Solid and Hazardous Waste

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Solid and Hazardous Waste
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Wasting Resources

• United States
• 4.6 of the world's population
• 33 of the world's solid waste
• 75 of its hazardous waste

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Waste Overview

• Solid Waste
• any unwanted material that is solid
• The U.S. produces 11,000,000,000 tons
  (22,000,000,000,000 lbs) per year
• Some of this solid waste can be recycled
  (agricultural waste), but much has to dealt with
• Waste Stream the steady flow of wastes that
  humans produce from all sources

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• Solid Waste
• Source Reduction
• Reuse
• Recycling
• Composting
• Incineration
• Landfills
• Hazardous Waste
• Superfund Sites

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Where does U.S. waste come from?
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Sources of U.S. waste

• Mining waste makes up 75 of all waste, but much
  of that is used soil or spoil
• Industrial solid waste
• scrap metal, plastics, paper, fly ash (power
  plants) and sludge
• most is burned or buried on-site
• Municipal solid waste (MSW)
• from homes and businesses
• 700kg per person per year
• 60 dumped, 24 recycled, 16 burned

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Solid Waste

• Problems
• Disease (Rodent and pest reduction)
• Fire potential
• Decrease in the aesthetic quality of the
  environment

www2.tltc.ttu.edu/jackson/solid20waste.ppt
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Municipal Solid Waste

• MSWmore commonly known as trash or
  garbageconsists of everyday items
• Product packaging
• Grass clippings
• Furniture
• Clothing
• Bottles
• Food scraps
• Newspapers
• Appliances
• Paint
• Batteries

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Includes rubber and textiles Source EPA Office
of Solid Waste, Municipal Solid Waste Fact Sheet
www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm
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MSW

• In 1999, U.S. residents, businesses, and
  institutions produced more than 230 million tons
  of MSW
• Approximately 4.6 pounds of waste per person per
  day (1680 pounds/year)
• Up from 2.7 pounds per person per day in 1960

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MSW

• Several MSW management practices prevent or
  divert materials from the wastestream
• Source reduction
• Reuse
• Recycling
• Composting

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Agriculture Waste

• Livestock produce sewage
• 200,000 hens, 1200 head of cattle in a feedlot,
  10,500 hogs may produce as much waste as 20,000
  people
• In the U.S., there are 337 million hen, 96.1
  million head of cattle 58.7 million hogs which
  produce twice as much sewage as all the humans in
  the U.S.

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1. Source Reduction

• Source reduction (waste prevention) means
  consuming and throwing away less
• Purchasing durable, long-lasting goods
• Seeking products and packaging that are as free
  of toxins as possible

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Source Reduction

• May be as complex as redesigning a product
• use less raw material in production
• have a longer life
• be used again after its original use is
  completed
• Source reduction actually prevents the generation
  of waste in the first place, it is the most
  preferable method of waste management and goes a
  long way toward protecting the environment

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Source Reduction

• Since 1977, the weight of 2-liter plastic soft
  drink bottles has been reduced from 68 grams each
  to 51 grams
• That means that 250 million pounds of plastic per
  year has been kept out of the waste stream

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2. Reuse

• Reusing items by repairing them, donating them to
  charity and community groups, or selling them
• Use a product more than once, either for the same
  purpose or for a different purpose
• Reusing, when possible, is preferable to
  recycling because the item does not need to be
  reprocessed before it can be used again

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Other Options Reduce Waste

• Reduce consumption
• reduce manufacturing to produce less waste
• reduce packaging (50 of domestic waste)
• trash taxes
• also, modify waste
• photodegradable and biodegradable plastics

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Other options reuse waste

• Glass bottles for beverage
• charge high prices and give return rebate
• use fabric bags for groceries
• reuse car parts, motor oil etc.

