1: What are the reasons why e-waste is not recycled more? not simple, effective, small-scale inexpensive that show the way to do it
1: Define the following:
* Renewable Resources
a natural resource which can replenish with the passage of time, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes.
* Non-Renewable Resources
A natural resource such as coal, gas, or oil that, once consumed, cannot be replaced.
What differentiates renewable and non-renewable resources?
renewable are re-producible things such as farm crops or trees, which can be harvested and then grow back and renew themselves cycle after cycle. Non renewable ones produce or grow once, after which they are harvested and die completely.
2: How many tons of non-fuel minerals does the typical American use per year?
10 tons
1: Define Materials Management:
Concerned with control of materials in such a manner which ensures maximum return on working control material management is concerned with the location & purchase of needed their storage & movement.
2: What are 5 ways that this can be pursued?
Eliminate subsidies for extracting virgin materials
Establish "Green-building" incentives
Assess financial penalties for production that uses poor materials management
Provide incentives for industrial practices that benefit environment
3: How does the idea of materials management and recycling changing where paper mills are located?
It located near cities that have large supplies of recycled paper
1: When metals are concentrated in such high amounts by geologic processes, __________ are formed.
ore deposits
2: In the Earth’s crust, which element makes up the most % by composition? What is 2nd?
Oxygen, silicon
3: How are sedimentary processes and weathering involved in mineral deposits? wind, water and glaciers and often concentrate materials in amounts sufficient for extraction.
1: What is the difference between a mineral resource and a mineral reserve?
Mineral resource of a country means the total available economically viable mineral stored in that country (or in the area). Mineral Reserve is the availability of a particular mineral in an occurrence, that can be economically exploited. Please remember, reserve can be of proved, estimated or probable category, depending on the degree of the intensity of geological investigation carried out to assess the potentiality of that occurrence. But mineral resources are usually tentative. In other words, Reserve pertains to a particular mineral while the Resource is the sumtotal of all the economic minerals.
2: Earth’s mineral resources can be divided into which broad categories?
Elements for metal production and technology and building materials for agriculture
3: When the availability of a particular mineral becomes limited, there are four possible solutions:
1: Find more sources
2:Recycle and reuse what has already been obtained
3:Reduce consumption
4:Find a substitute
1: What are some of the environmental impacts of surface mining (open-pit mines)?
Environmental degradation, changing topography, release of harmful trace elements
2: What are some of the social impacts of large scale mining operations?
Stress on local services, like water supplies, sewage, and solid-waste disposal systems, reduced water quality and increased runoff
3: What can be done to minimize the environmental effects of mining?
Environmental regulations at the federal, state and local levels.
Reclaiming areas disturbed by mining, stabilizing soils, controlling air emissions, treating waste on and offsite
4: What are the 3 R's of waste management?The three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle - all help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space and energy.
1: Compare “dilute and disperse” to the contemporary method of “concentrate and contain”.
Dilute and disperse means to get rid of waste easily, it was sufficient to remove the waste from the immediate environment. Concentrate and contain means to hold chemicals in drums or tanks that may leak
2: In the next few years, how many U.S. cities will run out of landfill space?
Half of the cities in the U.S
3: What is “NIMBY”?
Not in my back yard
4: Describe the concept of “industrial ecology” and how it will be essential in the future.
The study of relationships among industrial systems and their links to natural systems. It is essential in the future, because it would prevent more waste from happening by having waste in one place be a resource in another.
5: What is your opinion of “pay as you throw”? Defend your opinion
I think that pay as you throw is a good idea, because it would reduce the waste that people put out into the Earth.
1: Define Integrated Waste Management (IWM):
Employing several waste control and disposal methods such as source reduction, recycling, re-use, incineration, and land filling, to minimize the environmental impact of commercial and industrial waste streams.
2: What is waste stream?
The waste produced
3: What is single-stream recycling?
Paper, glass, plastic and metals are no separated before collection to make it more convenient for homeowners
4: What are some creative ways that industry are encouraging recycling?
