This document provides a history of waste management practices and discusses various methods for dealing with municipal solid waste and hazardous waste. It describes how waste was initially dumped untreated into land or waterways (the "dilute and disperse" method). Later, sanitary landfills were developed that involved compacting and covering trash with soil. However, landfills have limitations and can pollute nearby areas. The document then outlines various integrated waste management strategies like reducing, reusing, recycling, composting, and incineration. It also discusses challenges with disposal of hazardous waste and major hazardous waste sites like Love Canal.

1. Waste Management
A Brief History of Waste Disposal:
The Early Years: “Dilute and Disperse”
-Waste production was taken care of by dumping,
either into unused land areas (“swamps”) or into
rivers.
Many cities have areas that once were “dumps”,
and are now covered by parks or buildings.

3. Most trash or waste was either buried loose, or
in barrels.
Big Problem: Early trash dumps were used for
everything, and unregulated. Many toxins were
dumped with no thought as to the repercussions.
In Delaware, several sites that were formerly
sand and gravel pits were used as dumps.
EX: Army Creek Landfill, Tybouts Corner Landfill,
Delaware Sand and Gravel Landfill

4. Most of these dumps were “open pit” dumps, with
no effort made to cover up the trash and waste.
In some instances, the waste was periodically
burned, to provide more space.
Sanitary Landfills
Later designs were not open pit, because the
waste was covered with a layer of soil. Landfills
today use this method of covering the trash.
The layer of soil prevents access to the waste by
birds, insects and rodents.

5. Sanitary Landfills have distinct alternating layers
of compacted trash and soil.
Soil Layer
Layer of Compacted Trash

6. Problems Associated with Landfills
1) Landfill space is very limited
Ex: Philadelphia is out of landfill space (it used
to be near the airport), and now has to ship its
trash elsewhere (very costly!)
In Delaware: The Cherry Island Landfill is near
capacity, and studies are underway to determine
if the hill of trash can be made even higher.
Understandably, people living near the landfill
are quite upset about the prospects of more trash.

7. 2) Creating newer, safer landfills is an uphill battle.
NIMBY Syndrome
The sites chosen for landfills often are located
near poor, politically disconnected populations.
3) Leachate from the Landfill
Probably the biggest environmental problem with
landfills, leachate is the movement of water
through the waste, into the groundwater or a
nearby body of water.

8. The nature of the leachate depends on the
nature of the waste,the quantity of water, and
the time it takes to percolate through the pile.
4) Atmospheric Pollution
Since the waste is cut off from the air, it degrades
anaerobically.
Rather than decomposing into CO2, the trash
decomposes into CH4, methane gas.
Anaerobic degredation takes longer, and produces
different products.

14. The Composition of Our Solid Waste
Solid waste varies in composition depending
on its source.
Paper is the largest component of the waste
stream, at about 38%.
The single largest item is newspaper, which
accounts for over 18% of solid waste.

15. The Composition
Of the Solid
Waste Stream

16. Waste Management, or
“What Do We DO With All This Stuff”?
Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
“a set of management alternatives that include
reuse, source reduction, recycling, composting,
landfills, and incineration”
1) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: the ultimate goal
of waste management is to reduce the amount
of waste that must be dealt with in the
first place.

17. But HOW?
-Reduction in packaging wastes
-Reusable packages, deposits on containers
Studies have indicated that waste could be
reduced by as much as 70%.
-Packages made of easily recycled materials
-Increased markets for recycled materials
-Increased public support for recycling

18. 2) Composting
Composting is a biochemical process that
breaks down organic materials into rich
soil-like material.
It involves microscopic aerobic organisms, so the
compost must be aerated to keep them alive.
Piles of compost may be turned over periodically,
allowing air to penetrate the pile.
Large “digesters” continually turn the compost,
making a very efficient system.

19. Problems with Composting:
Compost having left over pesticides may kill plants
that it is applied to. (herbicides)
Compost can only be made when the organic
material is collected separately from other trash.
(plastics/metals, etc..)
Composting does have a good future, because it
can be done on a small scale, in yards and
gardens.

20. 3) Sanitary Landfill (improved designs):
Sanitary landfills are not going to be eliminated
from any integrated system. There is always going
to be a need for them.
Improved designs will better handle leaching, and
prevent contamination of air and groundwater.
Landfills by design, not by accident, built to take
specific types of waste.
Built in monitoring systems, wells, liners, and
leachate collection pipes.

21. An Idealized Sanitary Landfill

22. 4)Incineration: also known as “trash to
steam”, has an advantage that the energy in
the trash can be converted to heat energy.
Also reduces the volume of trash up to 95%.
Problems with Incineration
-Creates air pollution, including SO2, NOx and
all kinds of heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc…)
-can be lowered with specialized equipment ($$)
-The ash produced is very toxic, and needs to
be handled as toxic waste.

