Solid Waste

What is a solid waste

• Any material that we discard, that is not liquid
or gas, is solid waste
– Municipal Solid Waste (MSW):
• Solid waste from home or office
– Industrial Solid Waste:
• Solid waste produced from Mines, Agriculture or
Industry
 What is a Hazardous Waste?
• Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or
potentially harmful to human health or the environment
• Ignitability - Ignitable wastes create fires under certain conditions or are
spontaneously combustible, or have a flash point less than 60 °C (140 °F).
• Corrosivity - Corrosive wastes are acids or bases (pH less than or equal to 2
or greater than or equal to 12.5) that are capable of corroding metal
containers, such as storage tanks, drums, and barrels.
• Reactivity - Reactive wastes are unstable under "normal" conditions. They
can cause explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when mixed with water.
• Toxicity - Toxic wastes are harmful or fatal when ingested or absorbed (e.g.,
containing mercury, lead, etc.). When toxic wastes are disposed of on land,
contaminated liquid may drain (leach) from the waste and pollute ground
water. Toxicity is defined through a laboratory procedure called the Toxicity
Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP).
• Major types: Organics and Heavy Metals, Radioactive wastes
 U.S. Scenario
• 4.6% of world population
• 50% of toxic wastes
• 1/3rd of solid wastes
• Mining (76%), agricultural (13%), industrial
(9.5%) = 98.5%
• Municipal solid waste – 1.5%
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Waste Management
 Recycling in USA
Auto batteries: 99.2% Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans: 48.2%
Office Type Papers: 70.9% Tires: 35.4%
Yard Trimmings: 64.7% HDPE Natural (White Translucent) Bottles: 29.3%
Steel Cans: 62.8% Glass Containers: 28.0%
PET Bottles and Jars: 27.2%
 Benefits of Recycling
• USA recycled 83 million tons of MSW.
• This provides an annual benefit of 182 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions reduced,
• comparable to removing the emissions from
33 million passenger cars.
• But the ultimate benefits from recycling are
cleaner land, air, and water, overall better
health, and a more sustainable economy.
 Municipal Waste
• On-site (at home)
• Open Dump
• Sanitary Landfill
• Incineration
• Ocean dumping
 Open Dump

• Unsanitary, draws pests and vermin, harmful

runoff and leachates, toxic gases
• Still accounts for half of solid waste
• Several thousand open dumps in the USA
 Sanitary Landfill

• Sanitary Landfill
– Layer of compacted trash covered with a layer of earth
once a day and a thicker layer when the site is full
– Require impermeable barriers to stop escape of leachates:
can cause problem by overflow
– Gases produced by decomposing garbage needs venting
– 1 acre/10,000 people: acute space problem: wastes piling
up over 150 million tons/year;
– # of landfills down from 8000(1988) to 3091(1996)
– NIMBY, NIMFYE, NIMEY, NOPE
– NJ ships >5 million tons of waste every year
 Sanitary Landfill
• Avoid:
– Swampy area/ Flood plains /coastal areas
– Fractures or porous rocks
– High water table
• Prefer:
– Clay layers
– Heads of gullies
 Monitoring of Sanitary Landfills
• Gases: Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen sulphide
• Heavy Metals: Lead, Chromium in soil
• Soluble substances: chloride, nitrate, sulfate
• Surface Run-offs
• Vegetation: may pick up toxic substances
• Plant residue in soil
• Paper/plastics etc – blown by the wind
 Incineration

• Solves space problem but:

– produces toxic gases like Cl, HCl, HCN, SO2
– High temp furnaces break down hazardous compounds but
are expensive ($75 - $2K/ton)
– Heat generated can be recovered: % of waste burnt
• Japan 67%, Switzerland 80%, USA 6%
– North Little Rock, AK saving $50K in heating cost and
reducing landfill requirement by 95%
– How many MSW combustors exist in the United States? In
1996, 110 combustors with energy recovery existed with the
capacity to burn up to 100,000 tons of MSW per day.
 Ocean Dumping