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Ways to Reuse

• Using durable coffee mugs
• Using cloth napkins or towels
• Refilling bottles
• Donating old magazines or surplus equipment
• Reusing boxes
• Turning empty jars into containers for leftover
  food
• Purchasing refillable pens and pencils
• Participating in a paint collection and reuse
  program

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3. Recycling

• Recycling, including composting, diverted 64
  million tons of material away from landfills and
  incinerators in 1999, up from 34 million tons in
  1990
• Typical materials that are recycled include
  batteries, recycled at a rate of 96.9, paper and
  paperboard at 41.9, and yard trimmings at 45.3
• These materials and others may be recycled
  through curbside programs, drop-off centers,
  buy-back programs, and deposit systems

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Other options Recycle waste

• Recycling is defined as the process of turning
  discarded materials into new materials
• into same product (aluminum cans)
• into a different product (fleeces)
• Successes
• 2/3 of all aluminum cans are recycled (2 months)
• paper recycling is taking off (40)
• recycling Sunday papers would save 500,000 trees
  per week
• In Japan, 50 of all household waste is recycled
  (20 in U.S.)

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http//www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/mswdata.
htm
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Benefits

• Recycling
• Prevents the emission of many greenhouse gases
  and water pollutants
• Saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to
  industry
• Creates jobs
• Stimulates the development of greener
  technologies
• Conserves resources for our childrens future
• Reduces the need for new landfills and combustors
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that affect
  global climate
• In 1996, prevented the release of 33 million tons
  of carbon into the airroughly the amount emitted
  annually by 25 million cars.

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http//www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/mswdata.
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Comparison of Countries Waste Treatment
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4. Composting

• Composting is the controlled biological
  decomposition of organic matter, such as food and
  yard wastes, into humus, a soil-like material
• Composting is nature's way of recycling organic
  wastes into new soil used in vegetable and flower
  gardens, landscaping, and many other applications

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Composting

• House-by-house recycling of organic material
  under aerobic conditions
• green waste and plant food waste are broken down
  by soil organisms and turned into humus

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Benefits

• Composting
• Keeps organic wastes out of landfills
• Provides nutrients to the soil
• Increases beneficial soil organisms (e.g., worms
  and centipedes)
• Suppresses certain plant diseases
• Reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides
• Protects soils from erosion
• Assists pollution remediation

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5. Incineration and Resource Recovery

• Also called energy recovery or
  waste-to-energy
• trash is burned, and the heat is used to generate
  electricity
• 1000 plants word-wide (110 in U.S.)

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Incinerators

• Two types
• refuse-derived
• trash is sorted before burning
• less air pollution
• higher quality fuel
• mass burn
• all trash burned
• more air pollution
• 10-20 of original mass is ash which must be
  disposed of as toxic waste
• recycling is so effective in places that cities
  are having trouble with contractual agreements

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Incinerator Example
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6. Landfills

• Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
  (RCRA), landfills that accept MSW are primarily
  regulated by state, tribal, and local governments
• EPA, however, has established national standards
  these landfills must meet in order to stay open
• The number of landfills in the United States is
  steadily decreasingfrom 8,000 in 1988 to 2,300
  in 1999
• The capacity, however, has remained relatively
  constant
• New landfills are much larger than in the past

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Landfills

• Built to decrease problems with insect and rodent
  populations
• litter is compacted and covered every day
• newer ones have lining (only 15)
• up to 50 of all cities have used up landfill
  space
• Landfills in Ohio
• cities export trash (New Jersey)

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Traditional Landfills
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Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
  was enacted by Congress in 1976 and amended in
  1984.
• The act's primary goal is to protect human health
  and the environment from the potential hazards of
  waste disposal.
• In addition, RCRA calls for conservation of
  energy and natural resources, reduction in waste
  generated, and environmentally sound waste
  management practices.

