Compose a 300-word (minimum) essay on the topic below. Essays

Compose a 300-word (minimum) essay on the topic below.
Essays must be double-spaced and use APA-style in-text
citations to reference ideas or quotes that are not your own. You
must include a separate bibliography.
What would be accomplished if governments passed laws
requiring manufacturers to take back and reuse or recycle all
packaging waste, appliances, electronic equipment, and motor
vehicles at the end of their useful lives? Would you support
such a law? Explain why or why not.
You should cite and quote from assigned readings, AVP's,
videos, and module activities to support the ideas in your essay.
(A link that was in this weeks
reading)https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=796&view
=1
Compose a 300
-
word (minimum) essay on the topic below. Essays must be
double
-
spaced
and use APA
-
style in

-
text citations to reference ideas or quotes that are not your own.
You
What would be accomplished if government
s passed laws requiring manufacturers to
take back and reuse or recycle all packaging waste, appliances,
electronic equipment,
and motor vehicles at the end of their useful lives? Would you
support such a law?
Explain why or why not.
You should cite and
quote from assigned readings, AVP's, videos, and module
activities to
support the ideas in your essay.
(
A
link tha
t was in this weeks reading
)
https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=796&view=1
Compose a 300-word (minimum) essay on the topic below.
Essays must be double-spaced

and use APA-style in-text citations to reference ideas or quotes
that are not your own. You
What would be accomplished if governments passed laws
requiring manufacturers to
take back and reuse or recycle all packaging waste, appliances,
electronic equipment,
and motor vehicles at the end of their useful lives? Would you
support such a law?
Explain why or why not.
You should cite and quote from assigned readings, AVP's,
videos, and module activities to
support the ideas in your essay.
(A link that was in this weeks
reading)https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=796&view
=1
2
IV Pumps for Nutrition in Pediatric Unit
The IV pumps play a critical role in the care of infants,
children, and adolescents. They are widely applied in medical

settings as patients rely on them for nutrients and medication.
The significance of the IV pumps makes it an essential topic in
healthcare, especially when it comes to pediatric care. The
project focuses on the effectiveness of the utilization of the
pumps in the administration of nutrients and possible
interventions that can be used to enhance their functioning and
minimize the drawbacks. In order to achieve the objective, the
project will integrate details on the impact and success of the
utilization of the pumps in giving nutrients. The information
will also cover the issues that may come from applying the
pumps in nutrition and how to subvert them. The essence of the
project is established around improving healthcare processes,
procedures and outcomes.
IV Pumps for Nutrition in Pediatric Unit
Description of Project Topic
The focus is solely on the application of the intravenous pump
in providing nutrition to pediatric patients. They are three
aspects that are incorporated in the project topic. It begins with
the role of IV pumps in healthcare, their significance in the
administration of nutrition, and then its primary use among
pediatric patients. The topic shows the importance of the pumps
in healthcare, given that it's one of the equipment that are
depended on to support the different medical processes and
protocols (Puntis et al., 2018).
The IV pumps are used to accomplish many purposes, and
administering nutrition is more or less the main role alongside
administering medication. The topic narrows down to the use of
pumps in nutrition. This makes the objective more specific and
achievable. The topic points to one particular area that is
integral in the sustenance of the health of patients and, in the
process, establishes the substantial association between the use
of IV pumps and nutrition (Woolf & Baum, 2017). The
exploration serves as the key to a better understanding of the
suitability or feasibility of this process. The topic lays the
foundation for addressing one crucial matter associated with the
infusion process.

The infusion pumps are essential in virtually all sectors of
medical care, but the topic emphasizes the significance of using
them with pediatric patients. This is because this group in the
general population is one of the more vulnerable and dependent
on the services of healthcare professionals. Ideally, the subject
portrays the usefulness of applying IV pumps in providing
nutrition to the young ones and sets a precedent for addressing
the main aspects relevant in this mechanism of nutrition
provision and administration (Woolf & Baum, 2017).
Description of Project
The project takes into consideration the process of delivering
the nutrients to pediatric patients and all factors that are
involved in implementing the process (Chen et al., 2019). It
includes the key functions of the IV pumps and their impact on
the delivery of nutrients among patients in the targeted setting.
Some of the relevant points of examination entail the design and
types of IV pumps and how they are applied to patients. These
factors influence their performance and have implications for
the progress of healthcare and any outcomes that follow. The
project looks at the efficacy of the utilization of the pumps and
the subsequent developments that are associated with them.
Crucial knowledge that the project depends on is based on data
representing the medical experiences attached to the use of IV
pumps. In setting up the study, the focus is on the outcomes
which are reflective of the level of efficacy in using IV pumps
in providing nutrition to pediatric patients. The results come
from different medical settings that use the pumps. The settings
provide the data on the success of the utilization of the
equipment, the direct impact on healthcare, and other relevant
effects that factor in the outcomes of the application among
children, adolescents and infants (Puntis et al., 2018).
The project integrates the information on the success rate and
possible issues that may occur. These details provide
perspective on why and how the IV pumps should be utilized
and help promote the success rate. The information is meant to
enhance the understanding of the essence of the technique of

nutrient administration. The flaws, errors, or mishaps that
impact the process in some cases help in addressing the areas of
need and the means of prevention such drawbacks (Woolf &
Baum, 2017). Overall, the project is invested in covering the
functionality of IV pumps when providing nutrition to young
ones and the need to improve the outcomes.
Background Discussion
Infusions pumps have been an essential part of the delivery of
medical care for some time now. There are various points of
view that go into the discussion. Ever since the invention of the
infusion pump, the healthcare sector has been transformed in
many ways. The use of IV pumps has been one of the
instrumental courses of action that have positively influenced
patients' well-being. They help disseminate the fluids that are
integral in the survival of individuals (Puntis et al., 2018).
There are different types of pumps, and they influence the care
process in different ways.
Over time, the IV infusions have shown that there is a
significant degree of complexity that is associated with the
process. There is huge significance in the complexity as the
infusions serve critical functions of the human body. The
different types of IV pumps include an enteral pump, a patient-
controlled analgesia pump (PCA), an insulin pump. They all are
essential in the healthcare of patients, but the enteral pump is
key as it is used in the delivery of nutrients into the patient
(Giuliano, 2018). The aspects that are important include
maintenance of correct level of fluid and electrolytes that help
the body function fluidly.
The IV infusions pose a great risk to patient safety, as can be
observed in the various studies that are available. The
complexity in their application has been reflected in prior
studies, which have indicated that the effectiveness of the
infusion process is associated with better healthcare outcomes.
According to research, more than 50% of patients have
experienced adverse events out of the association (Giuliano,
2018). More than 55% of the adversities are associated with