• Out of sight, free of emission control norms

• Contributes to ocean pollution
• Can wash back on beaches, and can cause death of
marine mammals
• Preferred method: incineration in open sea
• Ocean Dumping Ban Act, 1988: bans dumping of
sewage sludge and industrial waste
• Dredge spoils still dumped in oceans, can cause
habitat destruction and export of fluvial pollutants
 Reducing Waste
• Incineration, compacting
• Hog feed: requires heat treatment
• Composting: requires separation of organics from glass
and metals
• Recycling and Reusing
– Recycle of glass containers: 5 million tons
– Plastic: marked by types for easy recycling
– Converted into Fibers, trash bags, plastic lumber, fill for
pillows, insulation etc
– Junked cars: 150 – 200 kg of plastics: soon to be recycled
 Recycling: facts and figures
• In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented
about 64 million tons of material from ending up in
landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32
percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during
the past 15 years.
• 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink
bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink
cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of
all major appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program
existed in the United States, which collected several
materials at the curb. By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside
programs had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005,
about 500 materials recovery facilities had been
established to process the collected materials.
 Waste Exchange

• One persons waste can be another persons

raw material
• Fluorite from Al smelter in MD
• Isopropyl alcohol = cleaning solvent
• Nitric Acid from Electronic Industry = high
grade fertilizer
• Spent acid of steel industry = control for H2S
 Liquid Waste
• Sewage
• Highly toxic Industrial Waste & Used Oil
– Dilute and Disperse
– Concentrate and Contain
– Secure Landfill
• Sealed drums to be put in impermeable holds with monitoring
wells to check for leakage: does not work
– Deep well Disposal
• Pumping in deep porous layer bounded by impermeable
formations, well below water table
• $1 million to drill, $15-20/ton afterwards
• Restricted by geological considerations, can trigger earthquakes
 Recycling: facts and figures
• In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented
about 64 million tons of material from ending up in
landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 32
percent of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during
the past 15 years.
• 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink
bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink
cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of
all major appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program
existed in the United States, which collected several
materials at the curb. By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside
programs had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005,
about 500 materials recovery facilities had been
established to process the collected materials.
 Requirements for a radio-active
waste disposal system
• Design and Fabricate a System that will
– Last thousands of years longer than recorded
human history
– Be robust enough to isolate highly radioactive
material so that it will not threaten human health
and environment for more than ten thousand
years.
 Methods of Waste Disposal
• Landfills
• Incineration
• Source reduction
• Composting
• Recycling
 Incineration

• Prior to 1940,
incineration was
common in North
America and western
Europe.
Many incinerators were eliminated because of foul
odors and gritty smoke

Currently, about 15% of U.S. municipal solid waste

is incinerated.
Incinerator Types
 Refuse-Derived Fuel - Refuse is sorted to
remove recyclable and unburnable materials.
 Higher energy content than raw trash.
 Mass Burn - Everything smaller than major
furniture and appliances loaded into furnace.
 Creates air pollution problems.
 Reduces disposal volume by 80-90%.
 EPA has found alarmingly high toxin levels in
incinerator ash.
 Incineration
Pros:
– Reduce volume 90%, weight 75%
– Heat from burning converted to electricity

Cons:
– Create air pollution
– Concentrates toxins in ash
– More costly than landfills, as long as space
available
 Composting
• Harnessing natural decomposition to
transform organic material into
compost

• About 3800 composting facilities

currently in use in the United States.

• Landscape Recycling Center

1210 E. University Ave., Urbana
344-LEAF (5323)
www.city.urbana.il.us
 Source Reduction

• Most fundamental method of reducing waste

is to prevent it from being produced (Waste
Prevention).

• Reduce and reuse – Individuals and Industry

– Saves natural resources.
– Reduces waste toxicity
– Reduces costs
 Recycling
• Recycling initiatives have grown rapidly in US
– By 2000, 9,000 U.S. cities had implemented curbside
recycling programs.
• Urbana’s curbside program began in 1986
http://www.ci.champaign.il.us/public_works/index.php

– Bottle Bills (10 states)

– Mandatory recycling laws

(15 states)
 Recycling Benefits

• Resource Conservation

• Pollution Reduction
– Crushed glass reduces energy required to manufacture
new glass by 50%.
– One Sunday edition of N.Y. times consumes 62,000 trees.
– Only 40% of North American paper is recycled.
– Over 60% of aluminum cans recycled.
Recycling
 Benefits
 Saves money, raw materials, and land.
 Encourages individual responsibility.
 Reduces pressure on disposal systems.
 Japan recycles about half of all household and
commercial wastes.
 Lowers demand for raw resources.
 Reduces energy consumption and air pollution.
 What Can You Do?
• Buy durable items and repair them
• Buy recycled goods and recycle them
• Buy beverages in refillable containers
• Rechargeable batteries
• Reduce junk mail
• Lobby for trash separation and recycling
• Choose items with minimal packaging & reduce
number of bags used
• Compost yard and food waste