Solid Waste. Consumption for Average U.S. Citizen over a 70 year life span 623 tons coal, oil,...
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Transcript of Solid Waste. Consumption for Average U.S. Citizen over a 70 year life span 623 tons coal, oil,...
Consumption for Average U.S. Citizen over a 70 year life span
• 623 tons coal, oil, natural gas• 613 tons sand, gravel, stone• 26 million gallons of water• 21,000 gallons of gasoline• 51 tons of metals• 50 tons of food• 48 tons of wood• 19 tons of paper• 5.2 tons of syn. Plastic, rubber, fibers• 5 tons fertilizer
Waste for Average U.S. Citizen over a 70 year life span
• 840 tons of agricultural waste• 823 tons of garbage, industrial & mining
wastes• 7 million gallons polluted water• 70 tons of air pollutants• 19,250 bottles• 19,000 cans• 7 automobiles
Major categories of U.S. Solid Waste
Agricultural Waste Mining Waste
Industrial Waste Municipal Waste
Major categories of U.S. Solid Waste
Agricultural Waste 56%
Mining Waste 34 %
Industrial Waste 6%
Municipal Waste 4%
Components of Agricultural Waste
• Crop residues – anything that is not harvested and used for food, fiber or energy
• Animal wastes – includes manures and carcasses
• Pesticide & Herbicide residues
• Old equipment and fuel residues
How can these be disposed of?
• Crop residues – composting, plowing into the soil (increases organic matter), or burning
• Animal wastes – composting, fertilizers, pyrolysis– Heating under very high temperatures and pressures to
get oil
• Other wastes are landfilled or disposed of in situ
Why are there so many tailings
• When you find the ore you are interested in, it will be combined with other rocks, not as pure form.
• After you dig up the raw ore, it is pulverized and the material of interest is extracted, leaving behind the tailings
• The purest ore that is found is taconite, a form of iron. Its concentration is 30%, leaving 70% tailings!
• Most ores contain 1% or less of the material of interest.
Why are there so many tailings, continued
Strip mines make even more tailings than under-Ground mines.
Left over soil can become tailings here along withMining ‘waste’.
Legislation and efforts to reclaim mining areas
• 1977 – Surface mining control and reclamation act (one of the first efforts)– Land must be restored to its original contours
and use– Mining banned on prime agricultural land– Effects on local watersheds must be minimized
What can be done with tailings?
• Because of their thin, powdery nature, this is tricky – also contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, zinc, cadmium, etc. These are toxic.
• Ceramics – especially high temperature tiles for furnaces
• Road surface materials• Building materials (e.g. concrete blocks)
What can be done with tailings?
• Only specific tailings can be used for a specific purpose due to their complex chemistry.
• Some tailings can contain radioactive compounds like radon and must therefore be used with extreme care!
Components of Industrial Waste
• This is where we think of things such as chemical waste, toxic wastes, etc.
• The EPA estimates that only 10% of toxic wastes are disposed of properly.
• Some of these wastes are getting into local drinking water supplies, food supplies, and ecosystems……..
History of Love Canal
• 1942 – 1952 Hooker Chemical dumped 21,000 tons of chemicals in the old canal in steel drums and then covered them with fill dirt.
• This was legal at the time.• 1953 Hooker forced to sell canal area to Niagara
School Board for $1!• Did so under duress – stated that canal area was
NOT safe!• School board had several realtors on it.
History of Love Canal
• Between 1953 and 1977 an elementary school and 239 homes were built on or near the canal, followed by a major subdivision of 710 homes
• 1977 extremely heavy rains – chemicals start leaching into basements
• In the meantime the area had higher than normal rates of cancers and birth defects
History of Love Canal
• 1978 – residents evacuated from canal area after over 200 different compounds are found
• New York State spends $37 million relocating the 239 families closest to canal
• Federal government relocates the remaining 710 families
• RCRA begins
Municipal Wastes• These can also be hazardous!
• Therefore, as of October 9, 1993, solid waste facilities will be constructed as…
Methane collection system
How else can municipal waste be disposed of?
• Incineration
• Waste to energy programs– Burn waste and generate steam to power an
electric power plant– Burn methane from waste in city vehicles or to
make electricity
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Since waste in the U.S. is primarily paper, a large proportion of it can be recycled– If it not contaminated with food or covered
with the clay-based inks seen in “shiny” magazines, etc.
• With the amount of yard waste in Norman being reduced by the compost facility, citizens get a rebate from state government on their bill every month