medication errors, with over 60% being tied to serious or life-
threatening errors (Giuliano, 2018). The project thus addresses
the efficacy of the pumps according to the indications of the
data, and it subsequently deals with other relevant factors.
Goals andObjectives
The first goal of the study is the evaluation of the effectiveness
of the application of IV pumps in administering nutrition to
pediatric patients. As such, the purpose ties to the success rate
or positive outcomes that are related to the use of these
equipment. Emphasis is on the role of the project in the addition
or reciprocation of information that supports the application of
the IV pumps (McIntyre et al., 2019). The second goal is
connected to the first goal as it is based on determining the
means and measures that may be impactful in making the
process more effective. The focus is on establishing the
interventions that should enhance the successful utilization of
the pumps with respect to nutrition and pediatric patients.
The main objective is that the project should provide know-how
on the impact of IV pump use on the well-being of pediatric
patients. This objective is established on defining why the pump
should be used in the medical setting. It should provide an
indication of how they are applied with an emphasis on the
types of pumps and the techniques that are applied. The point is
to determine the effectiveness of the pumps on the progression
and ultimate recovery of the patients that have used the
technique. The other objective is based on making the process
more dependable through addressing the issues that affect it or
other probable outcomes that may demean the feasibility of the
study (Puntis et al., 2018).
Significance
The significance of the research topic and process is in the
results that come out of the utilization of the process. The
results show that there is a major correlation between the
technique and the outcomes that define the process. The general
population integrates the various perspectives that are essential
in the process of the administration. These perspectives

annunciate the essence of the utilization of the pumps and the
outcomes that can be anticipated in the evaluation of the
process (McIntyre et al., 2019). The findings can serve as the
foundation for establishing better practices in healthcare and
placing more emphasis on desirable health outcomes. Given the
vulnerability of pediatric patients, better practices are
instrumental in enhancing the level of care that they receive.
The improvement of health outcomes in the utilization of the IV
pumps is associated with more satisfaction from the patients.
Conclusion
IV pumps are essential in healthcare provision in different
ways. The various mechanisms have proven to be useful in the
continuity of the developments that have taken place. The
section looks at the effectiveness of applying techniques and the
different persons involved in the process. The IV pumps
determine the feasibility of the application of the data and the
strategies that should factor in making the process much more
effective. Overall, the pumps are integral in the care of children
and infants. Thus, the safety and success in the application of
the instruments should be a point of emphasis in medical
settings. The achievement of the goals and objectives of the
project should go a long way in enabling the improvement of all
processes involved in the use of IV pumps and mitigation of the
issues that tend to arise. The focus should always be on the
feasibility of the application of the different types of pumps that
are available

References
Chen, J., Liu, K., Chan, F. Y., Xie, Z., Lam, P., Liu, Y. W., ...
& Ka-lun Or, C. (2019, November). Usability Testing for Smart
IV Pumps Through Simulation-based Evaluation. In Proceedings
of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual
Meeting (Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 2209-2210). Sage CA: Los
Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/107118131963118
7
Giuliano, K. K. (2018). IV smart pumps and error-prone
programming tasks: comparison of four devices. Biomedical
instrumentation & technology, 52(s2), 17-27.
https://doi.org/10.2345/0899-8205-52.s2.17
McIntyre, S., Wiesbrock, J., & Congenie, K. (2019). Use of
Simulation to Optimize Outcomes in Critical Pediatric
Transports. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.144.2MA9.874
Puntis, J. W., Hojsak, I., Ksiazyk, J., Braegger, C., Bronsky, J.,
Cai, W., ... & Yan, W. (2018). ESPGHAN/ESPEN/ESPR/CSPEN
guidelines on pediatric parenteral nutrition: Organisational
aspects. Clinical Nutrition, 37(6), 2392-2400.
Woolf, S. M., & Baum, C. R. (2017). Baclofen pumps: uses and
complications. Pediatric emergency care, 33(4), 271-275.
https://journals.lww.com/pec-online/pages/default.aspx
Living in the Environment (MindTap Course List)
20th Edition
ISBN-13: 978-0357142202, ISBN-10: 0170291502

21.1aSolid Waste Is Piling Up
Think about what you have tossed in the trash today. Perhaps it
was leftovers from lunch, an empty can or plastic bottle, or
something you no longer needed. People throw away all sorts of
items, and they all add up to huge amounts of solid waste.
In the natural world, there is essentially no waste because the
wastes of one organism become nutrients or raw materials for
others in food chains and food webs. This natural cycling of
nutrients is the basis of the chemical cycling principles of
sustainability
We violate this principle by producing huge amounts of waste
materials that are burned or buried in landfills or that end up as
litter. For example, the manufacturing of a desktop computer
requires 700 or more different materials obtained from mines,
oil wells, and chemical factories all over the world. For every
0.5 kilogram (1 pound) of electronics it contains, approximately
3,600 kilograms (8,000 pounds) of waste were created—an
amount roughly equal to the weight of a large pickup truck.
Because of the law of conservation of matter (Chapter 2, Law of
Conservation of Matter) and the nature of human lifestyles, we
will always produce some waste. However, studies and
experience indicate that by mimicking nature, through strategies
such as cradle-to-cradle design (Core Case Study), we could
reduce this waste of potential resources and the resulting
environmental harm by up to 80%.
One major category of waste is solid waste—any unwanted or
discarded material people produce that is not a liquid or a gas.
There are two major types of solid waste. The first is industrial
solid waste produced by mines, farms, and industries that
supply us with goods and services. The second is municipal
solid waste (MSW), often called garbage or trash. It consists of

the combined solid wastes produced by homes and workplaces
other than factories. Examples of MSW include paper,
cardboard, food wastes, cans, bottles, yard wastes, furniture,
plastics, glass, wood, and electronics or e-waste (see chapter-
opening photo).
Much of the world’s MSW ends up as litter in rivers, lakes, the
ocean, and natural landscapes (Figure 21.2). One of the major
symbols of such waste is the single-use plastic bag. Laid end-to-
end, the 100 billion plastic bags used in the United States each
year would reach to the moon and back 60 times. In many
countries, the landscape, lakes, and rivers are littered with
plastic bags, as are the oceans. Plastic bags can take 400 to
1,000 years to degrade.
Figure 21.2
Municipal solid waste: Various types of solid waste have been
dumped in this isolated mountain area of the United States.
Mikadun/ Shutterstock.com
In the environment, plastic bags often block drains and sewage
systems and can kill wildlife and livestock that try to eat them
or become ensnared in them. In Kenya, Africa, outbreaks of
malaria have been associated with plastic bags lying on the
ground collecting water in which malaria-carrying mosquitoes
can breed.
Discarded plastic items are a threat to many terrestrial animal
species, as well as millions of seabirds, marine mammals, and
sea turtles, which can mistake a floating plastic sandwich bag
for a jellyfish or get caught in plastic fishing nets (Figure 11.9).
In 2019, a dead whale found on beach in the Philippines had 40
kilograms (88 pounds) of plastic in its stomach. About 80% of
the plastics in the ocean are blown or washed in from beaches,
rivers, storm drains, and other sources, and the rest are dumped
into the ocean from ocean-going garbage barges, ships, and
fishing boats.
In more-developed countries, most MSW is collected and buried

