Announcements – April 25

Final Exam Monday, May 9, 1:30

Grades from Exam 2 will be posted this week.

Beached Gray WhaleApril 19 2010 - Associated Press

Whale died on West Seattle Beach They don’t know what killed it

1-2% of contents in stomach was garbage

This included: Sweatpants, golf ball, small towels, and duct tape Plastic

Surgical gloves Small pieces Over 20 bags

Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean Justin Berton, October 19, 2007

Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

"With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the perfect environment for trapping," Eriksen said. "There's nothing we can do about it now, except do no more harm."

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Problems Garbage kills marine animals Some plastics don’t break down well Other plastics break down into tiny pieces and may even

biodegrade and release toxins that can disrupt hormone functioning Consequences to the food chain?

Scientific investigation of garbage patches began one decade ago

“Patches” found in Atlantic too (“Chunky Soup”) May be a patch in the southern hemisphere too

Pictured: One Sea Turtle’s Worth of PlasticBy Brandon Keim March 22, 2011  

Joining the Laysan albatross as icons of ocean plastic pollution are sea turtles, which consume bellyfuls of debris while swimming through Earth’s five great ocean garbage patches. Pictured are the stomach contents of a juvenile sea turtle accidentally captured off the coast of Argentina.

Mon March 10, 2008

Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S.

(AP) -- A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Officials in Philadelphia say testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

Rocket fuel chemical found in water, produceDecember 1, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has found traces of a rocket fuel chemical in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and bottled spring water from Texas and California. Sufficient amounts of perchlorate can affect the thyroid, potentially causing delayed development and other problems. But Environmental Protection Agency official Kevin Mayer called for calm, saying in an interview Tuesday: "Alarm is not warranted. That is clear." Asked whether that level of chemical in milk was worrisome, Mayer, the EPA's regional perchlorate coordinator for Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, said, "The answer is, we don't know yet."

BBC10 September, 2004

UN warns of pesticide 'time-bomb’Stockpiles have built up as pesticide products have been banned. The UN has warned that huge stockpiles of toxic chemical waste from obsolete pesticides are a "time bomb" for East Europe and the developing world. Its Food and Agriculture Organization has urged assistance for the disposal of the chemicals, which it says are often stored at unmanaged sites. Such stockpiles threaten the health of rural communities, says the FAO.

Solid/Hazardous Wastes

Lecture Objectives:

What do we do with our garbage?

What are the problems with hazardous waste?

What happened at Love Canal?

Introduction to Waste Management

Solid Waste – objects or particles that accumulate on the site where they are produced.

Municipal Solid Waste (Garbage) amounts to 230 million tons in U.S. annually (equivalent to 1.5 billion humans!!).

Disposable Decades

Mid-1950s – emphasis on a disposable lifestyle Wave of the future Way to reduce household duties.

Convenience was sold to prosperous post-war (WWII) consumers. Convenience quickly changed to

necessity. TV dinners first marketed in 1953.

US Domestic Waste

Nature of the Problem U.S. volume of garbage has

increased more than 50% since 1960 (although stabilized since 1990) .

Countries with higher standard of living produce more waste.

Traditional Methods (dumping and burning) are no longer accepted.

Urban areas running out of places to put garbage

Clicker Question

What type of bags do you use most at the grocery store?

(a) Paper

(b) Plastic

(c) I bring my own

http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/

Methods of Waste Disposal

Landfills Incineration Source reduction Composting Recycling

Landfilling Most municipal solid waste

in US is deposited in landfills 10,500 tons of residential

waste to landfills daily from NYC

Source of groundwater pollution

Number of municipal landfills is declining. Some closed for violations,

other because full New landfills costly and

often resisted - NIMBY

Reducing the Number of Landfills

Illinois landfills

In 2003, the Illinois EPA reported: 50 landfills Available landfill space is “adequate” Can use these for at least 12 more years (though timeline

varies regionally)

In 1999, the Illinois EPA determined 33 former landfills in 21 counties were not properly closed/sealed. Water pollutants Aesthetically unpleasant

The Illinois EPA is working to clean these up.

Incineration

Prior to 1940, incineration was common in North America and western Europe.

