Solid and Hazardous Waste

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Solid and Hazardous Waste
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(No Transcript)
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Disposable?

• We live in a disposable society, trash is an
  everyday reality for every American.
• What does this term mean?
• Wall-E
• Think about our habits and perception of trash.
• What are the factors in identifying a disposable
  society?

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Central Case Transforming New Yorks Fresh
Kills Landfill

• The largest landfill in the world, it closed in
  2001
• Staten Island residents viewed the landfill as an
  eyesore and civic blemish
• It was briefly reopened to bury rubble from the
  World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001,
  attack
• New York plans to transform the landfill into a
  world-class public park

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Core Case Study Love Canal There Is No Away

• Between 1842-1953, Hooker Chemical sealed
  multiple chemical wastes into steel drums and
  dumped them into an old canal excavation (Love
  Canal).
• In 1953, the canal was filled and sold to Niagara
  Falls school board for 1.
• The company inserted a disclaimer denying
  liability for the wastes.

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Core Case Study Love Canal There Is No Away

• In 1957, Hooker Chemical warned the school not to
  disturb the site because of the toxic waste.
• In 1959 an elementary school, playing fields and
  homes were built disrupting the clay cap covering
  the wastes.
• In 1976, residents complained of chemical smells
  and chemical burns from the site.

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Core Case Study Love Canal There Is No Away

• President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a
  federal disaster area.
• The area was abandoned in 1980 (left).

Figure 22-1
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Core Case Study Love Canal There Is No Away

• It still is a controversy as to how much the
  chemicals at Love Canal injured or caused disease
  to the residents.
• Love Canal sparked creation of the Superfund law,
  which forced polluters to pay for cleaning up
  abandoned toxic waste dumps.

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Waste

• What is your definition of waste?

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Waste

• Any discarded material for which no further sale
  or use is intended
• examples residue, chemical by-products, unused
  virgin material, spill absorbent material

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WASTING RESOURCES

• Solid waste any unwanted or discarded material
  we produce that is not a liquid or gas.
• Municipal solid waste (MSW) produce directly
  from homes.
• Industrial solid waste produced indirectly by
  industries that supply people with goods and
  services.

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Solid Waste

• Any garbage refuse sludge from a waste
  treatment plant or air pollution control
  facility and other discarded material (including
  solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous
  material) generated from any industrial,
  commercial or community activities mining or
  agricultural operations

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Solid Waste Exclusions

• Solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage
  or irrigation return flows
• Industrial discharges subject to CWA regulations,
  including POTW
• Source, special nuclear or by-product material
  defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954

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Ways to reduce waste that enters waste stream

• Waste stream flow of waste as it moves from its
  sources toward disposal destinations
• More efficient use of materials, consume less,
  buy goods with less packaging, reusing goods
• Recovery (recycling, composting) next best
  strategy in waste management
• Recycling sends used goods to manufacture new
  goods
• Composting recovery of organic waste
• All materials in nature are recycled

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How Much Trash is Generated?

• Of the 251 million tons (228 million metric tons)
  of trash, or solid waste, generated in the United
  States in 2006, about 81.8 million tons (74.2
  million metric tons), or 32.5 percent, was either
  recycled or composted source EPA.

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Materials Discarded in a Municipal Landfill

• Paper and paperboard 41.0
• Yard waste 17.9
• Glass 8.2
• Metal 8.7
• Rubber, leather, textiles 8.1
• Food waste 7.9
• Plastic 6.5
• Miscellaneous inorganic 1.6

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Electronic Waste A Growing Problem

• E-waste consists of toxic and hazardous waste
  such as PVC, lead, mercury, and cadmium.
• The U.S. produces almost half of the world's
  e-waste but only recycles about 10 of it.

Figure 22-4
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Waste generation is rising in the U.S.

• In the U.S,, since 1960, waste generation has
  increased by 2.8 times

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Waste disposal
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WASTING RESOURCES

• Solid wastes polluting a river in Jakarta,
  Indonesia. The man in the boat is looking for
  items to salvage or sell.