in landfills or burned in incinerators. In many less-developed
countries, much of it ends up in open dumps, where poor people
eke out a living finding items they can use or sell (Figure 21.3).
In China, only about 40% of the MSW is collected, and in rural
areas the figure can be as low as 4–5%. The United States is the
world’s largest producer of solid waste (see Case Study that
follows).
Figure 21.3
This child is searching for useful items in this open trash dump
in Manila, The Philippines.
Stockbyte/Thinkstock
Case Study
Solid Waste in the United States
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
98.5% of all solid waste produced in the United States is
industrial waste from mining (76%), agriculture (13%), and
industry (9.5%). The remaining 1.5% is MSW. The United
States with 4% of the world’s population generates about 40%
of the world’s solid waste, more than any other country. The
U.S. also leads the world in solid waste per person, amounting
to 2.0 kilograms (4.4 pounds) a day or 730 kilograms (1,606
pounds) a year. About $1 of every $10 Americans spend to buy
things goes for packaging that is thrown away, explaining why
paper and plastic packaging makes up about 40% of U.S.
household trash. Every year, Americans generate enough MSW
to fill a bumper-to-bumper convoy of garbage trucks long
enough to circle the earth’s equator almost six times. Most of
this waste is dumped in landfills, recycled or composted, or
incinerated (Figure 21.4, right). However, much of it ends up as
litter.
Figure 21.4
Composition of MSW in the United States and data on where it
goes after collection.
Data Analysis:

1. How many times more than the amount recycled is the
amount of materials put into landfills?
(Compiled by the authors using data from U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency)
Consider some of the solid wastes that consumers throw away
each year, on average, in the high-waste economy of the United
States:
· Enough tires to encircle the earth’s equator almost three times.
· An amount of disposable diapers that, if linked end to end,
would reach to the moon and back seven times.
· Enough carpet to cover the state of Delaware.
· Enough nonreturnable plastic bottles to form a stack that
would reach from the earth to the moon and back about six
times.
· About 100 billion throwaway plastic shopping bags, or 274
million per day, an average of nearly 3,200 every second.
· Enough office paper to build a wall 3.5 meters (11 feet) high
across the country from New York City to San Francisco,
California.
Most of these wastes break down very slowly, if at all. Lead,
mercury, glass, Styrofoam, and most plastic bottles do not break
down completely. An aluminum can takes 500 years to
disintegrate. Disposable diapers may take 550 years to break
down, and a plastic shopping bag may stick around for up to
1,000 years.
Some resource experts suggest we change the name of the trash
we produce from MSW to MWR—mostly wasted resources. So
much of what is considered “waste” can be useful as a resource
(Science Focus 21.1).
Science Focus 21.1
Garbology and Tracking Trash
How do we know about the composition of trash in landfills?
Much of that information comes from research
by garbologists such as William Rathje, an anthropologist who
pioneered the field of garbology in the 1970s at the University

of Arizona. These scientists work like archaeologists, training
their students to sort, weigh, and itemize people’s trash, and to
bore holes to remove cores of materials from garbage dumps
and analyze what they find.
Many people think of landfills as huge compost piles where
biodegradable wastes are decomposed within a few months. In
fact, decomposition inside modern landfills is a slow process.
Trash buried inside sanitary landfills can resist decomposition
perhaps for centuries because it is tightly packed and protected
from sunlight, water, and air, and from the bacteria that could
digest and decompose most of these wastes. In fact, researchers
have unearthed 50-year-old newspapers that were still readable
and hot dogs and pork chops that had not yet decayed.
A team of researchers, led by Carlo Riatti, at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) conducted a project called “Trash
Track.” The project’s goals were to find out where urban trash
goes and help New York City increase its recycling rate from
the current 30% to 100% by 2030.
The researchers attached wireless transmitters about the size of
a matchbook to several thousand different items of trash
produced by volunteer participants in New York City, Seattle,
Washington, and London, England. Every few hours, these
devices use GPS technology to send their locations via a cell
phone network to a computer at MIT, which plots their
movements. This system tracks the trash items on their trips to
recycling plants, landfills, or incinerators, and this helps
researchers determine how and where trash goes.
Critical Thinking
1. How might such a system help us to learn about the
environmental costs of waste management such as the amount of
pollution generated in the hauling and processing of waste?
Explain.
21.1bHazardous Waste
Another major category of waste is hazardous, or toxic waste. It
is any discarded material that threatens human health or the
environment because it is toxic, corrosive, or flammable, can

undergo violent or explosive chemical reactions, or can cause
disease. Examples include industrial solvents, hospital medical
waste, car batteries (containing acids and toxic lead), household
pesticide products, dry-cell batteries (containing mercury and
cadmium), and ash and sludge from incinerators and coal -
burning power and industrial plants. Improper handling of these
wastes can lead to pollution of air and water, degradation of
ecosystems, and health threats. The fastest-growing category of
waste, which contains a large amount of hazardous waste, is
electronic, or e-waste (see the Case Study that follows).
Case Study
E-Waste—A Serious Hazardous Waste Problem
What happens to your cell phone, computer, television set, and
other electronic devices when they are no longer useful? They
become electronic waste, or e-waste—the fastest-growing solid
waste problem in the United States and China (see chapter-
opening photo). Each year, the world generates approximately
300,000 metric tons (330,000 tons) of worn out lithium-ion
batteries from electronic devices. This will increase as sales of
plug-in hybrid (see Figure 16.4) and all-electric vehicles
increase and need battery replacements. This battery e-waste is
a source of valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium
that can be sold to battery companies.
Between 2000 and 2018, the recycling of U.S. e-waste increased
from 10% to 26%, according to the EPA. Much of the remaining
e-waste went to landfills and incinerators. Much e-waste
contains gold, rare earths, and other valuable materials that
could be recycled or reused. In 2016, an estimated $22 billion in
gold was thrown away in e-waste. E-waste also is a source of
toxic and hazardous chemicals that can contaminate air, surface
water, groundwater, and soil and cause human health problems.
Until 2017, much of the e-waste in the United States was
shipped to China, India, and other Asian and African countries
for processing. Labor is cheap and environmental regulations
are weak in those countries. Workers there—many of them
children—dismantle, burn, and treat e-waste with acids to