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Landfill Design

• The bottom liner may be layers of clay or other
  synthetic material (clay, plastic, or composite),
  which is placed on compacted soil.
• The bottom of the landfill is sloped and pipes
  along the bottom collect leachate. This leachate
  collections system must be very carefully planned
  and built by engineers. It is usually a system
  of pipes. (These pipes are among a gravel and
  sand layer.) The leachate is then pumped away and
  treated at a plant.
• Trash is dumped onto the landfill and
  consistently layered with soil to promote safer
  and better decomposition.
• A cover is placed over the landfill to keep water
  out (to prevent eventual leachate formation).
• Landfills also must have a system to dispose of
  methane gas. The structure of this system must be
  carefully engineered.

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Federal Landfill Standards

• Location restrictions ensure that landfills are
  built in suitable geological areas away from
  faults, wetlands, flood plains, or other
  restricted areas
• Liners are geomembrane or plastic sheets
  reinforced with two feet of clay on the bottom
  and sides of landfills
• Bioreactors start at 133

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Landfill Design
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Advanced Landfills
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Federal Landfill Standards

• Operating practices such as compacting and
  covering waste frequently with several inches of
  soil help reduce odor control litter, insects,
  and rodents and protect public health
• Groundwater monitoring requires testing
  groundwater wells to determine whether waste
  materials have escaped from the landfill

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Exporting Wastes

• Wastes get exported from developed (wealthy)
  countries to developing (poor) countries
• there is little control by receiving countries
  about what is in trash
• in 1994 there was a ban on transporting toxic
  wastes
• also happens within countries - trash goes to
  poor neighborhoods (and Am. Indians)

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Federal Landfill Standards

• Closure and postclosure care include covering
  landfills and providing long-term care of closed
  landfills
• Corrective action controls and cleans up landfill
  releases and achieves groundwater protection
  standards
• Financial assurance provides funding for
  environmental protection during and after
  landfill closure (i.e., closure and postclosure
  care)

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Overview

• Hazardous waste - any discarded material, liquid
  or solid, that contains materials known to be
• fatal in low doses
• toxic, carcinogenic, mutagens or teratogens
• ignitable at less than 60C
• corrosive
• explosive
• 265 million tons a year
• largest source is in the chemical and petroleum
  industries
• 60 million enters the waste stream

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Household Hazardous Waste

• Common household items such as paints, cleaners,
  oils, batteries, and pesticides contain hazardous
  components
• Labels danger, warning, caution, toxic,
  corrosive, flammable, or poison identify products
  that might contain hazardous materials
• Leftover portions of these products are called
  household hazardous waste (HHW)
• These products, if mishandled, can be dangerous
  to your health and the environment

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HW Facts and Figures

• Americans generate 1.6 million tons of HHW per
  year
• The average home can accumulate as much as 100
  pounds of HHW in the basement and garage and in
  storage closets
• During the 1980s, many communities started
  special collection days or permanent collection
  sites for handling HHW
• In 1997, there were more than 3,000 HHW permanent
  programs and collection events throughout the
  United States

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Producers of Hazardous Waste
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Proper Handling

• The best way to handle HHW is to reduce the
  amount initially generated by giving leftover
  products to someone else to use
• To deal with household hazardous waste, many
  communities have set up collection programs to
  prevent HHW from being disposed of in MSW
  landfills and combustors Glendale
• These programs ensure the safe disposal of HHW in
  facilities designed to treat or dispose of
  hazardous waste
• More than 3,000 HHW collection programs exist in
  the United States

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Benefits

• Proper HHW Management
• Reduction and recycling of HHW conserves
  resources and energy that would be expended in
  the production of more products
• Reuse of hazardous household products can save
  money and reduce the need for generating
  hazardous substances
• Proper disposal prevents pollution that could
  endanger human health and the environment

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What can be done about hazardous waste?