Restaurants are using less packaging and providing onsite bins for recycling paper and plastic.
5: How can human waste (night soil) be re-used and recycled? What are some drawbacks?
to spread in agricultural fields. Drawbacks are that it can cause disease from contaminated food
1: Which product comprises the largest percentage of waste dumped in the United States? Is this surprising?
Paper is the largest, it isn't surprising because paper is used for almost everything in everyday life
2: Define Composting: (What are the pros and cons?)
biological process of breaking up of organic waste
The pros are that you can compost in your backyard or also in large scale. Drawbacks are that you need to separate organic material from waste and is only advantageous when organic material is collected separately from other waste.
3: What are the pros and cons of incineration?
A pro of incineration is that is decreases the volume of solid waste in the environment. However, a con would be when the fumes release toxic substances into the atmosphere.
4: What is a sanitary landfill and how is it accomplished? How is a sanitary landfill selected? What things need to be considered?
Sanitary landfill is designed to concentrate and contain refuse without creating a nuisance or hazard to public health and safety. Sanitary landfill is selected by topography, location, amount of precipitation, types of soil and rock. Things that need to be considered are the local resistance, and places where residents tend to have low socioeconomic status.
5: What is environmental justice?
The environment is not only about animals and plants. It is about the places where we live and work, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we live on. People are part of the environment.
6: What is leachate?
Any liquid that in passing through matter, extracts solutes, suspended solids or any other component of the material through which it has passed.
7: How can pollutants enter the environment from sanitary landfills?
Methane. ammonia and nitrogen gases can be produced from compounds. Heavy metals can be retained in soil. Wind can transport toxic materials to other areas
8: What are the federal mandates for sanitary landfills?
RCRA is a federal mandate for sanitary landfills. It is intended to strengthen and standardize the design, operation and monitoring of sanitary landfills.
9: What are some actions you can take to reduce the waste you generate?
Reduce packaging, reuse products, recycle as much as is possible and practical, purchase products designed for ease in recycling.
1: Where is most of the hazardous waste generated in the U.S.? What are the sources of hazardous waste in the United States?
The most hazardous waste generated in the U.S is east of Mississippi River. Sources of hazardous waste are chemical products, electronics, petroleum and coal products industries.
2: Summarize (in 3-4 sentences) the story of Love Canal.
Creating of a canal in New York was stopped in 1892 and was unused for decades and became a dump for wastes. 20,000 tons of more than 80 chemicals were dumped into the canal. Heavy rains triggered events causing 200 homes and schools, ad 800 families to relocate and reimburse because the canal caused high rates of miscarriages, blood and liver abnormalities. Today, it is now called Black Creek Village.
1: Summarize the problem with e-waste in the United States.
In the United States, e-waste recycling actually is transporting the electronic parts to places like Nigeria and China. People in those places scavenge for e-waste raw materials. When they do this they are exposing themselves to a variety of toxins and potential health problems. The United States has not made a proactive attempt to regulate the computer industry so less waste is produced.
1: What is the purpose of RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)?
Act as an identification of hazardous wastes and their life cycles. To issue guidelines and assign responsibilities to those who manufacture, transport and dispose hazardous waste.
2: What is the purpose of CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act)?
Policies and procedures for release of hazardous substances into the environment. It mandated development of list of sites where hazardous substances were likely to produce or already had produced the most serious environmental problems.
1: Look at the chart on pg. 541- List the PROS/CONS of each of the Hazard Reduction
Technologies
Landfill Pro- low to moderate cost
Landfill con- no resource recovery, highly toxic and persistent chemicals
Injection pro- low cost
Injection con- reactive, corrosive, highly toxic, no resource recovery
Incineration pro- recovery or energy and acids
Incineration con- high cost, high toxic organics and heavy-metal concentration
High temp Decomp pro- Energy recovery, metal recovery
High temp decomp con- high cost and inorganics
1: What are some of the ways that ocean pollution has affected ocean life?
caused death, retarded growth, reproductivity of marine organisms
2: Why are the marine waters of Europe in trouble?
