Solid Waste Management

Final Exam
Monday, May 18th
11am

The U.S. has a culture of production and rapid

consumption, leading to the accumulation of
massive amounts of waste.
Today we will discuss: Solid waste,
focusing on municipal solid waste (MSW)
Reminder- Science Magazine article on
Garbology uploaded to blackboard

What is Solid Waste?

According to EPA regulations, solid waste
means
any garbage, or refuse, sludge from a wastewater
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air
pollution control facility and other discarded material,
including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous
material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining,
and agricultural operations, and from community
activities.

Categories of Solid Waste

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Solid waste from population centers
domestic & commercial garbage
street and yard refuse, etc.

US EPA 2009 data

In the U.S. a huge percentage (approx. 28%) of MSW is paper

A similar percentage (28%) is easily compostable organics

Categories of Solid Waste

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Other categories of waste for next class..
Industrial/Agricultural Solid Waste (invisible)
Most abundant forms of waste in U.S.
Agricultural waste
Mine operation tailings
Construction/demolition debris

Hazardous Waste
Toxic chemical waste
Radioactive waste
Biological waste

Transitions in handling waste

Dilute and disperse:
Dumping of waste, especially in rivers or ocean, relying on
it being carried away and diluted in vast area
Outdated concept, but in part still in use
this approach is not sustainable

Transitions in handling waste

Dilute and disperse:
Dumping of waste, especially in rivers or ocean, relying on
it being carried away and diluted in vast area
Outdated concept, but in part still in use
this approach is not sustainable
Major cities in US almost all
located on rivers
- NYC, Boston, Chicago,
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
why:
- water supply
- transportation
- energy production
- WASTE DISPOSAL

Ocean dumping still occurs in some countries but

is no longer legal in the U.S.
But, NYC dumped some solid waste offshore in the
ocean as recently as the 1990s
1938-1987 sewage sludge dump site 12 miles
offshore
1987-1992 sewage dump site 106 miles offshore

NY Times Nov 18, 1987- New York Quits Using An Ocean Dump Site

Transitions in handling waste

Dilute and disperse

Concentrate and contain:

Compact and store in waste disposal sites
Still very much in use, but increasingly difficult

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we bury most of our wastethink about the

growing piles

We dont want these dumps in our backyards

NIMBY (Not In My BackYard).
They smell, they take up lots of valuable space, they
may leak dangerous material
In NYC most of our waste is shipped out of state on
trucks or by rail
This involves ethical and economic issues

Open pit style dumps resulted in many

problems for communities

Gramacho dump in Brazil

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Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) leachate- water that

has percolated through a dump or landfill comes into
contact with waste products (toxins, organics,
nutrients) become dissolved and are transported with
the water.
Since the 1970s- increasing concern re: leachate &
increased regulation of dumps & landfills.

Sanitary landfills are now used

1)Dumping 2) compaction 3) covering
All on impermeable surface with draining system, why?

The # of landfills in the US has decreased in the recent

decades

Source: US EPA 2009

Fresh Kills landfill, SI

Opened in 1948
3X size of Central Park
mounds up to 250 ft high
Closed in 2001, but still
acts as a transfer station
receiving 900 tons of
trash/day (1 ton = 2000
lbs; 1.8 million lbs); MSW
compacted and shipped
by rail out of state.

Source: www.nyc.gov

Currently being transformed into

restored wetlands and public parks.
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Transitions in handling waste

Dilute and disperse:
Concentrate and contain:

Zero waste management:

Eliminate waste entirely by reducing production
and conversion of waste into useful products
A common goal, rarely attained

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Despite a goal of Zero waste production..solid waste production

in the U.S. has not declined.
U.S. MSW is approx 4lbs/person/day

US EPA 2009 data

Why has total MSW generation increased faster than

per capita MSW??

US EPA 2009 data

The good news: % of municipal material recycled

has also increased steadily (to about 35%)
decreasing some of the impact
(NYC pattern is not as promising)

Methods of MSW disposal vary substantially

by country

In the US we still rely heavily on landfills

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In the U.S. incineration accounts for about 15% of waste

disposal, but is expected to increase in the future

This can be done to produce energy or just as a

mass burn off

Why not burn more??

Waste to Energy, Covanta in

Hempstead
Can accept 2500 tons of MSW/day (1 million+ people)
Waste is incinerated to produce electricity via
steam turbines- sold to Long Island Power
Authority (LIPA)

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Processing of many waste products can be coupled

to production of resources that society needs

What are some examples?

Long Island Compost

Leaves, grass clippings, landscaping material gathered and
recycled into organic yard care products (e.g. mulch) and soil
mixtures for urban planting.
Nations largest yard waste transfer station in Westbury NY
Currently constructing an Anaerobic Digester in Brookhaven,
to convert food wastes into electricity and methane
(compressed natural gas).

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Newtown Creek Anaerobic Digesters

Used to process wastewater sludge (CO2, CH4 produced)
In 2014, began accepting food waste for digestion
from NYC for first time
In 2015 NYC will require restaurants required to
separate food waste,
where will it all go..??

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3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The 3 Rs are essential in moving towards Zero
Waste production..

Goal of industrial ecology- eliminate waste

as a concept and view as potential resource..

Recycling is about more than aluminum cans

However, it is a useful examplea typical
american is estimated to use approx 340 cans
per year (11 lbs, 5kg).
That would be more than 2000 lbs of cans from
students in this class during 2014
This material can be readily recycled.

Reduction can be accomplished by consumer

choice but also intelligent product design..
In recent decades, most plastic drink bottles are
made from approx 25% less plastic..

MIT Senseable city lab

For electronic waste (2% MSW), transportation has
been estimated to account for 80% of recycling cost

http://senseable.mit.edu/papers/pdf/2012_Offenhuberetal_PuttingMatterinPlace.pdf
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Cost of waste production

Direct cost to process, transport, and store:
e.g. collecting waste and storing in landfill
Most commonly considered component of waste cost

Cost of pollution/degradation of land/water, and public

health consequences
Cost of reduced resource availability
e.g. deforestation, clean water scarcity

*We should also consider full range of cost in considering recycling programs*
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Cost of waste production

Many of the costs (e.g. disposal, resource elimination)
are not internalized, meaning they are not
incorporated into the commercial cost paid by
consumers.
The other costs, are referred to as externalities, or
costs that are decoupled from the
consumer.essentailly paid by others or society as a
whole
Environmental policy often finds ways to internalize
these other costs
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Life cycle analysis..

Considers full cost/impact of product, including disposal.
Linear model:
Raw materials production use disposal
Circular model:
production
raw materials
use
recycling
There are clear advantages to a more sustainable circular model.

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Take home messages..

Approach to waste production has changed over the last
100 yearsaway from unregulated dumping and
towards zero waste production
However, total waste MSW production has continued to
climbin large part due to increasing population.
There are opportunities in reclaiming waste resources
this will be vital to sustainable resource management.

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Online sources to view:

http://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/wheredoes-new-york-citys-trash-go
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/
2014/03/11/287310897/
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/
2014/07/02/3455697/
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/
trashtrack_release.mov
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