Figure 22-3
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Trash For Sale

• The US sells its trash to China for recycling.
• The turn in the economy has devalued the
  recycling industry

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INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

• We can manage the solid wastes we produce and
  reduce or prevent their production.

Figure 22-5
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WASTING RESOURCES

• The United States produces about a third of the
  worlds solid waste and buries more than half of
  it in landfills.
• About 98.5 is industrial solid waste.
• The remaining 1.5 is MSW.
• About 55 of U.S. MSW is dumped into landfills,
  30 is recycled or composted, and 15 is burned
  in incinerators.

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Burying Solid Waste

• Most of the worlds MSW is buried in landfills
  that eventually are expected to leak toxic
  liquids into the soil and underlying aquifers.
• Open dumps are fields or holes in the ground
  where garbage is deposited and sometimes covered
  with soil. Mostly used in developing countries.
• Sanitary landfills solid wastes are spread out
  in thin layers, compacted and covered daily with
  a fresh layer of clay or plastic foam.

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Sanitary landfills are regulated

• Sanitary landfills waste buried in the ground
  or piled in large, engineered mounds
• Must meet national standards set by the EPA under
  the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
  of 1976
• Waste is partially decomposed by bacteria and
  compresses under its own weight to make more
  space
• Layered with soil to reduce odor, speed
  decomposition, reduce infestation by pets
• When a landfill is closed, it must be capped and
  maintained

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40 CFR Parts 239-259

• The purpose of this part is to establish minimum
  national criteria under the Resource Conservation
  and Recovery Act (RCRA or the Act), as amended,
  for all municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF)
  units and under the Clean Water Act, as amended,
  for municipal solid waste landfills that are used
  to dispose of sewage sludge. These minimum
  national criteria ensure the protection of human
  health and the environment.

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Regulatory Guidelines

• Subtitle D, of RCRA regulates non-hazardous
  waste
• Siting
• Design
• Operation
• Monitoring
• Closure and post-closure
• Financial assurance

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Why do we have landfills?

• Protect groundwater
• Protect surface water
• Protect air quality
• Control pathogenic migration

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Landfill Design

• The main waste contaminant features are
• Underlying soils
• Depth to groundwater
• Landfill liner (triple liner)
• Leachate collection system
• Leachate prevention through infiltration and
  drainage control
• Cover soil and final landfill cap

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The Size of the Landfill

• Limit of Refuse filing (LRF) determines the
  volume of waste that can be properly stored at
  the site
• Determined by site characterization, proximity to
  surface and groundwater

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The Liner

• A liner acts like a giant garbage bag
• Clay liner
• Synthetic liner
• Additional liner

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Liner Construction
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Drainage Control

• Surface water infiltration is drained from the
  landfill

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Leachate

• Leachate is the liquid that migrates from within
  a land disposal site which has come in contact
  with solid waste.

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Monitoring

• Groundwater monitoring wells are installed around
  the landfill to monitor pollution migration.
• Gas collection wells are installed to remove
  methane which is a natural decomposition product
  or organic material.

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Procedures

• Waste is broken down and moved into the landfill.
• A layer of dirt is used to cover the waste.

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Closure

• Solid waste is layered with soil or clay and
  capped off.

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Closure
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Landfill Construction
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BURNING AND BURYING SOLID WASTE

• Globally, MSW is burned in over 1,000 large
  waste-to-energy incinerators, which boil water to
  make steam for heating water, or space, or for
  production of electricity.
• Japan and a few European countries incinerate
  most of their MSW.

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Burning Solid Waste

• Waste-to-energy incinerator with pollution
  controls that burns mixed solid waste.

