Post on 13-Dec-2015
24-1 Wasting Resources
Solid waste is another kind of resource; the U.S. is not utilizing this resource well U.S. produces 33% of world’s solid waste solid waste is unwanted/discarded material
that is not liquid/gaseous goods and services produce it indirectly municipal solid waste (garbage/trash) comes
mostly from homes and workplaces solid waste is a sign of a society’s waste of
its resources
24-2 Producing Less Waste waste management: high-waste approach
that accepts waste production as a result of economic growth
it attempts to reduce environmental harm it transfers the waste from one part of the
environment to another
24-2 Producing Less Waste waste reduction: low-waste approach sees
solid waste as a potential resource, which should be reused, recycled, or composted
it discourages waste production it encourages waste reduction and prevention saves matter and energy resources, reduces
pollution, helps protect biodiversity, and saves money (maybe)
24-2 Producing Less Waste to cut waste production and promote
sustainability: consume less use less materials and energy and produce
less waste and pollution by redesigning manufacturing processes and products
develop products that are easily repaired, reused, remanufactured, composted, or recycled
design products with long lives eliminate or reduce unnecessary packaging
24-2 Producing Less Waste a design revolution has encouraged the
use of less material and energy for each unit of goods and services
products that use less material have been substituted for previous products
products, which take less material/energy to produce, have been made
a resource productivity revolution will get 75–90% more work/service from each unit of material resources that we use
24-3 Ecoindustrial Revolution
The ecoindustrial revolution will reduce waste production by copying nature one manufacturer’s wastes become raw
materials for another manufacturer; “industrial ecosystem” or “biomimicry”
this reduces the costs of controlling pollution it reduces exposure to toxic and hazardous
materials; improves the health of workers biomimicry stimulates companies to pursue
creative, beneficial products (for example, 3M Company’s Pollution Prevention Pays (3P))
24-3 Ecoindustrial Revolution a service flow/product stewardship
economy is based on selling services instead of goods; customers lease or rent the services that goods provide
product uses minimum amount of materials product lasts as long as possible product is easy to maintain, repair,
remanufacture, reuse, or recycle this type of service is based on eco-leasing (for
example, Xerox Corporation and Ray Anderson’s INTERFACE company)
24-4 Reuse
Reusing products helps reduce resource use, waste, and pollution; it also saves money developing countries reuse their products,
but there is a health hazard for the poor U.S. e-waste goes to developing countries large city dumps expose scavengers to
toxins and infectious diseases refillable containers create jobs, costs less
for the product, and lessen waste many items can be reused/borrowed
24-5 Recycling
Recycling collects waste materials, turns them into useful products, and sells the new products five types of materials can be recycled:
paper products glass aluminum steel some plastics
recycling saves money and creates jobs, more than burning or landfilling wastes
24-5 Recycling recycling processing consists of two
methods; primary recycling is preferred primary/closed-loop recycling: new products of
the same type are created from the waste: new newspaper from old newspaper
secondary/downcycling converts waste materials into different products
pre-consumer/internal waste is generated from a manufacturing process that is recycled
24-5 Recycling post-consumer/external waste is generated
by consumer use of products composting biodegradable organic wastes
is a great way to mimic nature solid waste recycling can be done in a
materials-recovery facility (MRF) machines shred and separate the mixed waste
and sell raw materials to manufacturers wastes are recycled and/or burned to produce
energy, but such plants are expensive must process a large input of garbage
24-5 Recycling source separation recycling relies on
households and businesses to separate their trash
this produces less air and water pollution lower startup costs and operating costs saves more energy and provides more jobs pay-as-you-throw (PAUT) waste collection
systems charge for the mixed waste that is picked up but not for the recycled, separated materials
24-5 Recycling plastic recycling is not feasible because of
these problems plastics are difficult to isolate in different
materials not much individual plastic resin is recoverable
per product recycled resin is much more expensive than
virgin plastic resin
24-5 Recycling a new polymer, polyactide (ACT), made by
Cargill and Dow is being used to produce plastic containers, which can be composted for a soil conditioner
the economics of recycling depends on the costs one counts
environmental and health benefits outweigh the costs of recycling
some materials cost more than it is worth
24-5 Recycling factors that hinder reuse and recycling are:
cost of a product does not include harmful environmental health costs in its life cycle
resource-extracting industries receive government tax breaks and subsidies while recycle and reuse industries do not
landfill charges are low in the U.S. (due to lots of space?)
the demand and price for recycled materials fluctuates so less interest in committing to it
24-6 Burning and Burying Solid Waste municipal solid waste is burned in waste-to-
energy incinerators, which produces steam for heating or producing electricity
disadvantages of burning solid waste include:
high operating costs air pollution concerns citizen opposition to the process
24-6 Burning and Burying Solid Waste most solid waste is buried in landfills, which
can leak toxins into soil and water open dumps in the ground hold garbage;
sometimes it is covered with dirt sanitary landfills spread the solid waste out in
thin layers, compact it, and cover it daily with clay/plastic foam
modern landfills line the bottom with an impermeable liner, which collects leachate
leachate is collected, stored in tanks, and then sent to a sewage treatment plant
24-10 Achieving a Low-Waste Society NIMBY: Not In My Backyard NOPE: Not On Planet Earth or ‘not in
anyone’s backyard’ in 2000, a global treaty to control twelve
persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was developed; 50 countries must sign for effectiveness
POPs are toxic chemicals stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other organisms
12 chemicals, the dirty dozen, need to be phased out, detoxified, and/or isolated
24-10 Achieving a Low-Waste Society four principles for transitioning to a low-
waste society everything is connected there is no place to send wastes “away” diluting waste is not the solution to pollution the best solution is to prevent waste and
pollution and, then, reuse/recycle the materials that we use