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Types of waste
- Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW)
- Hazardous Waste
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Municipal Solid Wastes
- Public Health requires quick disposal
- Heterogeneous
- 4.4 pounds/per person/ per day in US
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Where does our trash go?
- Landfill 60%
- Recycled/compost 32%
- Incinerated 8%
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Disposal Alternatives
- Sanitary Landfills
- Source Reduction
- Recycling
- Composting
- Waste Combustion
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Sanitary Landfills
- 61% of nations waste
- Thin layers of trash compacted with dirt
- Most Common
- Engineered systems
- impermeable liner
- leachate collection system
- gas collection system
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Each week, we throw away
- 500,000 trees in the form of newspapers
- Enough glass to fill one of the 1,350 towers of the NY trade enter
- 420 million plastic bottles
- Enought aluminum to rebuild 1/12 of the entire commercial air fleet
- Enough office and writing paper to build a wall 3 inches high between LA and NYC
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Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 1976)
- "cradle to grave" management of hazardous wastes
- Defines hazardous wastes
- Manifest system
- Standards for haz waste facilities
- Issues permits for facilities
- Helps goverment create haz waste plans
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Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, 1980)
- Superfund
- cleanup of hazardous waste sites
- EPA compiles National Priority List (NPL)
- NPL sites elgible for $$$
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Household Hazardous Wastes
- Each North American generates 20lbs/year
- paint, pesticiedes, cleaning prducts, medicines
- Risks: health, environmental, safety
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