TRASH TALK

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The garbage just keeps piling up…

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Where does all our trash go?
When we throw our trash away
the garbage is taken to landfills
or to be burned in incinerators.

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 Result:
GLOBAL WARMING

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 Successful integrated waste management,
according to the US EPA, considers how to
prevent, recycle, and manage waste in ways
that most effectively protect human health
and the environment.

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This means evaluating local impacts

of solid waste, and then selecting
and combining the most appropriate
waste management options.
 Solution
The US EPA has prioritized integrated waste
management options into a hierarchy:

– Source reduction and reuse

– Recycling
– Composting
– Waste-to-energy QuickTimeª and a

– Landfilling
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Source Reduction and Reuse
• 28% of the material resource reduced in
2000 was beverage containers and
packaging.

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Un su sta in abl e
pa cka gi ng is
wast in g o ur
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envi ro nme nt !
 Recycling

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Composting

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 Composting: How it works
• Composting is the aerobic, biological
break down of organic material by
microbes.
• The living microbes coming with oxygen
in the air which causes break down.
• The final product is a nutrient-rich, soil-
additive called “compost.”
 Why compost?
• The compost can be used in agriculture
and horticulture (gardening),
landscaping, golf course construction,
highway enhancement, landfill cover
(use to cover landfills once they are
closed).
 What you can compost
Almost all organic
byproducts:
– Food scraps
– Leaves, glass, yard
clippings
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– Non-recyclable paper
(paper towels, napkins)
– Wood products
(sawdust)
 Composting
• Yard trimmings account for 12.1% of
trash
• Food accounts for 11.7%, (while up to
25% of food gets wasted in the United
States every years.
• According to the US EPA, in 2003,
7.1% of trash was diverted by
composting.
Waste-to-energy (WTE)

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 Waste-to-energy
• Solid waste is burned in a controlled
environment to create steam or
electricity
• Reduces trash by 90%
• Burned 14% of US trash in 2003
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 Incinerators

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Burn trash until it is reduced to ash

 Waste-to-energy
• Energy produced is sold to electric
generating utilities.
• Distributed to local homes and
businesses
• Generates enough electricity for
2.3 million homes
 Benefits of incineration
• Eliminates high costs of having trash taken
long distances to landfills.
• Disposes very large amounts of solid waste,
normally 90%
• Keep dangerous materials out of landfills.
• High temperatures are able to eliminate
biohazards and other toxic wastes
Environmental impacts of WTE
• Same impact as energy produced from
natural gas
• Less than energy produced from oil or
coal plants
• Facilities now have dioxin cleaning
• Separate recyclables easily before
combustion
 Cons of incineration
(before/without dioxin cleaning)
• Makes waste more toxic
• Sends an enormous amount of greenhouse
gasses into the Earth
• Create emissions & contamination
– Smog
– Air pollution
– Soil pollution
– Water pollution
• Makes global warming worse
 Resulting Toxins
• Mercury
• Dioxins
• Linked to cancer or neurological
problems, especially in children.
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Waste-to-energy: Ash Drawback
• Produces two types of ash
– Bottom ash: large and moderate sized
unburned and unburnable matter
– Fly ash: powder material that is leftover in
the gas stream, but collected in the
pollution control part, high concentrations
of metals and organic material
 Waste-to-energy: Ash
• The two ashes (bottom and fly) are
combined and collected
• By putting the two ashes together metal
particles and other materials bind
together, making it unlikely that the
metals will get into groundwater after
disposal
 Waste-to-energy:
Ash Advantages
• Ash is tested by US EPA law to make
sure it is safe for disposal or reuse
• Uses:
– Landfill cover
– Road base materials QuickTimeª and a
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– Building construction
– Artificial offshore reefs
 Landfills
• There the trash will stay for a very long
time.
• Takes up more and more land space.
• In the landfill there is little oxygen and
moisture and the trash does not break
down very rapidly.
• The landfill is not made to break down
trash, only bury it.
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 Decomposing Trash
• Produces methane CH4
• In the United States, 33% of methane
emissions come from TRASH! (the
decomposition of gases in landfills)
• Combines with carbon dioxide CO2 and
other heat trapping gases in the
atmosphere
 Old Landfills
• When a landfill has been closed, the
surrounding area must me monitored for up
to 30 years.
– Landfills leak
– Groundwater contamination
– Air contamination
• Some old landfills that have been opened up
forty years after the site was closed still had
readable newspapers in them!
 Closed Landfills
• Can be used as open spaces for parks
or other recreational areas once the
landfill is closed.
• Permanent structures cannot be built on
top of sites because the landfill settles
as waste decomposes.
 References
Anonymous 2001. Toxic Tips from Friends of the Earth. http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/toxic_tips.html (retrieved April 4, 2009).
Anonymous. 2002. Global Warming. http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/global_warming.htm (retrieved March 31, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006a. Composting from Keep America Beautiful Inc. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=compost (retrieved March
29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006b. Garbage Basics from Keep America Beautiful Inc. https://secure2.convio.net/kab/site/SPageServer?
pagename=garbage_basics&JServSessionIdr009=gthcjdmcy1.app2b (retrieved March 29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006c. Landfilling from Keep America Beautiful Inc. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=landfilling (retrieved March
29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006d. Recycling from Keep America Beautiful Inc. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=recycling
&JServSessionIdr009=zei2nqpv61.app2b (retrieved March 29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006e. Source Reduction and Use from Keep America Beautiful Inc. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?
pagename=source_reduc_reuse&JServSessionIdr009=h7r02kpu72.app2b (retrieved March 29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2006f. Waste-to-energy from Keep America Beautiful Inc. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=waste_to_energy
(retrieved March 29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009a. Environmental Statistics: municipal waste generation (most recent) by country. http://www.nationmaster
.com/red/pie/env_mun_was_gen-environment-municipal-waste-generation#source (retrieved April 4, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009b. Hazardous Waste. http://www.envocare.co.uk/hazardous_waste.htm (retrieved March 29, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009c. Landfill from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfills (retrieved April 1, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009d. Toxic Waste from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_waste (retrieved April 3, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009e. Waste from EUROPA. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm (retrieved April 3, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009f. Waste from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste (retrieved April 1, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009g. Waste Management from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management (retrieved April 1, 2009).
Anonymous. 2009h. Waste-to-Energy from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy (retrieved April 1, 2009).
Anonymous. No date. Waste Audits. http://www.uoregon.edu/~recycle/waste_audit_text.html (retrieved April 1, 2009).
Holetzky S. 2009. What is an incinerator? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-incinerator.htm (retrieved April 3, 2009).
Freudenrich C. 2008. How landfills work from HowStuffWorks. http://science.howstuffworks.com/landfill7.htm (retrieved March 31, 2009).
Ramboll. 2006. Waste to Energy in Denmark. http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=wsdps (retrieved April 4, 2009).
Ward, M. No date. What happens to your trash? http://naturecureresources.com/What%20Happens%20Trash.htm (retrieved April 3, 2009).