Urban and agriculture pollutants have raised concentrations of nutrients in seawater. Blooms of toxic algae are becoming more common.
3: Why is the microlayer of the ocean considered to be so important?
The microlayer has 10 to 10,000 times higher heavy metal concentrations than the deep oceans.
1: What are the steps of ocean pollution prevention?
Purchasing proper amount of raw materials, exercising better control of materials, improving engineering and design of manufacturing processes are steps to prevent ocean pollution prevention.
1: What is the R to C Ratio- What does it tell us?
The ratio of reserves to the rate of consumption. It tells us how much time we have for finding solutions to the depletion of nonrenewable reserves.
1: What can be done about the global problem of e-waste? Could more be recycled safely?
Prevention of the transportation of the e-waste to other countries could be done. It could save lives of people from different countries. More can be recycled safely if we found new ways to recycle products that haven't been recycled before.
2: What can be done to assist recycling industries to become more cost-effective?
Incentives could assist recycling industries to become more cost-effective.
3: What are some of the indirect benefits to society and the environment from recycling?
Cleaner air, cleaner water are some of the indirect benefits to society
4: Define or criticize the contention that if we really want to do something to improve the environment through reduction of waste, we have to move beyond evaluating benefits of recycling based simply on the fact that it may cost more than dumping waste in a landfill.
I think that it is based on quality, not quantity. No matter the cost, you should always go for the one that benefits you the most.
5: What are the recycling efforts in your community and university, and how could improvements be made?
Recycling efforts include recycling soda cans, glass, plastics for incentives. Improvements can be made by making events like these more widespread, instead of presenting it locally.
Summary: Suppose you found that the home you had been living in for 15 years was located over a buried waste disposal site. What would you do? What kinds of studies could be done to evaluate the potential problems?
I would ask the agent why the house was built and a buried waste disposal site. I would try to find out what the buried waste disposal site was, and ask the people who created the landfill to remove the waste if possible. Studies that could be done to evaluate problems are the concentration of toxic chemicals in the water near the waste, leachates. I would also see if there is any potential problems that would cause to be massive pollution to the environment.
1: Define the following:
* Renewable Resources
a natural resource which can replenish with the passage of time, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes.
* Non-Renewable Resources
A natural resource such as coal, gas, or oil that, once consumed, cannot be replaced.
What differentiates renewable and non-renewable resources?
renewable are re-producible things such as farm crops or trees, which can be harvested and then grow back and renew themselves cycle after cycle. Non renewable ones produce or grow once, after which they are harvested and die completely.
2: How many tons of non-fuel minerals does the typical American use per year?
10 tons
1: Define Materials Management:
Concerned with control of materials in such a manner which ensures maximum return on working control material management is concerned with the location & purchase of needed their storage & movement.
2: What are 5 ways that this can be pursued?
Eliminate subsidies for extracting virgin materials
Establish "Green-building" incentives
Assess financial penalties for production that uses poor materials management
Provide incentives for industrial practices that benefit environment
3: How does the idea of materials management and recycling changing where paper mills are located?
It located near cities that have large supplies of recycled paper
1: When metals are concentrated in such high amounts by geologic processes, __________ are formed.
ore deposits
2: In the Earth’s crust, which element makes up the most % by composition? What is 2nd?
Oxygen, silicon
3: How are sedimentary processes and weathering involved in mineral deposits? wind, water and glaciers and often concentrate materials in amounts sufficient for extraction.
1: What is the difference between a mineral resource and a mineral reserve?
Mineral resource of a country means the total available economically viable mineral stored in that country (or in the area). Mineral Reserve is the availability of a particular mineral in an occurrence, that can be economically exploited. Please remember, reserve can be of proved, estimated or probable category, depending on the degree of the intensity of geological investigation carried out to assess the potentiality of that occurrence. But mineral resources are usually tentative. In other words, Reserve pertains to a particular mineral while the Resource is the sumtotal of all the economic minerals.
2: Earth’s mineral resources can be divided into which broad categories?