Figure 22-10
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Landfills can produce gas for energy

• Bacteria can decompose waste in an
  oxygen-deficient environment
• Landfill gas a mix of gases that consists of
  roughly half methane
• Can be collected, processed, and used like
  natural gas
• When not used commercially, landfill gas is
  burned off in flares to reduce odors and
  greenhouse emissions

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THE RS
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Solutions Reducing Solid Waste

• Refuse to buy items that we really dont need.
• Reduce consume less and live a simpler and less
  stressful life by practicing simplicity.
• Reuse rely more on items that can be used over
  and over.
• Repurpose use something for another purpose
  instead of throwing it away.
• Recycle paper, glass, cans, plasticsand buy
  items made from recycled materials.

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REUSE

• Reusing products is an important way to reduce
  resource use, waste, and pollution in developed
  countries.
• Reusing can be hazardous in developing countries
  for poor who scavenge in open dumps.
• They can be exposed to toxins or infectious
  diseases.

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Case Study Using Refillable Containers

• Refilling and reusing containers uses fewer
  resources and less energy, produces less waste,
  saves money, and creates jobs.
• In Denmark and Canadas Price Edwards Island
  there is a ban on all beverage containers that
  cannot be reused.
• In Finland 95 of soft drink and alcoholic
  beverages are refillable (Germany 75).

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REUSE

• Reducing resource waste energy consumption for
  different types of 350-ml (12-oz) beverage
  containers.

Figure 22-7
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Solutions Other Ways to Reuse Things

• We can use reusable shopping bags, food
  containers, and shipping pallets, and borrow
  tools from tool libraries.
• Many countries in Europe and Asia charge shoppers
  for plastic bags.

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RECYCLING

• Primary (closed loop) recycling materials are
  turned into new products of the same type.
• Secondary recycling materials are converted into
  different products.
• Used tires shredded and converted into rubberized
  road surface.
• Newspapers transformed into cellulose insulation.

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RECYCLING

• There is a disagreement over whether to mix urban
  wastes and send them to centralized resource
  recovery plants or to sort recyclables for
  collection and sale to manufacturers as raw
  materials.
• To promote separation of wastes, 4,000
  communities in the U.S. have implemented
  pay-as-you-throw or fee-per-bag waste collection
  systems.

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RECYCLING

• Composting biodegradable organic waste mimics
  nature by recycling plant nutrients to the soil.
• Recycling paper has a number of environmental
  (reduction in pollution and deforestation, less
  energy expenditure) and economic benefits and is
  easy to do.

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RECYCLING

• Recycling many plastics is chemically and
  economically difficult.
• Many plastics are hard to isolate from other
  wastes.
• Recovering individual plastic resins does not
  yield much material.
• The cost of virgin plastic resins in low than
  recycled resins due to low fossil fuel costs.
• There are new technologies that are making
  plastics biodegradable.

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RECYCLING

• Reuse and recycling are hindered by prices of
  goods that do not reflect their harmful
  environmental impacts, too few government
  subsidies and tax breaks, and price fluctuations.

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Alternatives

• What can you do with waste other than landfilling
  it?
• Compost piles
• Biodegradable

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Compost

• Compost is a pile of organic debris.
• Roughly half of household waste is made up of
  food and garden waste. Most of this material
  could be composted to save landfill, improve soil
  condition and provide fertiliser in the garden at
  no cost.
• Composting is the method of breaking down waste
  organic materials in a large container or heap.
  The decomposition occurs because of the naturally
  occurring micro-organisms, such as bacteria and
  fungi.

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Compost Piles
Can go in Compost Can't go in Compost
Vegetable and fruit scraps Meat and Dairy products
Fallen Leaves Diseased Plants
Tea Leaves and Tea Bags Metals, plastic glass
Coffee Grounds Droppings of meat eating animals (eg dogs)
Vacuum Cleaner Dust Fats or Oils
Soft Stems Magazines
Dead Flowers Large Branches
Used Vegetable Cooking Oil Weeds that have seeds or underground stems
Egg Shells Bread or cake (attracts mice)
Lawn Clippings Bones
Old Newspapers
Sawdust (not from treated timber)
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Hazardous Waste

• The rules are different!

