AU U L A LA

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Litter: Problems and Solutions
Park Street Palmas Tremembé, São Paulo, a dump truck dumps and land in a vacant
lot. The dirt is large and occupies a chunk of sidewalk. A military police car a
rrives and stops the operation, but moments later goes away. After the departure
of the officers, the rest of the dirt is dumped on the ground, and the truck al
so leaves the scene, as if nothing had happened.
O Estado de S. Paulo, 06/19/1995.
Given in the paper
A
In the city of Taubaté, State of Sao Paulo, the saturation of the landfill promp
ted the City to declare a federal disaster area: the landfill gives off stench (
...) and is close to the river Una, where does the water catchment that supplies
the city.
Journal of Commerce and Industry, 05/28/1994.
(...) The system of garbage collection, which opened in Sao Paulo in the managem
ent Luiza Erundina, was not extinct because there is a city ordinance making it
mandatory. Garbage bags are piled up beside the colorful containers, there is di
sclosure and home collection is poor. Of the 12 000 tons of garbage collected pe
r day, only 10 tons go for recycling - less than 0.09%. Now the Mayor promises,
through two new projects, resume, and expand the program.
O Estado de S. Paulo, 26/06/1995.
The accumulation of trash is a big problem, no? Let's see, in this class, what c
an we do to solve this problem.
Our class
I was born in a small neighborhood consisting of homes, mostly one-story, three
or four sales and two grocery stores. Now, 40 years later, my house is the only
street, squeezed between huge apartment buildings on all sides. People do not re
sist the offers from builders, sold their homes and moved to other neighborhoods
farther away. Then see: the houses on the land that housed four or five people,
were constructed twenty-story buildings, with dozens of apartments housing hund
reds of people. This caused it to increase the number of cars, worsening traffic
, there was more noise and more ... garbage!
The accumulation of garbage pollutes the environment. But there are solutions to
the problem of garbage, as you'll see below.
CLASSROOM
Waste treatment
Brazil produces about 90 tons of garbage per day, equivalent to 30,000 truckload
s of garbage. The large amount of packaging and disposable products exacerbates
the problem. Much of this waste consists of materials that can be recycled, and
another part is composed of organic material that can be decomposed by microorga
nisms. In Brazil, almost all the garbage is still thrown into landfills. The tab
le below shows the main destinations of waste in Brazil.
DESTINATION IN TONS TRUCKS IN PERCENTAGE
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landfill dumps treatment plants
79 200 9000 1800
26 400 600 3000
88% 10% 2%
Let's see now what happens to the rubbish in these places. · Dumps: they are com
mon land, where waste is deposited daily in the open, causing water contaminatio
n, soil and air. Decomposing garbage produces a black liquid, highly polluting c
alled "slurry" which penetrates the soil and reaches the groundwater, contaminat
ing the mines and sources. The decomposition also causes the proliferation of an
imal transmitters of several diseases, such as rats, cockroaches, flies and mosq
uitoes. The contaminated soil becomes unproductive, besides being a wasteful occ
upation of large land with garbage.
dump
·
Landfill: areas are chosen with discretion, usually non-productive land that are
not located in areas of environmental preservation. The bottom of the landfill
should be prepared with sturdy laminated layers, allowing the flow of "manure" a
nd its treatment. It is a complex piece of engineering, performed with all techn
ical criteria, according to health legislaaterro ing anti-pollution regulations.
CLASSROOM
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·
In landfills, waste is layered and covered with earth or clay and compacted by c
rawler tractors. After some time, this waste is partially decomposed by microorg
anisms that feed it. The trash will accumulate up to fill the capacity of the la
nd. In Sao Paulo there are currently five landfills. One is just to dump constru
ction. Of the other four, two are already sold out. Treatment plants: those plan
ts, the waste is not accumulated. Upon arrival, the waste is spread on mats, fur
niture, so that recyclables can be separated, such as glass, paper, metals, plas
tics etc.. And sold to recycling industries. The remaining garbage is placed in
large reactors called digesters. Through the action of microorganisms, the trash
turns into an organic compound that can be used as fertilizer or as a component
of animal feed.€The residual waste that may remain is taken to a landfill. Inci
neration: The incinerator is garbage from hospitals, veterinary clinics, toxic m
aterials etc.. The gases contained in smoke from burning trash can be pollutants
if not properly treated.