recover valuable metals and reusable parts. The work exposes
them to toxic metals such as lead and mercury and other
harmful chemicals. The remaining scrap is dumped into
waterways and fields or burned in open fires that expose people
to highly toxic chemicals called dioxins. However, China
stopped accepting e-waste from the United States in 2017
because it was too contaminated.
Transfer of such hazardous waste from more-developed to less-
developed countries is banned under the International Basel
Convention. Despite this ban, much of the world’s e-waste is
not officially classified as hazardous waste, or it is illegally
smuggled out of some countries. The United States can export
its e-waste legally because it has not ratified the Basel
Convention.
The two main classes of hazardous wastes are organic
compounds such as various solvents, pesticides, PCBs, dioxins,
and toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and
arsenic. Figure 21.5 lists some of the harmful chemicals found
in many household products.
Figure 21.5
Harmful chemicals are found in many homes. The U.S.
Congress has exempted the disposal of many of these household
chemicals and other items from government regulation.
Question:
1. Which of these chemicals could you find in your home?
Top: tuulijumala/ Shutterstock.com. Center: Katrina
Outland/ Shutterstock.com. Bottom:
Agencyby/ Dreamstime.com
Another form of extremely hazardous waste is the highly
radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants and nuclear
weapons facilities (see Chapter 15). Such waste must be stored
safely for at least 10,000 years. After 60 years of research,
scientists and governments have not found a scientifically and
politically acceptable way to safely isolate these dangerous
wastes for such a long period of time.

According to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), more-
developed countries produce 80–90% of the world’s hazardous
wastes. The United States is the top producer. China is closing
in on the number one spot as it continues to industrialize
rapidly without adequate pollution controls.
21.1bHazardous Waste
Another major category of waste is hazardous, or toxic waste. It
is any discarded material that threatens human health or the
environment because it is toxic, corrosive, or flammable, can
undergo violent or explosive chemical reactions, or can cause
disease. Examples include industrial solvents, hospital medical
waste, car batteries (containing acids and toxic lead), household
pesticide products, dry-cell batteries (containing mercury and
cadmium), and ash and sludge from incinerators and coal -
burning power and industrial plants. Improper handling of these
wastes can lead to pollution of air and water, degradation of
ecosystems, and health threats. The fastest-growing category of
waste, which contains a large amount of hazardous waste, is
electronic, or e-waste (see the Case Study that follows).
Case Study
E-Waste—A Serious Hazardous Waste Problem
What happens to your cell phone, computer, television set, and
other electronic devices when they are no longer useful? They
become electronic waste, or e-waste—the fastest-growing solid
waste problem in the United States and China (see chapter-
opening photo). Each year, the world generates approximately
300,000 metric tons (330,000 tons) of worn out lithium-ion
batteries from electronic devices. This will increase as sales of
plug-in hybrid (see Figure 16.4) and all-electric vehicles
increase and need battery replacements. This battery e-waste is
a source of valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium
that can be sold to battery companies.
Between 2000 and 2018, the recycling of U.S. e-waste increased
from 10% to 26%, according to the EPA. Much of the remaining
e-waste went to landfills and incinerators. Much e-waste
contains gold, rare earths, and other valuable materials that

could be recycled or reused. In 2016, an estimated $22 billion in
gold was thrown away in e-waste. E-waste also is a source of
toxic and hazardous chemicals that can contaminate air, surface
water, groundwater, and soil and cause human health problems.
Until 2017, much of the e-waste in the United States was
shipped to China, India, and other Asian and African countries
for processing. Labor is cheap and environmental regulations
are weak in those countries. Workers there—many of them
children—dismantle, burn, and treat e-waste with acids to
recover valuable metals and reusable parts. The work exposes
them to toxic metals such as lead and mercury and other
harmful chemicals. The remaining scrap is dumped into
waterways and fields or burned in open fires that expose people
to highly toxic chemicals called dioxins. However, China
stopped accepting e-waste from the United States in 2017
because it was too contaminated.
Transfer of such hazardous waste from more-developed to less-
developed countries is banned under the International Basel
Convention. Despite this ban, much of the world’s e-waste is
not officially classified as hazardous waste, or it is illegally
smuggled out of some countries. The United States can export
its e-waste legally because it has not ratified the Basel
Convention.
The two main classes of hazardous wastes are organic
compounds such as various solvents, pesticides, PCBs, dioxins,
and toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and
arsenic. Figure 21.5 lists some of the harmful chemicals found
in many household products.
Figure 21.5
Harmful chemicals are found in many homes. The U.S.
Congress has exempted the disposal of many of these household
chemicals and other items from government regulation.
Question:
1. Which of these chemicals could you find in your home?
Top: tuulijumala/ Shutterstock.com. Center: Katrina

Outland/ Shutterstock.com. Bottom:
Agencyby/ Dreamstime.com
Another form of extremely hazardous waste is the highly
radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants and nuclear
weapons facilities (see Chapter 15). Such waste must be stored
safely for at least 10,000 years. After 60 years of research,
scientists and governments have not found a scientifically and
politically acceptable way to safely isolate these dangerous
wastes for such a long period of time.
According to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), more-
developed countries produce 80–90% of the world’s hazardous
wastes. The United States is the top producer. China is closing
in on the number one spot as it continues to industrialize
rapidly without adequate pollution controls.
21.2aWaste Management
Society can deal with the solid wastes it creates in two ways.
One is waste management, which focuses controlling wastes and
reducing their environmental harm. This approach begins with
the question, “What do we do with solid waste?” It typically
involves mixing wastes together and then burying them, burning
them, or shipping them to another location.
The other approach is waste reduction, which focuses on
producing much less solid waste and reusing, recycling, or
composting much of what is produced. This approach begins
with questions such as “How can we avoid producing so much
solid waste?” and “How can we use the waste we produce as
resources like nature does?
Most analysts call for using integrated waste management—a
variety of coordinated strategies for both waste management and
waste reduction (Figure 21.6). Figure 21.7 compares the
science-based waste management goals of the EPA and National
Academy of Sciences with waste management trends based on
actual data.
Figure 21.6
Integrated waste management: We can reduce wastes by

refusing or reducing resource use and by reusing, recycling, and
composting what we discard, or we can manage them by burying
them in landfills or incinerating them. Most countries rely
primarily on burial and incineration.
Critical Thinking:
1. What happens to the solid waste you produce?
Left to right: Mariyana M/ Shutterstock.com,
Sopotnicki/ Shutterstock.com, Scanrail1/ Shutterstock.com,
chris kolaczan/ Shutterstock.com, vilax/ Shutterstock.com,
MrGarry/ Shutterstock.com, Le Do/ Shutterstock.com
Figure 21.7
Priorities recommended by the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences for dealing with municipal solid waste (left) compared
with actual waste-handling practices in the United States based
on data (right).
Critical Thinking:
1. Why do you think most countries do not follow most of the
scientific-based priorities listed on the left?
(Compiled by the authors using data from U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, U.S. National Academy of Sciences,
Columbia University, and BioCycle.)
Let us look more closely at the options in the order of priorities
suggested by scientists (Figure 21.7, left)
21.2bThe Four Rs of Waste Reduction
A more sustainable approach to dealing with solid waste is to
first reduce it, then reuse or recycle it, and finally safely
dispose of what is left. This waste reduction approach (Figure
21.7, left) is called the Four Rs, listed below in order of priority
suggested by scientists:
· Refuse: Don’t use it.
· Reduce: Use less of it.
· Reuse: Use it over and over.
· Recycle: Convert used resources to useful items and buy