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Illegal dumping of hazardous waste

• Since hazardous waste disposal is costly, it
  results in illegal and anonymous dumping by
  companies,
• Creating health risks
• Industrial nations illegally dump in developing
  nations
• Basel Convention, an international treaty, should
  prevent dumping but it still happens
• High costs of disposal encourages companies to
  invest in reducing their hazardous waste

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Superfund

• Later laws charged the EPA with cleaning up
  brownfields lands whose reuse or development
  are complicated by the presence of hazardous
  materials
• Two events spurred creation of Superfund
  legislation
• In Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York, families
  were evacuated after buried toxic chemicals rose
  to the surface, contaminating homes and an
  elementary school
• In Times Beach, Missouri, the entire town was
  evacuated after being contaminated with dioxin
  from waste oil sprayed on roads

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The Superfund process

• Once a Superfund site is identified, EPA
  scientists evaluate
• How close the site is to human habitation
• Whether wastes are currently confined or likely
  to spread
• Whether the site threatens drinking water supplies

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Superfund harmful sites

• Harmful sites are
• Placed on the EPAs National Priority List
• Ranked according to the level of risk to human
  health that they pose
• Cleaned up on a site-by-site basis as funds are
  available
• The EPA is required to hold public hearings and
  inform area residents of tits findings and to
  receive feedback

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Who pays for cleanup?

• CERCLA operates under the polluter pays principle
  polluting parties were to be charged for
  cleanup
• However, the responsible parties often cant be
  found
• A trust fund was established by a federal tax on
  petroleum and chemical industries
• The fund is bankrupt, and neither the Bush
  administration nor Congress has moved to restore
  it, so taxpayers now pay all costs of cleanup
• Fewer cleanups are being completed
• An average cleanup costs 25 million and takes 12
  - 15 years

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Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States

• Two major federal laws regulate the management
  and disposal of hazardous waste in the U.S.
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
• Cradle-to-the-grave system to keep track waste.
• Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Commonly known as Superfund program.

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Hazardous Waste Regulations in the United States

• The Superfund law was designed to have polluters
  pay for cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste
  sites.
• Only 70 of the cleanup costs have come from the
  polluters, the rest comes from a trust fund
  financed until 1995 by taxes on chemical raw
  materials and oil.

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The stepwise process of determining a hazardous
waste

• Define the material as a waste
• Define the waste as solid waste
• Determine any solid waste exclusions
• Define the solid waste as hazardous
• Determine any hazardous waste exclusions

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Hazardous Waste

• Solid waste or combination of solid wastes which
  because of its quantity, concentration, or
  physical, chemical or infectious characteristics
  may cause an increase in mortality,
  incapacitating illness or pose a present or
  potential hazard to the health or environment
  when improperly treated, stored or disposed of.

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A Hazardous Waste is . . .

• listed by 40 CFR Part 261 or
• is characterized by analytical methodology

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EPA Criteria for Hazardous Waste

• Toxicity
• Persistence in the environment
• Degradability in the environment
• Bioaccumulation potential
• Hazardous Characteristics ignitibility,
  corrosivity, reactivity, Toxicity Characteristic
  Leachate Procedure (TCLP)

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Hazardous Characteristics

• Ignitibility flashpoint less than 140oF
  (lt140oF)
• Corrosivity pH less than 2.0 S.U. or greater
  than 12.5 S.U. (2.0 lt S.U. lt 12.5)
• Reactivity a combination of greater than 250
  mg/kg of HCN and greater than 500 mg/kg of H2S

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Hazardous Characteristics (cont.)

