Put on your hazmat suit and get out paper for today’s notes!
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Transcript of Put on your hazmat suit and get out paper for today’s notes!
Put on your hazmat suit and get out paper for today’s notes!
Protect yourself from hazardous situations – read the board!
A little Love Story
Love Canal Abandoned hydroelectric canal sold to Hooker Chemical Co.
22,000 tons200+ chemicals
including dioxinsWastes covered, site
sold to Niagara Falls school board 1955
Love Canal Birth defects Dark liquids seeped into
basements through walls Noxious chemical smells Trees and shrubs died Mid-1970’s heavy rains caused
groundwater levels to rise Resident Louis Gibbs begins
campaign to get authorities interested
1978 – EPA begins testing 1990 – massive cleanup began
A recently discovered hazmat site: The San Jacinto Waste pits
Paper mill wastes Paper mill wastes containing dioxins
dumped in 1960’s and 70’s Land subsided, pits disappeared Crabs, fish have been showing high
levels of dioxins and PCB’s for decades
Dioxins biomagnify ; measured here at 70,000 parts per trillion; 95% of fish and crab dangerously contaminated
“Dioxins can alter the fundamental growth and development of cells. In humans, adverse effects include suppression of the immune system, a variety of reproductive effects from reduced fertility to birth defects, chloracne, and cancer.”
Dioxin limit in seafood: .47 pptrillion Catfish – 8pptrillion Blue crab – 6 pptrillion!
So how did we let this happen?What the paper mill did was not illegal – at the time!
RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
Required all landfills to be designed to “sanitary” standards
Defined hazardous waste: (toxic, flammable, reactive, corrosive)
Required cradle to grave management of hazmat
95% of materials are still “linguistically detoxified”
Household hazardous wastes are not regulated
So what do I do with batteries and CFLs? Houston South Hazardous Waste facility ESC South
11500 South Post OakZIP Code 77035
Harris county facility 6900 N Gessner/290
CFLs contain a small amount of Hg
Compare Hazmat landfill to MSW landfill: Similarities? Differences?
OK, but what about the wastes dumped before RCRA or illegally?
CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Better known as Superfund)
Identifies and prioritizes hazmat sites Seeks responsible parties for payment Remediates sites
Superfund sites in Harris County
EPA manages Superfund National Priorities list
How can these sites be cleaned up? Mechanical
remediation Phytoremediation Bioremediation
LOVE CANAL TODAY
REMEDIATION OF BROWNFIELDS
Abandoned industrial or commercial sites.
New owners must often clean up wastes before new
development can begin
Mechanical remediation Material incinerated
and interred in haz waste landfill
Can get down to deepest contamination
Exposed soil (and contamination) may erode
Phytoremediation Sunflowers –
Lead Mulberry bush
– industrial sludge
Canola plants – selenium
The trade offs of phytoremediation Less disturbance of
area reduces risk of spreading contaminant
Inexpensive Reduces material sent
to landfill
Can be slow acting Can only effect soil
levels which roots can reach
Must match plant to pollutant
Animals could feed on plants – heavy metals could bioaccumulate
BioremediationYeast, fungi, bacteriaDigest organic
compounds into CO2 and H2O
Sites that are unable to be cleaned with microbes include those with high metal concentrations (i.e. mercury), highly chlorinated organics (compounds with many chlorine elements attached), and inorganic salts. These types of compounds are toxic to the microbes.
Bioremediation ex situ
What are the tradeoffs? Mechanical
remediation Phytoremediation Bioremediation
San Jacinto Waste pits - what are our options?
E-WASTECan you hear me now?
US Geological survey estimates that in 2005 there were already more than half a billion old phones witting in American drawers. That added up to more than $300 million worth of gold, palladium, silver, copper and platinum.
Generated Disposed Recycled Recycling Rate
Televisions 26.9 20.6 6.3 18%
Computer Products*
205.5 157.3 48.2 18%
Cell Phones140.3 126.3 14.0 10%
*Computer products include CPUs, monitors, notebooks, keyboards, mice, and hard copy peripherals.
An emerging concern: Electronic waste (e-waste)
toxic components in a pc
National Geographic - High Tech Trash January 2008
Pairs - Apply the concept of product of service
to the e-waste dilemma
What would manufacturers have to do to make this Product of Service idea a reality?
Think it’s a pipe dream? Xerox –
Solid ink – ships in block, no packaging, melts in copier
Copiers designed to be disassembled when outdated. Components are refurbished and included in newer models where possible.
Toner cartridges – returned to be refilled, not thrown out.
Xerox “Before is was categorized as green, we
thought of it as just being efficient.” –Ursula Burns, Xerox President
“I’m in a funny business – I’m looking for ways that companies can print less. Printing is not going to go away, but we think you have to print more efficiently . . .We know that if we do that we can continue to grow.” – John Kelly, president of global services at Xerox
Note Check! How is bioremediation different from phytoremediation? How are bioremediation and phytoremediation similar? What is an advantage of mechanical remediation that
might explain why it is the most common method used? List three toxic materials commonly found in ewaste. List two precious materials commonly found in ewaste. What objectives will be covered on the quiz tomorrow? When is the test on STUFF? When is the “complete the loop” extra credit due? When is the recycling picture assignment due?