products made from recycled materials. An important form of
recycling is composting, which mimics nature by using bacteria
and other decomposers to break down yard trimmings, vegetable
food scraps, and other biodegradable organic wastes into
materials than can be used to improve soil fertility.
The first three Rs are preferred because they are waste
prevention approaches that tackle the problem of waste
production before it occurs. Recycling is important, but it deals
with waste after it has been produced. By refusing, reducing,
reusing, and recycling people consume less matter and energy
resources, reduce pollution and natural capital degradation, and
save money. Some scientists and economists estimate that we
could eliminate up to 80% of the solid waste we produce if we
followed the four Rs strategy. This would mimic the earth’s
chemical cycling principle of sustainability. Figure 21.8 lists
ways in which you can use the four Rs of waste reduction to
reduce your output of solid waste.
Figure 21.8
Individuals matter: You can save resources by reducing your
output of solid waste and pollution.
Critical Thinking:
1. Which three of these steps do you think are the most
important ones to take? Why? Which of these things do you
already do?
Here are six strategies that some industries and communities use
to reduce resource use, waste, and pollution and to promote the
cradle-to-cradle approach to design, manufacturing, and
marketing (Core Case Study).
First, change industrial processes to eliminate or reduce the use
of harmful chemicals. Since 1975, the 3M Company has taken
this approach and, in the process, saved $1.9 billion
(see Chapter 17, Case Study).
Second, redesign manufacturing processes and products to use
less material and energy. For example, the weight of a typical
car has been reduced by about one-fourth since the 1960s with

the use of lighter steel, aluminum, magnesium, plastics, and
composite materials.
Third, develop products that are easy to repair, reuse,
remanufacture, compost, or recycle. For example, some Xerox
photocopiers that are leased by businesses are made of reusable
or recyclable parts that allow for easy remanufacturing. They
are projected to save the company $1 billion in manufacturing
costs.
Fourth, establish cradle-to-cradle responsibility laws that
require companies to take back various consumer products such
as electronic equipment, appliances, and motor vehicles for
recycling or remanufacturing, as Japan and many European
countries do.
Fifth, eliminate or reduce unnecessar y packaging. Use the
following hierarchy for product packaging: no packaging,
reusable packaging, and recyclable packaging.
Sixth, use fee-per-bag solid waste collection systems that
charge consumers for the amount of waste they throw away but
provide free pickup of recyclable and reusable
items.21.3aAlternatives to the Throwaway Economy
People in today’s industrialized societies have increasingly
substituted throwaway items for reusable ones, which has
resulted in growing masses of solid waste. By applying the four
Rs, society can slow or stop this trend. Individuals can guide
and reduce their consumption of resources by asking questions
such as these:
· Do I really need this? (refusing)
· How many of these do I actually need? (reducing)
· Is this something I can use more than once? (reusing)
· Can the material in this be used to make another product or
material when I am done with it? (recycling)
21.3bReuse
Cradle-to-cradle design (Core Case Study) elevates reuse to a
new level. According to William McDonough (Individuals
Matter 21.1), the key to shifting to a reuse economy is to design
for it. For example, some manufacturers of computers,

furniture, photocopiers, and other products have designed their
products so that when they are no longer useful, they can be
retrieved from consumers for repair or remanufacture.
Individuals Matter 21.1
William McDonough
US/SIPA/Sipa Press/Beijing China/Newscom
William McDonough is an architect, designer, and visionary
thinker, devoted to the earth-friendly design of buildings,
products, and cities.
McDonough view wastes as resources out of place because of
poor design. He also notes that humans have been releasing a
growing number of chemicals into the environment faster than
the natural chemical cycles can remove them. In addition, many
of these synthetic chemicals cannot be broken down and
recycled by natural processes. Many of these chemicals end up
polluting the air, water, and soil and threatening the health of
humans and other life forms.
McDonough would use environmentally and economically
sustainable design to mimic nature by reusing and recycling the
chemicals and products we make with the goal of zero waste.
His cradle-to-cradle design approach (Core Case Study) has
been applied in numerous projects, including the Adam Joseph
Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College.
Architects and designers view it as one of the most important
and inspiring examples of environmentally friendly design. It
uses recycled and nontoxic materials that can be further
recycled. It gets heat from the sun and the earth’s interior and
electricity from solar cells, and it produces 13% more energy
than it consumes. The building’s greenhouse contains an
ecosystem of plants and animals that purify the building’s
sewage and wastewater. Rainwater is collected and used to
irrigate the surrounding green space, which includes a restored
wetland, a fruit orchard, and a vegetable garden.
McDonough has been recognized by Time magazine as a “Hero
for the Planet.” He has also received numero us design awards

and three presidential awards. He believes we can use cradle-to-
cradle design to leave the world better off than we found it.
One way to implement cradle-to-cradle design is for
governments to ban or severely restrict the disposal of certa in
items. For example, the European Union (EU) has led the way
by banning e-waste from landfills and incinerators. Some
European nations, Japan, and China are using a take-back
approach, in which electronics manufacturers are required to
take back their products at the end of their useful lives. To
cover the costs of these programs, consumers pay a recycling
tax on electronic products, an example of helping implement the
full-cost pricing principle of sustainability. The United States
has no federal take-back law, but according to the Electronics
TakeBack Coalition, more than 20 states have such laws and
several more are considering them.
Governments have also banned the use of certain throwaway
items. For example, Finland bans all beverage containers that
cannot be reused, and consequently, 95% of that country’s soft
drink, beer, wine, and spirits containers are refillable. The use
of rechargeable batteries is cutting toxic waste by reducing the
amount of conventional batteries that are thrown away. The
newest rechargeable batteries come fully charged, can hold a
charge for up to two years when they are not used, and can be
recharged in about 15 minutes.
In many countries, the landscape is littered with plastic bags.
They can take 400 to 1,000 years to break down and can kill
animals that try to eat them or become ensnared in them. Huge
quantities of plastic bags and other plastic products end up in
the ocean (Figure 20.16). Many people are using reusable cloth
or plastic bags instead of throwaway paper or plastic bags to
carry groceries and other items they buy. However, the bags
must be reused about 20 times to offset the harmful
environmental effects of producing them before they help
reduce your harmful environmental impact.
By 2018, the governments of more than 40 countries, including
China, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands,

