Waste disposal or Taking out the trash GEOLOGYTWO JDPRICE

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Derick McDonald
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1 Waste disposal or Taking out the trash GEOLOGYTWO JDPRICE

2 Author s note Waste disposal is an important interaction between humans and the surface of the Earth. We noted its influence on global population Significant anthropogenic environmental contamination Difficult topic to research - suggests we don t think much about this, and we probably undervalue it.

NIMBY Not in my back yard is a common underlying factor in waster removal Wanting distance from waste is natural response But because someone has to lose, waste is thrust towards

3 NIMBY Not in my back yard is a common underlying factor in waster removal Wanting distance from waste is natural response But because someone has to lose, waste is thrust towards those with less resources or political power Is waste ever handled in the scientificallydetermined best method? Requires a citizenry informed by and responsive to unbiased findings.

4 International trash The US leads the world in solid-waste generation (except for other!), doubling that of China. About half of our garbage could be recycled or composted; Japan achieves about this percentage; in the US we currently recycle/compost over 25% of our garbage (up from 10% in 1985)

Waste creation Living creates waste - every organism creates materials in deriving usable energy Removal of waste products is required for survival - most are pollutants at varying levels With

5 Waste creation Living creates waste - every organism creates materials in deriving usable energy Removal of waste products is required for survival - most are pollutants at varying levels With increased energy consumption, we can anticipate more waste products Industrialized societies generate more waste - and more refined (difficult to degrade) trash Waste is best removed from interaction - but out of sight, out of mind.

Last year s undergraduate applications (just kidding) RPI s trash goes to the facility north of

6 Solid waste Most solid waste trash in the US makes its way to Class II landfills. Most are fills, but become hills with completion. Last year s undergraduate applications (just kidding) RPI s trash goes to the facility north of Latham, conveniently(?) adjacent to the Mohawk river. Areas with highly glaciated landforms adds challenges to trash internment - the best area are often environmentally sensitive.

7 Landfill design Goal: isolate the trash from the environment (including rainfall)

8 The trash No, its not dominated by baby diapers and polystyrene food containers. Lots of paper Lots of organic debris Lots of building materials

9 Advanced landfill design If most of the trash is paper - shouldn t it biodegrade over time? Not without help. In an average landfill, biodegradation either never starts, or starts and arrests shortly after the materials are buried. Biodegradion is dependent on bacterial consuption of organic material in the trash pile. The bugs need their own source of supplies and trash removal - circulation of water, air or other gasses. Aerobic - oxygen consuming microbial reactions fed through leachate circulation with oxygen Anaerobic - nonoxygen consuming microbial reactions fed through leachate produces methane

Advanced trash Cell phones have a user life of 18 months!

quantities of lead and cadmium Recycling - yes but 70%

toxins are released into the environment.

12 Advanced trash Cell phones have a user life of 18 months! Like most consumer electronics, these contain small quantities of lead and cadmium Recycling - yes but 70% goes to poor facilities in China (see photo) where the toxins are released into the environment. If we want more responsible disposal, we are going to have to pay for it. abc news

13 Recycling Many refined wastes can be reprocessed for further use which saves landfill space and primary resources. However, it does require a lot of energy to make it happen - collecting, sorting, and forming manageable packages. For the most part there is sufficient market drive - recycled products can be more economic than primary resources.

and cadmium. HOWEVER, modern (and expensive) incinerators can minimize the releases and are extensively used in W. Europe and Japan - release is an order of magnitude less.

14 Burn it Incinerators are hard to site The bottom ash is quite toxic and must be disposed of in secure (Class I) landfills. Incineration releases dioxins and PAHs (poly aromatic hydrocarbons - toxic organics created during combustion) AND acidic gases (NO and SO 2 ), AND more volatile and toxic metals like mercury, lead and cadmium. HOWEVER, modern (and expensive) incinerators can minimize the releases and are extensively used in W. Europe and Japan - release is an order of magnitude less. Most use incineration heat to drive steam turbines for power generation. Who sez trash managers don t read Orwell: garbage incinerators are called Resource Recovery Plants. Motor City Inferno Since 1989, Detroit!s large incinerator has been an expensive (Detroit currently spends >$170 a ton to burn its trash) and worrisome endeavor. (Philip Morris has been part owner since 91) Metro Times PHOTO: REBECCA COOK

15 Heat from waste American Scientist 1 BTU = Joules

Modern combustion Burning temp and oxygen must be maintained for complete incineration. Volatile components become flue gases, solid ash and dust drops into a container.