Many incinerators were eliminated because of foul odors and gritty smoke

Currently, about 15% of U.S. municipal solid waste is incinerated.

Becoming much more popular in Denmark in the last 10 yrs - destroys waste and creates energy

Horsholm, Denmark: 34% incinerated, 4% landfills, 1% “special disposal”, 61% recycled

IncinerationPros:

Reduce volume 90%, weight 75% Heat from burning converted to electricity - “renewable

energy” Higher energy content than raw trash when using

“Refuse derived-fuel” technique - sorts out recyclable and unburnable materials

Cons: Create air pollution

“Mass Burn” technique - everything smaller than large furniture is burned

Concentrates toxins in ash EPA has found alarmingly high toxin levels in incinerator ash.

More costly than landfills, as long as space available

Composting Harnessing natural decomposition to

transform organic material into compost

About 3800 composting facilities currently in use in the United States. In 2003, IL had 38 working compost centers

Landscape Recycling Center1210 E. University Ave., Urbana344-LEAF (5323) www.city.urbana.il.us

Source Reduction

Most fundamental method of reducing waste is to prevent it from being produced (Waste Prevention)

Reduce and reuse – Individuals and Industry Saves natural resources Reduces waste toxicity Reduces costs

Plastic bag and bottle bills move

forward in Oregon LegislatureApril 22, 2011

An Oregon state senator is proposing a ban on plastic bags at grocery checkout counter.

The bill would also increase the current nickel deposit to a dime for any glass, metal or plastic beverage container if redemption rates fall below 80 percent.

The Oregonian

Recycling Recycling initiatives have grown rapidly in US

By 2000, 9,000 U.S. cities had implemented curbside recycling programs.Urbana’s curbside program began in 1986http://www.ci.champaign.il.us/public_works/index.php

Mandatory recycling laws(15 states)

Bottle Bills (10 states)

Recycling Benefits

Resource Conservation

Pollution Reduction Crushed glass reduces energy required to

manufacture new glass by 50%.

One Sunday edition of N.Y. times consumes 62,000 trees.

Only 40% of North American paper is recycled.

Over 60% of aluminum cans recycled.

Recycling

Benefits Saves money, raw materials, and land. Encourages individual responsibility. Reduces pressure on disposal systems.

Japan recycles about half of all household and commercial wastes.

Lowers demand for raw resources. Reduces energy consumption and air pollution.

US Recycling Rates

Recycling Concerns Plastics are recyclable, but technology

differs from plastic to plastic. Industry is researching new technologies.

Economics are of concern. Demand for products must keep pace with

growing supply

Recycling of mineral materials

Many minerals are not actually consumed, but only temporarily held (e.g. aluminum cans)

Sometimes, recycled material costs more than virgin material.

Sometimes, recycling process uses more energy or creates more toxic pollution than extracting virgin materials.

Historically, monetary cost for energy low and supply of new material high, thus no incentive to recycle

What Can You Do?What Can You Do? Buy durable items and repair them Buy recycled goods and recycle them Buy beverages in refillable containers Rechargeable batteries Reduce junk mail Lobby for trash separation and recycling Choose items with minimal packaging & reduce

number of bags used Compost yard and food waste

http://www.city.champaign.il.us/public_works/pwrhp.html

http://www.city.urbana.il.us/

http://www.ci.urbana.il.us/

“quick links”

“recycling”

TIMEMaking Recycling Really Pay Friday, Apr. 11, 2008 By BRYAN WALSH

Ron Gonen co-founded RecycleBank in 2004 with a simple idea: that people want to recycle, but they just need a little push.

Here's how it works: every family on a garbage route is issued a special container with a computer chip. When garbage trucks pick up the recycling, they weigh the container and record how much each family is recycling by weight. The more you recycle, the more RecycleBank points you earn, which can be redeemed for offers at merchants like CVS/pharmacy. http://www.recyclebank.com/

Points to Know

Know the 5 methods of waste disposal. Which is the most common method in the US, and what are two problems with this method?

What are some recycling initiatives in the US? What can you do to help reduce the amount of solid

waste generated?