·
Waste recycling
In order to extend the life of landfills, we need to learn to reuse and recycle
some garbage. Separate glass, paper, plastic etc.. is profitable, because you ca
n sell them or if you want, donate them to charities. You can also participate i
n garbage collection of city hall, throwing papers, plastics and glass collector
s in appropriate throughout the city.
separation of waste for recycling
Think about it: would you are helping to reduce the junk in your city? What sugg
estions would you do for a program to better utilization of waste? We know the p
rocesses of recycling of some products more common.
Paper invented in China around 200 BC, the paper reached Europe only in the elev
enth century of our era. The paper is manufactured primarily from a pulp obtaine
d by cooking the mixture of wood chips and water. The waste cooking process that
pollute water and air. To manufacture one tonne of virgin paper, we use 10-20 m
ature trees and 100,000 liters of water. When paper is recycled, the amount of w
ater used in the process decreased to 2000 liters, and it avoids many of the cut
trees. The energy spent is 71% lower than for the production of virgin paper, a
nd the process is not as polluting. The recycling process is simple. The paper (
old newspapers, scraps of graphic production, scrap, wrapping paper, notebooks e
tc used.) Goes to a machine similar to a large blender. The paper is shredded to
form a paste. This folder goes through a machine that removes impurities. After
clearing, the paste is immersed in water and placed on a flat surface on a scre
en, which will form the paper. Excess water drains and a system of rollers gives
consistency to the leaves, which are put to dry. In Brazil, about 30% of paper
produced goes to recycling. Recycled paper is mainly used in the manufacture of
cardboard boxes. Currently, Brazil imports thousands of tons of scrap per year.
If the volume of recycled paper was larger, Brazil does not need to buy chips in
order to account for its production. Glass Glass is designed for about 4000 yea
rs before Christ. It is made from natural raw materials such as sand, soda ash,
feldspar, alumina etc.. Some of these deposits are already running out. In the m
anufacture of glass are spent 1,200 kg of raw material for every 1000 kg of glas
s. The extraction of this material harm nature and the environment. Glass is not
biodegradable, but is 100% recyclable. With 1,000 kg of ground glass is produce
d almost 1,000 kg of new glass. In recycling, the glass goes through a washing p
rocess and are removed foreign objects such as labels, metal rings etc.. Then it
is separated by color and crushed. Next, enter the normal manufacturing process
: the glass is melted to produce new objects. Some types of glass, and plans, us
ed in windows and doors, require special handling in recycling. These glasses ca
n be reused in the manufacture of tiles and glass wool, or even converted into s
mall grains are mixed with the ink for painting asphalt. A glass object can be u
sed indefinitely, provided they do not break. Therefore, food manufacturers and
soft reuse the glasses, after washed and disinfected. A ton of glass saves reuse
d about 290 kg of oil and 1,200 kg of raw material that would be spent in its fo
undry.
CLASSROOM
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CLASSROOM
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Metal Metals have been used by man since the Iron Age, in making weapons and too
ls. From the late nineteenth century, began the manufacture of packaging for foo
d preservation, made of metal alloys such as tin, steel and aluminum. Steel is a
n alloy of iron with carbon content ranging between 0.06% and 1.7%. It is obtain
ed from processing steel from pig iron with addition of different metals for the
production of special alloys. Currently in Brazil, are consumed 650,000 tons of
rolled steel per year and 25% are for the manufacture of cans for food. Brazil
is the second largest producer of iron ore, and the sixth largest steel producer
, but this production is not sufficient to meet our internal needs. Therefore, B
razil spends too much money on imports of scrap iron.€And the reserves of iron o
re on the planet can supply the consumption only by little more than a century.