Rwanda, and Kenya were taxing plastic shopping bags or
limiting or prohibiting their use. In Ireland, a tax of 25¢ per bag
cut plastic bag litter by 90% as people switched to reusable
bags. In England, plastic bag use dropped by 85% after the
government imposed a charge on plastic bags. Kenyans who
produce, sell, or use plastic bags face fines of up to $19,000 or
four years in prison.
More than 350 U.S. cities, counties, and states have banned or
taxed plastic bag use. This is despite intense lobbying against
such bans by the plastics industry. Hawaii, California, and New
York have banned single-use plastic bags for most retail sales.
Similarly, several cities are trying to encourage the use of
reusable food containers. In 2015, New York City joined
Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., in
banning the use of polystyrene foam food containers. New York
also banned the sale of polystyrene foam packing peanuts and
has called for designers and entrepreneurs to produce reusable
or compostable replacements for these banned items.
An increasingly popular way to reuse things is through shared
use. In Portland, Oregon, some homeowners have worked with
their neighbors to create tool libraries instead of buying their
own tools. Toy libraries are also evolving among young families
whose toys are used only for a few months or years. Companies
that rent out tools, garden equipment, and other household
goods provide another outlet for shared use. Figure 21.9 lists
some other ways to reuse items.
Figure 21.9
Individuals matter: Some ways to reuse the items we purchase.
Questions:
1. Which of these suggestions have you tried and how did they
work for you?
Brenda Carson/ Shutterstock.com
21.3cRecycling
The cradle-to-cradle approach (Core Case Study) gives the

highest priority to reuse but also relies on recycling. Worn-out
items from the technical cycle of cradle-to-cradle manufacturing
are recycled or sent into the biological cycle where ideally they
degrade and become biological nutrients (Figure 21.1).
McDonough breaks recycling down into two
categories: upcycling and downcycling. Ideally, all discarded
items would be upcycled—recycled into a form that is more
useful than the recycled item was. In downcycling, the recycled
product is still useful, but not as useful or long-lived as the
original item.
Households and workplaces produce five major types of
recyclable materials: paper products, glass, aluminum, steel,
and some plastics. These materials can be reprocessed into new,
useful products in two ways. Primary recycling involves using
materials again for the same purpose. An example is recycling
used aluminum cans into new aluminum cans. Secondary
recycling involves downcycling or upcycling used items to
make different products. For example, tires can be downcycled
to make sandals.
Scientists and waste managers also distinguish between two
types of recyclable wastes: preconsumer or internal
waste generated in a manufacturing process,
and postconsumer or external waste generated from use of
products by consumers. Preconsumer waste makes up more than
three-fourths of the total.
Recycling involves three steps: collecting materials for
recycling, converting recycled materials to new products, and
selling and buying of products that contain recycled material.
Recycling is successful environmentally and economically only
when all three of these steps are carried out.
Recent research based on actual data instead of models indicates
that the United States recycles or composts about 24% of its
MSW, which is significantly lower than the EPA estimate of
34%. Here are some recycling rates for several items in the
United States: lead-acid batteries 99%, paper and paperboard
67%, steel 33%, and aluminum 19%. Experts say that with

education and proper incentives, Americans could recycle and
compost at least 80% of their MSW, in keeping with the
chemical cycling principle of sustainability.
According to a United Nations University study, increasing
piles of e-waste (see chapter-opening photo) are urban mines
because of the valuable metals the waste contains. The world’s
e-waste contains millions of tons of gold, iron, copper, silver,
and aluminum. Yet, only 16% of the world’s e-waste and 29%
of U.S. e-waste is recycled.
Some see recycling as a business opportunity. One company, the
RecycleBank, has set up a system where consumers can earn
points by recycling. The company attaches an electronic tag to a
household’s recycling bins to measure how much the household
is recycling. It then credits the household account with points
that can be traded in—somewhat like frequent flyer miles—for
rewards at businesses that have joined the program.
Composting is another form of recycling that mimics nature’s
recycling of plant nutrients. It involves using bacteria to
decompose yard trimmings, vegetable food scraps, and other
biodegradable organic wastes into humus. When added to soil,
humus helps supply plant nutrients, slow soil erosion, retain
water, and improve crop yields.
People can compost food wastes, yard wastes, and other organic
wastes in composting piles that must be turned over
occasionally or in simple backyard containers (Figure 21.10). In
the United States, more than 3,000 municipal composting
programs recycle about 60% of the yard wastes in the country’s
MSW (Figure 21.11). To be successful, a large-scale
composting program must be located carefully and odors must
be controlled, especially near residential areas. They must also
exclude toxic materials that make the compost unsafe for
fertilizing crops and lawns.
Figure 21.10
Backyard composting bin.

Jbphotographylt/ Dreamstime.com
Figure 21.11
Large-scale municipal composting site.
imging/ Shutterstock.com
To promote separation of wastes for recycling, about 7,000
communities in the United States use a pay-as-you-throw or fee-
per-bag waste collection system. They charge households and
businesses for garbage that is picked up, but do not charge them
for picking up materials separated for recycling or reuse.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), Germany leads the world in recycling. It
recycles 65% of its MSW, with consumers separating recyclable
items into different categories and depositing them in color -
coded bins found throughout the country. South Korea comes in
second and recycles 59% of its MSW. Austria, Switzerland,
Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands all recycle at least 50%
of their MSW. Turkey, which recycles only 1% of its waste, is
in last place.
21.3cRecycling
The cradle-to-cradle approach (Core Case Study) gives the
highest priority to reuse but also relies on recycling. Worn-out
items from the technical cycle of cradle-to-cradle manufacturing
are recycled or sent into the biological cycle where ideally they
degrade and become biological nutrients (Figure 21.1).
McDonough breaks recycling down into two
categories: upcycling and downcycling. Ideally, all discarded
items would be upcycled—recycled into a form that is more
useful than the recycled item was. In downcycling, the recycled
product is still useful, but not as useful or long-lived as the
original item.
Households and workplaces produce five major types of
recyclable materials: paper products, glass, aluminum, steel,
and some plastics. These materials can be reprocessed into new,
useful products in two ways. Primary recycling involves using

materials again for the same purpose. An example is recycling
used aluminum cans into new aluminum cans. Secondary
recycling involves downcycling or upcycling used items to
make different products. For example, tires can be downcycled
to make sandals.
Scientists and waste managers also distinguish between two
types of recyclable wastes: preconsumer or internal
waste generated in a manufacturing process,
and postconsumer or external waste generated from use of
products by consumers. Preconsumer waste makes up more than
three-fourths of the total.
Recycling involves three steps: collecting materials for
recycling, converting recycled materials to new products, and
selling and buying of products that contain recycled material.
Recycling is successful environmentally and economically only
when all three of these steps are carried out.
Recent research based on actual data instead of models indicates
that the United States recycles or composts about 24% of its
MSW, which is significantly lower than the EPA estimate of
34%. Here are some recycling rates for several items in the
United States: lead-acid batteries 99%, paper and paperboard
67%, steel 33%, and aluminum 19%. Experts say that with
education and proper incentives, Americans could recycle and
compost at least 80% of their MSW, in keeping with the
According to a United Nations University study, increasing
piles of e-waste (see chapter-opening photo) are urban mines
because of the valuable metals the waste contains. The world’s
e-waste contains millions of tons of gold, iron, copper, silver,
and aluminum. Yet, only 16% of the world’s e-waste and 29%
of U.S. e-waste is recycled.
Some see recycling as a business opportunity. One company, the
RecycleBank, has set up a system where consumers can earn
points by recycling. The company attaches an electronic tag to a
household’s recycling bins to measure how much the household
is recycling. It then credits the household account with points