16 Modern combustion Burning temp and oxygen must be maintained for complete incineration. Volatile components become flue gases, solid ash and dust drops into a container. Flue gases, heat water for electrical generation Flue gases pass through either wet and dry calcium-compounds to SO 2 and HCl. Heavy metals are removed either by electrostatic or mechanical filters

17 Incineration and the City NYC is just about out of space Trash is shipped out More storage and/or incineration has been proposed, but is very unpopular. NIBYism seems as if it could be used as an incentive fro better trash management if you don t want it in your air, don t throw it away

18 Hazardous waste waste with a high concentration of toxic substances mostly liquid and mostly petroleum related next largest fraction comprised of metals in acid solution (from metals processing and plating). Hazardous waste also includes highly contaminated sediments and soils from Superfund Sites. Current US production of hazardous waste is about 1 ton per person per year (estimates range from about 0.1 to 1 ton per person per year and depend on the exact definition).

19 Burial Hazardous storage landfills are even more isolated from their surroundings. They are substantially smaller. Most people don t want one nearby.

Siting requires extensive geological investigation in the region of injection.

20 Drill, baby, drill You can put hazardous fluids deep underground Used by petrochemical plants, refineries, pharmaceutical plants, photochemical plants. Cased hole extends deep below drinking sources. Siting requires extensive geological investigation in the region of injection. Monitoring and regulation required Non-hazardous fluids in some states Some municipal wastewater injection is included as Class I (although shallow) Other countries permit similar disposal of nuclear contaminated water. epa

21 Burn it - toxics Incineration is becoming a more typical option. Same problems as nonhazardous waste, although risk higher heavy metals streaming Wet-process cement factories will use this as a cheaper fuel supplement Cement plants require a lot of heat to decarbonizes limestone - many hazardous wastes provide this heat.

22 Municipal wastewater In many communities, water is treated prior to release back into the environment. This typically involves removing large particles, fine particles, aeration to increase microbial action, microbial removal and release. Morgantown utility board

sanitary waste water straight into nearby streams and basins

decades ago ) We can see that over the 80 s and 90 s more and

23 Release It hasn t always been so. Prior to the clean water act, many municipalities dumped sanitary waste water straight into nearby streams and basins (congrats to Boston, who just starting treating less than two decades ago ) We can see that over the 80 s and 90 s more and more sanitary waste was treated prior to release - some communities put back into the ground.

24 Nuclear Waste Burning fossil fuels produces CO 2 (and host of additional product) Nuclear fission doesn t, it uses radiation to generate heat to boil water. But there is the problem of irradiated materials, and depleted fuel. Because it is largely solid, some now look as this waste as more manageable than those from a smokestack but What do we do with the waste?

First shipments 1999 - cross-country trucking

25 Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Sandia National Labs Transuranic materials from storage at National Lab Sites First shipments cross-country trucking Underground long-term storage within a salt caverns near Carlsbad,NM.

26 Yucca Mountain In the late 1980 s the US designated Yucca Mountain as its prime candidate to receive high level commercial nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain is located in the western basin and range, with recent faulting and volcanism. It is located in a remote, largely unpopulated, and secure region.

28 Young faulting Note the number of surface exposed, normal faulting in these young rocks. The pink color is recent igneous rocks.

29 Problems tectonically active - not a stable part of North America Oxidizing environment - not great for storage.

30 What now? Currently, Yucca Mountain has been ramping up for certification But the current budget outline proposed by the Obama administration cuts funding - implying that they will move away from storage at this site. Alternatives? Perhaps the problem is how we limit reuse of depleted material. Still need storage - other nations have found decent repositories that more chemically inert and geologically stable.

Chapter 16 Waste Generation and Waste Disposal. Monday, March 26, 18

Chapter 16 Waste Generation and Waste Disposal Module 51 Only Humans Generate Waste After reading this module, you should be able to explain why we generate waste and describe recent waste disposal trends.