• TCLP with one or more compounds above the Maximum
  Concentration Limit

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Hazardous Waste Exclusions

• Household waste
• Agricultural waste returned as fertilizer
• Mining overburden returned to mine site
• Certain utility wastes from coal combustion
• Certain oil natural gas exploration drilling
  waste

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Hazardous Waste Exclusions (continued)

• Waste from mining and processing ores
• Cement chromium bearing wastes
• Cement kiln dust wastes
• Arsenic-treated wood wastes from end users

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Dioxins

• Regulated by TSCA
• Group of more than 70 different chlorinated
  dioxins
• By-product of certain manufacturing processes
• Carcinogen
• Teratogen
• Mutagen

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Bioaccumulators

• Chlorinated Insecticides
• Carbamates
• Organophosphates
• Herbicides
• Metals

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Hydrogen Sulfide

• Decomposition product of organic matter
• Sludge press by-product
• If the pH falls below 7 S.U., Hydrogen Sulfide is
  released
• Toxic gas

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Cyanides (-CN)

• Commonly found in plating operations and sludges
• When mixed with an acid, Hydrogen Cyanide gas is
  released
• Can cause instantaneous death
• Acutely toxic

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Eight Heavy Metals (RCRA)

• Arsenic
• Barium
• Cadmium
• Chromium
• Lead
• Mercury
• Selenium
• Silver

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Case Study Lead

• Lead is especially harmful to children and is
  still used in leaded gasoline and household
  paints in about 100 countries.

Figure 22-24
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Case Study Mercury

• Mercury is released into the environment mostly
  by burning coal and incinerating wastes and can
  build to high levels in some types of fish.

Figure 22-26
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AIR
PRECIPITATION
PRECIPITATION
WINDS
WINDS
Hg2 and acids
Hg2 and acids
Hg and SO2
Photo- chemical
Elemental mercury vapor (Hg)
Inorganic mercury and acids (Hg2)
Human sources
Inorganic mercury and acids (Hg2)
Coal- burning plant
Incinerator
Deposition
Runoff of Hg2 and acids
Deposition
WATER
Large fish
Vaporization
BIOMAGNIFICATION IN FOOD CHAIN
Deposition
Small fish
Deposition
Zooplankton
Phytoplankton
Bacteria and acids
Oxidation
Organic mercury (CH3Hg)
Inorganic mercury (Hg2)
Elemental mercury liquid (Hg)
Bacteria
Settles out
Settles out
Settles out
SEDIMENT
Fig. 22-25, p. 542
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Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

• Group of chlorinated hydrocarbons
• Arochlor 1016, 1254, etc.
• By-product of certain manufacturing processes
• Transformer oil - dielectric properties

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Waste Minimization

• Waste minimization is required by all Large
  Quantity Generators and can be achieved by
• using an alternative process
• reducing the amount used or
• solvent substitution

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How is hazardous waste treated?

• The EPA decides the appropriate method of
  disposal for each listed and typed waste.
• Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDF)
  are permitted to handle hazardous waste.
• Transporters of hazardous waste are also
  permitted.

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Treatment Methods

• There are several categories of treatment
  options.
• Landfill or Storage
• Incineration or Destruction
• Fuel Blending
• Neutralization
• Biological Treatment

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Conversion to Less Hazardous Substances

• Incineration heating many types of hazardous
  waste to high temperatures up to 2000 C in
  an incinerator can break them down and convert
  them to less harmful or harmless chemicals.

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Conversion to Less Hazardous Substances

• Plasma Torch passing electrical current through
  gas to generate an electric arc and very high
  temperatures can create plasma.
• The plasma process can be carried out in a torch
  which can decompose liquid or solid hazardous
  organic material.

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Long-Term Storage of Hazardous Waste

• Hazardous waste can be disposed of on or
  underneath the earths surface, but without
  proper design and care this can pollute the air
  and water.
• Deep-well disposal liquid hazardous wastes are
  pumped under pressure into dry porous rock far
  beneath aquifers.
• Surface impoundments excavated depressions such
  as ponds, pits, or lagoons into which liners are
  placed and liquid hazardous wastes are stored.