that can be traded in—somewhat like frequent flyer miles—for
rewards at businesses that have joined the program.
Composting is another form of recycling that mimics nature’s
recycling of plant nutrients. It involves using bacteria to
decompose yard trimmings, vegetable food scraps, and other
biodegradable organic wastes into humus. When added to soil,
humus helps supply plant nutrients, slow soil erosion, retain
water, and improve crop yields.
People can compost food wastes, yard wastes, and other organic
wastes in composting piles that must be turned over
occasionally or in simple backyard containers (Figure 21.10). In
the United States, more than 3,000 municipal composting
programs recycle about 60% of the yard wastes in the country’s
MSW (Figure 21.11). To be successful, a large-scale
composting program must be located carefully and odors must
be controlled, especially near residential areas. They must also
exclude toxic materials that make the compost unsafe for
fertilizing crops and lawns.
Figure 21.10
Backyard composting bin.
Jbphotographylt/ Dreamstime.com
Figure 21.11
Large-scale municipal composting site.
imging/ Shutterstock.com
To promote separation of wastes for recycling, about 7,000
communities in the United States use a pay-as-you-throw or fee-
per-bag waste collection system. They charge households and
businesses for garbage that is picked up, but do not charge them
for picking up materials separated for recycling or reuse.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), Germany leads the world in recycling. It
recycles 65% of its MSW, with consumers separating recyclable

items into different categories and depositing them in color -
coded bins found throughout the country. South Korea comes in
second and recycles 59% of its MSW. Austria, Switzerland,
Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands all recycle at least 50%
of their MSW. Turkey, which recycles only 1% of its waste, is
in last place.
21.3dRecycling Paper
About 55% of the world’s industrial tree harvest is used to make
paper. However, according to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, we could make tree-free paper from straw and other
agricultural residues and from the fibers of rapidly growing
plants such as kenaf (see Figure 10.15) and hemp.
100 Million
Number of trees used each year to produce the world’s junk
mail
Paper is the dominant material in the MSW of Canada and the
United States. Each year, approximately 1 billion trees worth of
paper are thrown away in the United States. Each American
throws away an average of 309 kilograms (680 pounds) of paper
a year.
The United States recycles about 67% of its paper and
paperboard, according to the EPA. Paper (especially newspaper
and cardboard) is easy to recycle. Recycling newspaper involves
removing its ink, glue, and coating and then reconverting the
paper to pulp, which is used to make new paper. Making
recycled paper produces 35% less water pollution and 74% less
air pollution than does making paper from wood pulp, and, no
trees are cut down. Recycling a ton of paper saves 17 mature
trees, 26,400 liters (7,000 gallons) of water, and 300 liters (2
barrels) of oil. Recycling all of the country’s newspapers would
save about 250 million trees a year.
Connections
Recycling Paper and Reducing Emissions
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
recycled paper requires 10–30% less energy, which means that
for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of paper you recycle, you can

prevent an average of 0.9 kilograms (2 pounds)
of emissions.21.3eRecycling Glass
The glass recycling rate in the United States is roughly 33%,
compared to 90% in Germany and Switzerland. In recent years,
it has become more costly for some communities to recycle
glass than to dump it in landfills. Particularly in places where
recyclables are mixed by consumers and sorted at privately or
publicly owned materials recovery facilities, the cost of
separating broken glass from garbage has gone up because the
amount of nonrecyclable trash in recycling bins is increasing.
In order to gain these environmental benefits, some
communities are subsidizing the recycling of glass. Another
approach to this problem would be to reuse glass jars and
bottles to store food and other household items.
21.3fRecycling Plastics
Plastics consist of various types of large polymers, or resins—
organic molecules made by chemically linking organic
chemicals produced mostly from oil and natural gas. About 46
different types of plastics are used in consumer products, and
some products contain several kinds of plastic.
9 Billion
Number of tons of plastic produced since 1950
Since 1950, humans have produced 8.3 billion metric tons (9
billion tons) of plastic, half of it in the last 14 years. Over 90%
of the plastic that the world has produced since 1950 has not
been recycled. About 76% of this plastic has been thrown away
and takes hundreds to thousands of years to degrade.
Only 9.5% of the plastic waste in the United States is recycled
according to the EPA. The other 90.5% of U.S. plastic wastes is
burned or buried in landfills or litters the land and oceans
(see Figure 20.15). Plastic recycling percentages are low
because there are many different types of plastic resins, which
are difficult to separate from products that contain several types
of plastic. Another factor is that most plastic beverage
containers and other plastic products are not designed for
recycling. However, progress is being made in the development

of more degradable bioplastics (Science Focus 21.2).
Science Focus 21.2
Bioplastics
Henry Ford, who developed the first Ford car and founded Ford
Motor Company, supported research on the development of a
bioplastic made from soybeans and another made from hemp. A
1914 photograph shows him using an ax to strike the body of a
Ford car made from soy bioplastic to demonstrate its strength
and resistance to denting. However, as oil became cheaper and
widely available, petrochemical plastics took over the market.
Now, confronted with climate change and other environmental
problems associated with the use of oil and other fossil fuels,
chemists are stepping up efforts to make more environmentally
sustainable plastics. These bioplastics can be made from plants
such as corn, soy, sugarcane, switchgrass, chicken feathers, and
some components of garbage.
Compared with conventional oil-based plastics, properly
designed bioplastics are lighter, stronger, and cheaper. In
addition, making them usually requires less energy and
produces less pollution per unit of weight. Instead of being sent
to landfills, some packaging made from bioplastics can be
composted to produce a soil conditioner, in keeping with the
Some bioplastics are more environmentally friendly than others.
For example, some are made from corn raised by industrial
agricultural methods, which require great amounts of energy,
water, and petrochemical fertilizers and thus have a large
ecological footprint. In evaluating and choosing bioplastics,
scientists urge consumers to learn how they were made, how
long they take to biodegrade, and whether they degrade into
harmful chemicals.
Critical Thinking
1. Do you think that the advantages of bioplastics outweigh
their disadvantages?
Engineer Mike Biddle developed a 16-step automated
commercial process for recycling high-value plastics. It

