21. List 8 ways we can reduce waste
22. Explain why San Francisco is leading in recycling.
Laws:
1. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA)
2. Toxic Substance Control Act (TOSCA)
3. CERCLA (Superfund)
4. Hazardous Material Transportation Act (HAZMAT)
VOCABULARY TERMS CHAPETER 16
• Acid Deposition
• Ash
• Biomaginification
• Bottom Ash
• Brownfields
• Carcinogen
• CERCLA (Superfund)
• Closed-Loop Recycling
• Compost
• Dioxin
• E-Waste
• Fly Ash
• Hazardous Waste
• Incineration
• Integrated Waste
Management
• Landfill
• Landfill liner
• Leachate
• Life-Cycle Analysis
• Methane
• Municipal Solid Waste
• North Pacific Gyre
• Open-Loop Recycling
• Pacific Garbage Patch
•Planned Obsolescence
•RCRA
• Recycle
• Recycling
• Reduce
• Reuse
• Sanitary Landfills
• Siting
• Source Reduction
• ThrowAway Society
• Tipping Fee
• Waste
• Waste Stream
Unit 6: Waste & Toxicity
Readings: Chapter 16 & Chapter 17
Unit Objectives Ch. 17 “Human Health and Environmental Risks” and various activities
Unit Objectives Ch 17: Environmental Health
1. Identify the major types of environmental health hazards 2. Describe the major categories of the toxicants, their effects on people and examples of their sources.
3. Explain Dose-Response studies, the purpose of LD-50 testing, how to analyze findings in mice and relate
to humans
4. Compare bioaccumulation and biomagnification and give examples of each –
5. Explain what a brownfield is and possible cleanup solutions, including bioremediation & phytoremediation
6. Explain how emerging diseases work and give examples –
7. Define and give examples for the following: retrospective studies, prospective studies, synergistic
interaction.
8. Compare acute and chronic (for both exposures and diseases)
9. Assess risk assessment and risk management -
VOCABULARY TERMS CHAPETER 17
• Acute Diseases
• Acute Exposure
• Allergens
• Bioaccumulation
• Biomagnification
• Carcinogens
• Chronic Diseases
• Chronic Exposure
• Disease
• Dose-Response Studies
• ED-50
• Emergent Infectious
Diseases
• Endocrine Disruptors
• Environmental Hazard
• Epidemic
• Epidemiology
• Infectious Disease
• LD-50
• Mutagens
Laws:
1. Federal Hazardous Substances Act
2. Hazardous Material Transportation Act (HAZMAT)
3. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
4. Toxic Substance Control Act (TOSCA)
5. CERCLA (Superfund)
• Neurotoxins
• Pandemic
• Persistence
• Prospective Studies
• Retrospective Studies
• Routes of Exposure
• Solubility
• Synergistic Interactions
• Teratogens