Elements for metal production and technology and building materials for agriculture
3: When the availability of a particular mineral becomes limited, there are four possible solutions:
1: Find more sources
2:Recycle and reuse what has already been obtained
3:Reduce consumption
4:Find a substitute
1: What are some of the environmental impacts of surface mining (open-pit mines)?
Environmental degradation, changing topography, release of harmful trace elements
2: What are some of the social impacts of large scale mining operations?
Stress on local services, like water supplies, sewage, and solid-waste disposal systems, reduced water quality and increased runoff
3: What can be done to minimize the environmental effects of mining?
Environmental regulations at the federal, state and local levels.
Reclaiming areas disturbed by mining, stabilizing soils, controlling air emissions, treating waste on and offsite
4: What are the 3 R's of waste management?The three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle - all help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space and energy.
1: Compare “dilute and disperse” to the contemporary method of “concentrate and contain”.
Dilute and disperse means to get rid of waste easily, it was sufficient to remove the waste from the immediate environment. Concentrate and contain means to hold chemicals in drums or tanks that may leak
2: In the next few years, how many U.S. cities will run out of landfill space?
Half of the cities in the U.S
3: What is “NIMBY”?
Not in my back yard
4: Describe the concept of “industrial ecology” and how it will be essential in the future.
The study of relationships among industrial systems and their links to natural systems. It is essential in the future, because it would prevent more waste from happening by having waste in one place be a resource in another.
5: What is your opinion of “pay as you throw”? Defend your opinion
I think that pay as you throw is a good idea, because it would reduce the waste that people put out into the Earth.
1: Define Integrated Waste Management (IWM):
Employing several waste control and disposal methods such as source reduction, recycling, re-use, incineration, and land filling, to minimize the environmental impact of commercial and industrial waste streams.
2: What is waste stream?
The waste produced
3: What is single-stream recycling?
Paper, glass, plastic and metals are no separated before collection to make it more convenient for homeowners
4: What are some creative ways that industry are encouraging recycling?
Restaurants are using less packaging and providing onsite bins for recycling paper and plastic.
5: How can human waste (night soil) be re-used and recycled? What are some drawbacks?
to spread in agricultural fields. Drawbacks are that it can cause disease from contaminated food
1: Which product comprises the largest percentage of waste dumped in the United States? Is this surprising?
Paper is the largest, it isn't surprising because paper is used for almost everything in everyday life
2: Define Composting: (What are the pros and cons?)
biological process of breaking up of organic waste
The pros are that you can compost in your backyard or also in large scale. Drawbacks are that you need to separate organic material from waste and is only advantageous when organic material is collected separately from other waste.
3: What are the pros and cons of incineration?
A pro of incineration is that is decreases the volume of solid waste in the environment. However, a con would be when the fumes release toxic substances into the atmosphere.
4: What is a sanitary landfill and how is it accomplished? How is a sanitary landfill selected? What things need to be considered?
Sanitary landfill is designed to concentrate and contain refuse without creating a nuisance or hazard to public health and safety. Sanitary landfill is selected by topography, location, amount of precipitation, types of soil and rock. Things that need to be considered are the local resistance, and places where residents tend to have low socioeconomic status.
5: What is environmental justice?
The environment is not only about animals and plants. It is about the places where we live and work, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we live on. People are part of the environment.
6: What is leachate?
Any liquid that in passing through matter, extracts solutes, suspended solids or any other component of the material through which it has passed.
7: How can pollutants enter the environment from sanitary landfills?
Methane. ammonia and nitrogen gases can be produced from compounds. Heavy metals can be retained in soil. Wind can transport toxic materials to other areas
8: What are the federal mandates for sanitary landfills?
RCRA is a federal mandate for sanitary landfills. It is intended to strengthen and standardize the design, operation and monitoring of sanitary landfills.
9: What are some actions you can take to reduce the waste you generate?
Reduce packaging, reuse products, recycle as much as is possible and practical, purchase products designed for ease in recycling.
1: Where is most of the hazardous waste generated in the U.S.? What are the sources of hazardous waste in the United States?