23. Human Waste Disposal
Since the dawn of human evolution, solid human
waste has posed a problem as to its disposal.
For thousands of years in China and India, waste
was used on crops as fertilizer.
Wherever large populations of people lived, the
waste became a big problem.
By the early 20th century, land application was
taking place in many places, including the U.S.
“Sewage Sludge”

24. Major Problems with Human Waste Disposal
-Contamination with infectious agents, and their
spread to waterways and treated crops
Ex: Chi-Chi’s green onion problem (e-coli bacteria)
-Pollution with heavy metals, industrial solvents,
and pesticides.
Industrial contributors could pre-treat their sewage,
thereby eliminating many pollutants. ($$$)
If the price of oil continues to climb, making
man-made fertilizers more expensive,the use of
human waste as fertilizer may gain favor again.

25. Ocean Dumping
Types of things that get dumped into the
oceans of the world:
Dredge spoils: solid materials, generally silt,sand
and pollutants dug up as navigation channels are
deepened.
Industrial wastes:acids, pesticide wastes, all
matter of solvents, heavy metals
Sewage Sludge Construction Debris
Radioactive waste, explosives, garbage

26. Ocean Dumping Laws (U.S.)
1972: Ocean Dumping Act:Prohibited the
dumping of chemical weapons, high level
radioactive waste, biological warfare agents.
1988: Expanded to include sewage sludge,
industrial waste, and medical waste.
1992: Provisions for a coastal water quality
monitoring program were added

27. Permitted dumping
Article 4 states that Contracting Parties "shall prohibit
the dumping of any wastes or other matter with the
exception of those listed in Annex 1."
1. Dredged material
2. Sewage sludge
3. Fish waste, or material resulting from industrial
fish processing operations
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution
by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972

28. 4. Vessels and platforms or other man-made
structures at sea
5. Inert, inorganic geological material
6. Organic material of natural origin
7. Bulky items primarily comprising iron, steel,
concrete and similar unharmful materials for
which the concern is physical impact and limited
to those circumstances, where such wastes are
generated at locations, such as small islands with
isolated communities, having no practicable access
to disposal options other than dumping.

29. Hazardous Waste and its Disposal
In the U.S., over 35,000 chemicals are classified
as hazardous to the health of people or to
ecosystems (Table 28.1 in textbook)
The U.S. produces an average of 700 MILLION
metric tons of hazardous waste annually.
Most is generated by the chemical industry,
followed closely by the electronics industry, and
oil/petroleum industries.

30. Another great source of hazardous waste is US!
Almost every household has used pesticides, oil,
solvents, paints, batteries, etc.
When these get thrown into the “regular” trash,
they end up in a landfill not designed for hazmat,
or, even worse, incinerated in a plant not made
for burning hazmat.
In the U.S., there are an estimated 2000 sites
polluted with hazmat, and the number keeps
going up as new sites are found.

31. Love Canal
In 1976, toxic chemicals began oozing out of the
soil covering what once had been a toxic dumping
ground.
Chemicals had been dumped by a company that
produced pesticides, such as DDT, as well as lots
of chlorinated solvents.
The company sold the land to the city of Niagara,
NY for $1 (it was pressured by the city to do so)

32. Studies in the late 70’s suggested high rates of
cancer and birth defects among the residents of
Love Canal, although results were debated.
Homes and a school were eventually built over
the buried waste.
Efforts were made to clean and neutralize the site
and the homes were eventually sold again to new
owners.
By 1990, $275 million had been spent on
cleanup and relocation costs.

33. Hazmat Disposal
There are several methods of dealing with
hazmat disposal (Table 28.2 in textbook)
1) Secure Landfill: similar to a sanitary landfill, but
with more durable liners, closer inspection of
wells, etc.
Secure landfills also usually have a leachate
pond, which collects the liquid as it runs through
the pile. The leachate is then sent to a treatment
facility designed for hazmat.

34. Hazardous Waste Landfill

35. 2) Surface Impoundments: natural or man-made
holes, in which liquid waste is held
May include a plastic liner but not all do. Some
rely on clay, rock or “impermeable soil”.
Big Problems with Impoundments
1) They are open to the air, so evaporation takes
place, especially of solvents, etc..
2) They can be flooded with heavy rain, and
overflow into a nearby waterway or groundwater

36. 3) Deep Well Injection: drilled to a depth that is
below any underground aquifers, and the liquid
waste is injected under high pressure into the
Earth.
The well has to be sited so that it penetrates
a permeable rock layer far underground, but is
under an impermeable layer
Well
Impermeable Rock
Porous Rock

37. Problems with Deep Well Disposal
There have been instances where deep well
injection has been implicated in causing
earthquakes deep underground.
The high pressure liquid lubricates rock
layers, allowing them to slide. (Rocky Mtn.
Arsenal, 1980’s)
There is no guarantee that the waste will
not find its way into a water system at some
time. (no way to monitor the waste)

38. 4) Incineration
Destruction by high temperatures
Is considered a treatment, rather than
disposal, because the leftover ash must still
be disposed of in a landfill
Is the chosen method for treatment of
chemical weapon stocks (Johnston atoll)
Also conducted on ships that are purpose
built for incineration (very controversial)

39. Incinerators for hazmat are designed to
reduce waste as much as is possible.

40. Hazardous Waste Legislation
Ultimately, it would be far better to reduce
the amount of waste, rather than dispose
of or treat it.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA): Identification of hazardous products
and regulations regarding their disposal.
“Cradle to Grave” regulation
Promotes recycling, re-use of chemicals