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Solid and Hazardous Waste

Solid and Hazardous Waste. Key terms. Solid Waste Sanitary Landfills (Design and Function) Leachate NIMBY Reduce Reuse Recycle (What product has the highest % of recycling?) Primary Recycling Secondary Recycling PAYT Waste to Energy Programs (WTE) Love Canal Case Study

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Solid and Hazardous Waste

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  1. Solid and Hazardous Waste

  2. Key terms • Solid Waste • Sanitary Landfills (Design and Function) • Leachate • NIMBY • Reduce • Reuse • Recycle (What product has the highest % of recycling?) • Primary Recycling • Secondary Recycling • PAYT • Waste to Energy Programs (WTE) • Love Canal Case Study • Hazardous waste • Radioactive waste • Low vs. High • Transuranic waste

  3. LAWS • RCRA (1976) ** • CERCLA (1980) - “Superfound Act” ** • Toxic Substances Control Act (TOSCA) 1976 • Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982)

  4. Hazardous waste • Waste known to be harmful to humans and other living things • Poisonous, toxic, reduce lifespan • Can not be disposed of in regular landfills • Must meet specific requirements to endure safe disposal

  5. EPA Criteria for Hazardous waste • Corrosive waste = waste that corrodes metal (eats through metal barrels or containers) • Strong acids • Cleaning agents • Ignitable waste = can easily catch on fire • Alcohol or Gasoline • Solvents • Some paints

  6. EPA Criteria for Hazardous waste • Reactive waste = substances that are chemically unstable or react readily with other compounds, resulting in explosions or causing other problems (Explosiveness) • Toxic Waste = waste that creates health risks when inhaled or ingested, or comes into contact with skin (negative health effects) • Carcinogens (cancer), • Teratogens (birth defects) • Mutagens (increase genetic mutations) • Heavy Metals = Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic • Pesticides, household and industrial chemicals • Nuclear Wastes

  7. ways of disposal • Generally stored on site at the plant where it was generated • Treatments: • Biological - variety of bacterial decomposers may be used to break down hazardous organic wastes or other biological material • Chemical - reactions used to neutralize wastes creating less toxic products • Burial - use special concrete containers • Surface Impoundments • Typically use for liquid waste • Shallow, lined pools from which hazardous liquid evaporates • Deep Well Injections • Drilling hole in the ground below water table • Wells must reach below the impervious soil layer into porous rock and waste injected

  8. Radioactive wasteS • Radioactive isotopes emit potentially harmful alpha, beta, and gamma waves that can enter cells and disrupt DNA • Waves can move through air so direct contact not necessary • Soil contaminated with ash from radioactive exposure can cause food plants grown in it to bioaccumulate harmful radiation, which may then be ingested and even more dangerous • Water exposed to a radioactive element will also become toxic and potentially harmful to any organism to come into contact

  9. Radioactive waste • Low Level vs. High Level Radioactive Waste • Level of ionizing radiation • EPA categorizes it by place of origin

  10. EPA’s 6 Categories • Nuclear Reactor waste = High • Waste from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel = High • Waste from the manufacture of nuclear weapons = High • Waste from mining and processing of uranium ore = High • Radioactive Waste from Industrial or Research Institutes (clothing, gloves, tubes, needles, animal carcasses, etc.) = Low • Radioactive Natural Materials (natural radioactive elements found inside earth’s crust) = Not a Waste

  11. Disposal depends on level • Stored on site by licensed facility until radioactivity has degraded • Shipped to waste disposal facility • Yucca Mountain, Nevada - future site for disposal of all radioactive waste??? • Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico - a new permanent site for nuclear waste burial (Transuranic waste) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEtQ2qlxEU • Same applies to “mixed waste” containing both hazardous and radioactive waste

  12. AIR, WAter, & Land Pollutants • Heavy Metals • Neurotoxins = Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Cobalt, Zinc, & Arsenic • Low level exposure may be dangerous • Used to make computers, cell phones, batteries • Tend to Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification • Improper disposal can lead to leaching into the soil and water • Atmospheric pollutant from the burning of fossil fuels • Mercury & Arsenic = combusion of coal

  13. ACIDS • Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur

  14. Radioactive wastes

  15. Video CLips • StopLandfills.com • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1u6rJkyzA&feature=related • Waste to Energy Plant in England • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtOuAed5nM&feature=related

  16. OTHER Facts & figures to know... • U.S. makes up _____ % of world’s population & produces: • ________ % of world’s Solid Waste • ________ % of Hazardous Waste • Most of solid waste in US is produced from _____________ • Countries that ban all use of beverage containers that cannot be reused? • Time it takes for the following to decompose: • Disposable diapers: • Plastic Bags: • Styrofoam: • Aluminum Can: • Plastic Bottle:

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