The most hazardous waste generated in the U.S is east of Mississippi River. Sources of hazardous waste are chemical products, electronics, petroleum and coal products industries.
2: Summarize (in 3-4 sentences) the story of Love Canal.
Creating of a canal in New York was stopped in 1892 and was unused for decades and became a dump for wastes. 20,000 tons of more than 80 chemicals were dumped into the canal. Heavy rains triggered events causing 200 homes and schools, ad 800 families to relocate and reimburse because the canal caused high rates of miscarriages, blood and liver abnormalities. Today, it is now called Black Creek Village.
1: Summarize the problem with e-waste in the United States.
In the United States, e-waste recycling actually is transporting the electronic parts to places like Nigeria and China. People in those places scavenge for e-waste raw materials. When they do this they are exposing themselves to a variety of toxins and potential health problems. The United States has not made a proactive attempt to regulate the computer industry so less waste is produced.
1: What is the purpose of RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)?
Act as an identification of hazardous wastes and their life cycles. To issue guidelines and assign responsibilities to those who manufacture, transport and dispose hazardous waste.
2: What is the purpose of CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act)?
Policies and procedures for release of hazardous substances into the environment. It mandated development of list of sites where hazardous substances were likely to produce or already had produced the most serious environmental problems.
1: Look at the chart on pg. 541- List the PROS/CONS of each of the Hazard Reduction
Technologies
Landfill Pro- low to moderate cost
Landfill con- no resource recovery, highly toxic and persistent chemicals
Injection pro- low cost
Injection con- reactive, corrosive, highly toxic, no resource recovery
Incineration pro- recovery or energy and acids
Incineration con- high cost, high toxic organics and heavy-metal concentration
High temp Decomp pro- Energy recovery, metal recovery
High temp decomp con- high cost and inorganics
1: What are some of the ways that ocean pollution has affected ocean life?
caused death, retarded growth, reproductivity of marine organisms
2: Why are the marine waters of Europe in trouble?
Urban and agriculture pollutants have raised concentrations of nutrients in seawater. Blooms of toxic algae are becoming more common.
3: Why is the microlayer of the ocean considered to be so important?
The microlayer has 10 to 10,000 times higher heavy metal concentrations than the deep oceans.
1: What are the steps of ocean pollution prevention?
Purchasing proper amount of raw materials, exercising better control of materials, improving engineering and design of manufacturing processes are steps to prevent ocean pollution prevention.
1: What is the R to C Ratio- What does it tell us?
The ratio of reserves to the rate of consumption. It tells us how much time we have for finding solutions to the depletion of nonrenewable reserves.
1: What can be done about the global problem of e-waste? Could more be recycled safely?
Prevention of the transportation of the e-waste to other countries could be done. It could save lives of people from different countries. More can be recycled safely if we found new ways to recycle products that haven't been recycled before.
2: What can be done to assist recycling industries to become more cost-effective?
Incentives could assist recycling industries to become more cost-effective.
3: What are some of the indirect benefits to society and the environment from recycling?
Cleaner air, cleaner water are some of the indirect benefits to society
4: Define or criticize the contention that if we really want to do something to improve the environment through reduction of waste, we have to move beyond evaluating benefits of recycling based simply on the fact that it may cost more than dumping waste in a landfill.
I think that it is based on quality, not quantity. No matter the cost, you should always go for the one that benefits you the most.
5: What are the recycling efforts in your community and university, and how could improvements be made?
Recycling efforts include recycling soda cans, glass, plastics for incentives. Improvements can be made by making events like these more widespread, instead of presenting it locally.
Summary: Suppose you found that the home you had been living in for 15 years was located over a buried waste disposal site. What would you do? What kinds of studies could be done to evaluate the potential problems?
I would ask the agent why the house was built and a buried waste disposal site. I would try to find out what the buried waste disposal site was, and ask the people who created the landfill to remove the waste if possible. Studies that could be done to evaluate problems are the concentration of toxic chemicals in the water near the waste, leachates. I would also see if there is any potential problems that would cause to be massive pollution to the environment.