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Trade-Offs
Deep Underground Wells
Advantages
Disadvantages
Leaks or spills at surface
Safe method if sites are chosen carefully
Leaks from corrosion of well casing
Wastes can be retrieved if problems develop
Existing fractures or earthquakes can allow
wastes to escape into groundwater
Easy to do
Encourages waste production
Low cost
Fig. 22-20, p. 539
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Trade-Offs
Surface Impoundments
Advantages
Disadvantages
Groundwater contamination from leaking liners (or
no lining)
Low construction costs
Low operating costs
Air pollution from volatile organic compounds
Can be built quickly
Overflow from flooding
Wastes can be retrieved if necessary
Disruption and leakage from earthquakes
Can store wastes indefinitely with secure double
liners
Promotes waste production
Fig. 22-21, p. 539
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Long-Term Storage of Hazardous Waste

• Long-Term Retrievable Storage Some highly toxic
  materials cannot be detoxified or destroyed.
  Metal drums are used to stored them in areas that
  can be inspected and retrieved.
• Secure Landfills Sometimes hazardous waste are
  put into drums and buried in carefully designed
  and monitored sites.

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Secure Hazardous Waste Landfill

• In the U.S. there are only 23 commercial
  hazardous waste landfills.

Figure 22-22
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Brownfields

• Brownfields are real property, the expansion,
  redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
  complicated by the presence or potential presence
  of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or
  contaminant.
• In other words, an abandoned property that is
  potentially contaminated

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How many?

• It is estimated that there are more than 450,000
  brownfields in the U.S.
• Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties
  increases local tax bases, facilitates job
  growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes
  development pressures off of undeveloped, open
  land, and both improves and protects the
  environment.

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Phytoremediation

• Phytoremediation is the use of living green
  plants for in situ risk reduction and/or removal
  of contaminants from contaminated soil, water,
  sediments, and air.

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Phytoremediation

• Phytoremediation is actually a term for several
  ways in which plants can be used to clean up
  contaminated soils and water.
• Phytoextraction or inorganics or metals
• Rhizofiltration for metals
• Phytostabilization to stabilize soil
• Phytodegradation of organic compounds
• Rhizodegradation for organics
• Phytovolatilization

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Advantages of phytoremediation

• It is more economically viable using the same
  tools and supplies as agriculture
• It is less disruptive to the environment and does
  not involve waiting for new plant communities to
  recolonize the site
• Disposal sites are not needed
• It is more likely to be accepted by the public as
  it is more aesthetically pleasing then
  traditional methods
• It avoids excavation and transport of polluted
  media thus reducing the risk of spreading the
  contamination
• It has the potential to treat sites polluted with
  more than one type of pollutant

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Disadvantages of phytoremediation

• It is dependant on the growing conditions
  required by the plant (ie climate, geology,
  altitude, temperature)
• Large scale operations require access to
  agricultural equipment and knowledge
• Success is dependant on the tolerance of the
  plant to the pollutant
• Contaminants collected in senescing tissues may
  be released back into the environment in autumn
• Contaminants may be collected in woody tissues
  used as fuel
• Time taken to remediate sites far exceeds that of
  other technologies
• Contaminant solubility may be increased leading
  to greater environmental damage and the
  possibility of leaching

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ACHIEVING A LOW-WASTE SOCIETY

• In the U.S., citizens have kept large numbers of
  incinerators, landfills, and hazardous waste
  treatment plants from being built in their local
  areas.
• Environmental justice means that everyone is
  entitled to protection from environmental hazards
  without discrimination.

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Global Outlook International Action to Reduce
Hazardous Waste

• An international treaty calls for phasing out the
  use of harmful persistent organic pollutants
  (POPs).
• POPs are insoluble in water and soluble in fat.
• Nearly every person on earth has detectable
  levels of POPs in their blood.
• The U.S has not ratified this treaty.

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Making the Transition to a Low-Waste Society A
New Vision

• Everything is connected.
• There is no away for the wastes we produce.
• Dilution is not always the solution to pollution.
• The best and cheapest way to deal with wastes are
  reduction and pollution prevention.