separates plastic items from nonplastic items in mixed solid
waste, separates plastic types from one another, and converts
them to pellets that can be sold and used to make new plastics
products. For his work, Biddle has been named a Technology
Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and has received some
of the world’s most important environmental rewards. However,
the process is costly and depends on free access to plastic
wastes in the United States and the European Union. Because of
a lack of access to such wastes, Biddle has had to abandon his
efforts to recycle plastic wastes.
In 2017, researchers from Britain’s University of Portsmouth
and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable
Energy Laboratory accidentally developed an enzyme that can
breakdown polyethylene terephthalate or PET, used in plastic
bottles that litter the land and oceans. Researchers are working
to speed up the decomposition process and to evaluate any
harmful effects of the decomposition products.
21.3gRecycling Has Advantages and Disadvantages
Figure 21.12 lists the advantages and disadvantages of
recycling.
Figure 21.12
Recycling solid waste has advantages and disadvantages.
Critical Thinking:
1. Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do
you think are the most important? Why?
Photo: Jacqui Martin/ Shutterstock.com
Critics of recycling programs argue that recycling is costly and
adds to the taxpayer burden in communities where recycling is
funded through taxation. Proponents of recycling point to
studies showing that the net economic, health, and
environmental benefits of recycling (Figure 21.12, left) far
outweigh the costs. The EPA estimates that each year, recycling
and composting in the United States reduce emissions of
climate-changing carbon dioxide by an amount roughly equal to
that emitted by 36 million passenger vehicles. In addition, the

U.S. recycling industry employs 1.25 million people and
doubling the U.S. recycling rate would create about 1 million
new jobs. (However, such growth could be in doubt. See
the Case Study that follows.) Recycling steel, aluminum,
copper, lead, and paper products can save 65–95% of the energy
needed to make these products from virgin materials, and
recycling plastics saves twice the amount of energy produced by
burning them in an incinerator.
Case Study
A Threat to U.S. Recycling
For years, the United Sates has been selling about 40% of the
solid wastes it has collected to China for use as raw materials in
manufacturing the products it sells throughout the world.
However, in 2018, China—the world’s largest buyer of
collected U.S. solid wastes—banned imports of mixed paper and
many types of plastic wastes and e-wastes and tightened
contamination standards for material it will still accept. The
reason for this partial ban is that many of the wastes that China
bought from the United States had mixtures of nonrecyclable
materials, food wastes, and other contaminants, some of them
hazardous, that were expensive to remove, mostly by hand.
U.S. recycling companies used to make money by selling
recyclable material to China and other countries. Now they have
to pay someone to take away and dispose of many of these
materials. As a result, a significant amount of the materials
collected in the United States for recycling is being incinerated
or sent to landfills. U.S. scrap dealers are trying to find other
countries that will buy recyclable materials, but the Chinese
market for these materials is so large that it is hard to repla ce.
The result is less recycling in the United States. Recycling only
works when there is someone to buy the materials people put in
recycling bins. As a result, local governments that have
curbside pickup of recyclables are now earning less, if anything,
by selling the collected materials to recycling companies. If
recycling in the United States declines, this will lead to
increased air and water pollution, including emissions of

greenhouse gases. This would be a setback for implementing the
Eventually, the Chinese ban on contaminated waste materials
could benefit the U.S. recycling industry because domestic
markets for recycled materials have also had to deal with
contaminated materials. This will involve educating
homeowners and businesses not to contaminate material picked
up for recycling. It could mean the end of programs that take
mixed recyclable materials and the growth of programs that
require homeowners and business to separate recyclables into
separate bins for paper, glass, metals, plastics, and composting.
However, according to a 2019 Harris poll, 66% of the people
surveyed said they would not recycle anything if it was not easy
to do.
Cities that make money by recycling and that have higher
recycling rates tend to use a single-pickup system for both
recyclable and nonrecyclable materials, instead of a more
expensive two-truck system. Successful systems also use a pay-
as-you-throw approach. They charge by weight for picking up
trash but not for picking up recyclable or reusable materials,
and they require citizens and businesses to sort their trash and
recyclables by type, as Germany does. San Francisco,
California, uses such a system and recycles, composts, or reuses
80% of its MSW.
21.4aBurning Solid Waste
Many communities burn their solid waste until nothing remains
but fine, white-gray ash, which can then be buried in landfills.
Heat released by burning trash can be used to heat water or
interior spaces, or for producing electricity in facilities
called waste-to-energy incinerators. Globally, MSW is burned
in more than 800 waste-to-energy incinerators (Figure 21.13),
71 of them in the United States. Waste is burned at extremely
high temperatures in a combustion chamber. Heat from the
burning material is used to boil water and produce steam. The
steam in turn drives a turbine that generates electricity.
Combustion also produces wastes in the form of gases and ash.

The gases must be filtered to remove pollutants before being
released into the atmosphere and the hazardous ash must be
treated and properly disposed of in landfills.
Figure 21.13
Solution
s: A waste-to-energy incinerator with pollution controls burns
mixed solid wastes and recovers some of the energy to produce
steam to use for heating or producing electricity.
Critical Thinking:
1. Would you invest in such a project? Why or why not?
The United States incinerates 13% of its MSW. One reason for
the low percentage is that in the past, incineration earned a bad
reputation because of highly polluting and poorly regulated
incinerators. However, the Clean Air Act of 1990 forced the
industry to install advanced pollution control equipment. By
contrast, Denmark incinerates over half of its MSW in state-of-
the-art waste-to-energy incinerators and the European Union
incinerates 28% of its MSW. However, all incinerators produce
an ash that contains toxic chemicals and must be stored safely
somewhere, essentially forever.
Figure 21.14 lists the advantages and disadvantages of using

incinerators to burn solid waste. According to an EPA study,
landfills emit more air pollutants than modern waste-to-energy
incinerators. On the other hand, the resulting incinerator ash
contains toxic chemicals that must be stored somewhere. In
addition, many U.S. citizens, local governments, and
environmental scientists remain opposed to waste incineration
because incinerators require a large, steady stream of waste to
be profitable. This high demand for burnable wastes undermines
efforts to reduce solid waste, increase reuse and recycling, and
implement cradle-to-cradle design (Figure 21.1).
Figure 21.14
Incinerating solid waste has advantages and disadvantages.
These trade-offs also apply to the incineration of hazardous
waste.
Critical Thinking:
1. Which single advantage and which single disadvantage do
you think are the most important? Why?
Top: Ulrich Mueller/ Shutterstock.com. Bottom: Dmitry
Kalinovsky/ Shutterstock.com.
21.4bBurying Solid Waste
In the United States, about 53% of all MSW, by weight, is
buried in sanitary landfills, compared to 80% in Canada, 15% in
Japan, and 4% in Denmark. In newer landfills, called sanitary
landfills (Figure 21.15), solid waste is spread out in thin layers,

compacted, and covered daily with a layer of clay or plastic
foam. This process keeps the material dry, cuts down on odors,
reduces the risk of fire, and keeps rats and other pest animals
away from the wastes.
Figure 21.15

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