Put on your hazmat suit and get out paper for today’s notes!

Protect yourself from hazardous situations – read the board!

A little Love Story

Love Canal Abandoned hydroelectric canal sold to Hooker Chemical Co.

22,000 tons200+ chemicals

including dioxinsWastes covered, site

sold to Niagara Falls school board 1955

Love Canal Birth defects Dark liquids seeped into

basements through walls Noxious chemical smells Trees and shrubs died Mid-1970’s heavy rains caused

groundwater levels to rise Resident Louis Gibbs begins

campaign to get authorities interested

1978 – EPA begins testing 1990 – massive cleanup began

A recently discovered hazmat site: The San Jacinto Waste pits

Paper mill wastes Paper mill wastes containing dioxins

dumped in 1960’s and 70’s Land subsided, pits disappeared Crabs, fish have been showing high

levels of dioxins and PCB’s for decades

Dioxins biomagnify ; measured here at 70,000 parts per trillion; 95% of fish and crab dangerously contaminated

“Dioxins can alter the fundamental growth and development of cells. In humans, adverse effects include suppression of the immune system, a variety of reproductive effects from reduced fertility to birth defects, chloracne, and cancer.”

Dioxin limit in seafood: .47 pptrillion Catfish – 8pptrillion Blue crab – 6 pptrillion!

So how did we let this happen?What the paper mill did was not illegal – at the time!

RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976

Required all landfills to be designed to “sanitary” standards

Defined hazardous waste: (toxic, flammable, reactive, corrosive)

Required cradle to grave management of hazmat

95% of materials are still “linguistically detoxified”

Household hazardous wastes are not regulated

So what do I do with batteries and CFLs? Houston South Hazardous Waste facility ESC South

11500 South Post OakZIP Code 77035

Harris county facility 6900 N Gessner/290

CFLs contain a small amount of Hg

Compare Hazmat landfill to MSW landfill: Similarities? Differences?

OK, but what about the wastes dumped before RCRA or illegally?

CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Better known as Superfund)

Identifies and prioritizes hazmat sites Seeks responsible parties for payment Remediates sites

Superfund sites in Harris County

EPA manages Superfund National Priorities list

How can these sites be cleaned up? Mechanical

remediation Phytoremediation Bioremediation

LOVE CANAL TODAY

REMEDIATION OF BROWNFIELDS

Abandoned industrial or commercial sites.

New owners must often clean up wastes before new

development can begin

Mechanical remediation Material incinerated

and interred in haz waste landfill

Can get down to deepest contamination

Exposed soil (and contamination) may erode

Phytoremediation Sunflowers –

Lead Mulberry bush

– industrial sludge

Canola plants – selenium

The trade offs of phytoremediation Less disturbance of

area reduces risk of spreading contaminant

Inexpensive Reduces material sent

to landfill

Can be slow acting Can only effect soil

levels which roots can reach

Must match plant to pollutant

Animals could feed on plants – heavy metals could bioaccumulate

BioremediationYeast, fungi, bacteriaDigest organic

compounds into CO2 and H2O

Sites that are unable to be cleaned with microbes include those with high metal concentrations (i.e. mercury), highly chlorinated organics (compounds with many chlorine elements attached), and inorganic salts. These types of compounds are toxic to the microbes.

Bioremediation ex situ

What are the tradeoffs? Mechanical

remediation Phytoremediation Bioremediation

San Jacinto Waste pits - what are our options?

E-WASTECan you hear me now?

US Geological survey estimates that in 2005 there were already more than half a billion old phones witting in American drawers. That added up to more than $300 million worth of gold, palladium, silver, copper and platinum.

Generated Disposed Recycled Recycling Rate

Televisions 26.9 20.6 6.3 18%

Computer Products*

205.5 157.3 48.2 18%

Cell Phones140.3 126.3 14.0 10%

*Computer products include CPUs, monitors, notebooks, keyboards, mice, and hard copy peripherals.

An emerging concern: Electronic waste (e-waste)

toxic components in a pc

National Geographic - High Tech Trash January 2008

Pairs - Apply the concept of product of service

to the e-waste dilemma

What would manufacturers have to do to make this Product of Service idea a reality?

Think it’s a pipe dream? Xerox –

Solid ink – ships in block, no packaging, melts in copier

Copiers designed to be disassembled when outdated. Components are refurbished and included in newer models where possible.

Toner cartridges – returned to be refilled, not thrown out.

Xerox “Before is was categorized as green, we

thought of it as just being efficient.” –Ursula Burns, Xerox President

“I’m in a funny business – I’m looking for ways that companies can print less. Printing is not going to go away, but we think you have to print more efficiently . . .We know that if we do that we can continue to grow.” – John Kelly, president of global services at Xerox

Note Check! How is bioremediation different from phytoremediation? How are bioremediation and phytoremediation similar? What is an advantage of mechanical remediation that

might explain why it is the most common method used? List three toxic materials commonly found in ewaste. List two precious materials commonly found in ewaste. What objectives will be covered on the quiz tomorrow? When is the test on STUFF? When is the “complete the loop” extra credit due? When is the recycling picture assignment due?