• physical treatment
• distill, charcoal, fuse in glass
• incineration
• burn at very hot temps
• chemical processing
• neutralization, oxidation
• biological waste treatment
• bacteria
• store permanently
• permanent retrievable
• secure landfills
• deep well disposal

Love Canal
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About Superfund

• Years ago, people were less aware of how dumping
  chemical wastes might affect public health and
  the environment
• On thousands of properties where such practices
  were intensive or continuous, the result was
  uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites,
  such as abandoned warehouses and landfills

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About Superfund

• Citizen concern over the extent of this problem
  led Congress to establish the Superfund Program
  in 1980 to locate, investigate, and clean up the
  worst sites nationwide
• The EPA administers the Superfund program in
  cooperation with individual states and tribal
  governments
• The office that oversees management of the
  program is the Office of Emergency and Remedial
  Response (OERR)

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Superfund Sites

• 1290-4500 sites on the National Priority List
• Usually sites that are leaking into ground water
  (56 have contaminated surface waters)
• Problems
• EPA has only cleaned up 200 sites
• money mismanagement

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Superfund Legislation

• Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation, and Liabilities Act (CERCLA) 1980
• Superfund to clean up abandoned sites
• Hazard Ranking System (HRS)
• National Priority List (NPL)
• Reauthorized in 1986 (SARA)

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• Intended as a solution to those previously
  contaminated sites with no-one to pay (no PRPs)
• Two levels
• Emergency response
• immediate threat to human health or environment
• Long term remediation
• if Hazard Ranking System (HRS) shows a score over
  27.5, it is added to the National Priorities List
  (NPL) for Superfund cleanup
• 1300 sites on NPL in 1990, more to come

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Steel Mill17th Worst Site Ranked by EPA ARMCO
Inc. Hamilton Plant in Butler OH

• 120 acres
• Steel mill that is producing both coke and molten
  iron
• Numerous owners since 1900
• Armco has owned since 1937
• Stopped production of coke in 1982
• Closed completely in 1994
• On Premises
• Coke Production Facility and Blast Furnaces
• Storage of Scrubber Sludge Waste Piles
• 4.5 ac. Landfill

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Contaminants Detected

Ground Water Surface Water Air Soil Other
2-METHYLNAPHTHALENE         X
ANTHRACENE         X
ANTIMONY X        
AROCLOR 1248   X      
AROCLOR 1254   X      
ARSENIC (ORGANIC OR INORGANIC COMPOUNDS)         X
BARIUM COMPOUNDS   X      
BENZ(A)ANTHRACENE   X      
BENZO(A)PYRENE   X      
BENZO(B)FLUORANTHENE   X      
BENZO(GHI)PERYLENE   X      
BENZO(K)FLUORANTHENE   X      
BERYLLIUM COMPOUNDS   X      
CADMIUM   X      
CHROMIUM         X
CHRYSENE         X
CYANIDE COMPOUNDS         X
DIBENZOFURAN         X
FLUORANTHENE   X      
FLUORENE         X
LEAD   X      
MANGANESE COMPOUNDS   X      
NAPHTHALENE         X
NICKEL COMPOUNDS   X      
P-CRESOL   X      
PHENANTHRENE         X
PYRENE         X
SILVER COMPOUNDS         X
ZINC   X
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AK Steel
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Types of Superfund Sites

• Landfills and dumps
• industries bury metal drums on own property
• Waste lagoons and injection wells
• pumped into uncontained sites
• Stringfellow
• bet. 1956 1972, 120,000,000L of toxic chemicals
  were dumped into ponds - now threatening LA water
• Warehousing and illegal dumping
• stored in warehouses and abandoned
• often flammable and poisonous

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Where are Superfund Sites?
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Superfund In Ohio

• DIAMOND SHAMROCK CORP. (PAINESVILLE WORKS)
• CHEMICAL MINERALS RECLAMATION

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Hazardous Waste Legislation

• RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of
  1976
• cradle to grave record keeping
• CERCLA - Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensate and Liability Act - Superfund Act -
  1980
• containment, clean up and remediation of
  abandoned toxic sites
• EPA can sue for costs
• anyone involved can be charged whole cost
• amended in 1995 to be less strict