Aluminium is obtained from bauxite. Require five tons of bauxite to produce one
ton of aluminum and bauxite extraction is extremely offending to the environment
. In recent years, has greatly increased the employment of aluminum packaging. A
re aluminum packaging for toothpaste, shaving cream, soda, beer and many others.
Brazil manages to recycle 27% of total steel output and 50% of aluminum cans. R
ecycling is simple. Scrap is separated as the predominant material, washed, pres
sed and blown again. The recycling of steel allows 74% energy saving, and allows
95% of aluminum. A recycled aluminum can saves half cans of gasoline. Plastic P
lastic is a relatively new product, as it was developed early this century and p
opularized. It is made from petroleum derivatives. Besides the fact that oil is
a renewable natural resource difficult, it is estimated that some types of plast
ic can take more than fifty years to degrade. Every citizen of Brazil to the dum
p each year, an average of 10 pounds of plastic. Only in Sao Paulo are collected
670 tons of plastic daily! Plastic can be recycled in the manufacturing industr
y itself. Defective parts or trimmings are ground, melted and replaced on the pr
oduction line. Packaging and other plastics used can also be recycled. Recycling
of plastic energy saving reaches 90%.
To increase productivity in recycling, plastics are coded with numbers 1-7, in a
ccordance with the basic resin that were made. This facilitates the classificati
on at the time of recycling, for plastics made from the same resin provide a fin
al product of better quality. See the table below some types of resin, its main
uses and products from its recycling.
RESIN PRODUCTS MAIN USE OF RECYCLING
CLASSROOM
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1. polyethylene terephthalate 2. High density polyethylene 3. Vinyl or polyvinyl
Bottles of soda water bottles, detergent containers Containers for oil, food pac
kaging, valves and gaskets packaging of biscuits and pasta food containers, disp
osable cups, utensils, insulating
Rugs, tennis balls down the chairs and trash cans floor mats, pipes and hoses gr
ocery bags containers for paint pipes, trash cans
4. low density polyethylene 5. Polypropylene 6. polystyrene
Some countries reuse the plastic as fuel. He is burned in large incinerators, ge
nerating an energy higher than coal. However, it is necessary to use a filtering
system to reduce air pollution. The gases in the atmosphere must follow the saf
ety rules and laws applied to air pollution. You saw how simple it is to reduce
the amount of garbage from a city, making our environment healthier. The United
Nations Environment Programme has the following solutions to the problem of wast
e accumulation. · Reduce: Use less material, avoid waste. Reuse: Do not throw aw
ay used goods, but use them in other ways or send them to recycling plants. Recy
cle: reprocess the raw products used for the manufacture of new products. Ash: T
o build at least part of the energy that was spent in making the products. Dispo
sal in landfills: in the latter case, to accumulate the waste in specially prepa
red areas, to prevent contamination of soil and ground water.
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To end the lesson, see if you thought the suggestions for a program to better ut
ilization of waste are similar to any of these:
CLASSROOM
· ·
Whenever possible, buy beverages in returnable bottles. Separate paper (white pa
per, cardboard) and glass containers used to sell or donate to charities. Reuse
packaging. For example, cans of beer or soda can hold pencils and pens. Who live
s at home with yard of earth can separate the peels of fruits and leaves of vege
tables to be processed into organic fertilizer.
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Just to remind
Exercise 1 Answer the questions below. a) Where is carried most of the garbage i
n Brazil? b) What can we do to extend the life of landfills? c) a saving when yo
u recycle paper? d) What is the 100% recyclable? e) What are the steps for recyc
ling of scrap aluminum? f) the recyclable materials, which takes longer to degra
de?