Unit 9 Blog

Landfill Discussion

Now that we have seen a landfill in person (you did if you went on the field trip), discuss at least 3 types of materials that should not be placed in a landfill and explain the potential environmental and public health consequences of disposing of such things in a landfill.  Outline two methods for reducing the amount of these substances that enter MSW input.  

Aluminum and other metals should not be placed in landfills because they can contribute to leaching and because they are valuable as recyclables. Toxic materials should also not be placed in landfills because the toxic chemicals can also leach out. Leaching occurs when water passes through and carries particulates elsewhere which can upset ecosystems and harm humans, especially when toxic chemicals and metals leach. Organic materials should also not enter landfills because they undergo anaerobic breakdown in the closed spaces, resulting in increased methane, a greenhouse gas, which contributes to the greenhouse effect. Organic matter could be composted which would prevent it from entering the landfill and also yield fertile soil. Aluminum and other metals could be recycled and the amount used could be reduced by designing more efficient cans.

Recycling Discussion

Three common examples of items that can be recycled are paper, aluminum, and plastics.  Discuss at least one environmental and economic benefit and cost of recycling each of these items.  If your city only had the funding to set up a recycling center for one of these materials, which would you choose and why?  Finally, how would you persuade the members of your community that recycling is ultimately good for the community?

Less tress have to be cut to down to generate resources for paper which is environmentally beneficial since trees help decrease erosion and mitigate the greenhouse effect; it also means that less money is spent cutting down, transporting, and processing the raw materials which is economically beneficial. The process of recycling paper in involves harmful chemicals and waste products that are detrimental to the environment. The demand for paper is highly volatile so it is not a reliable source of income and therefore less attractive to recycle. 

More recycled aluminum means less aluminum accumulating landfills and contributing to harmful leaching.  Recycling requires a lot of energy and resources, such as in transport and powering the recycling plant, that has negative effects on the environment by releasing pollutants and increasing use of fossil fuels. Aluminum is a versatile metal that is always in demand so recycling plants can sell it back to companies at a profit. Actually building and running the recycling plant is very costly and the money from selling the recycled aluminum may not cover the costs, especially since recycled materials are perceived as less durable. 

More plastics recycled means less demand for oil and refining oil which helps decrease pollutants released when drilling and refining oil. Recycling plastics has its own harmful pollutants and waste products that are toxic to the environment.Recycling plastic from nearby incurs less costs than having to go out into the middle of the ocean, drill oil, refine it, and then have the source materials for a product. There are 7 types of plastics and only 2 are really recyclable which means extra money must be put into transporting plastics that can't be profited from, sorting them, and disposing of the types that can't be recycled. 

I would choose to set up an aluminum recycling center because it would be the most economically reliable as aluminum has a steady demand and is steadily used by American society that is becoming more and more addicted to soda. This would also help prevent leaching which is arguably more harmful than the effects of depositing plastics or paper in a landfill. This would help bring money back into the community, raise awareness for how much soda we actually drink which would be beneficial to health, and also help educate the populace about recycling.

Superfund/Brownfields Discussion

We watched a news clip about the industrial waste buried under the Love Canal near Niagara Falls.  This area was a Superfund site but has been deemed safe enough for people to now live there and has since been redeveloped.  Explain the difference between a Superfund site and a Brownfield and give another example of each in the US.  There are two primary ways for turning these sites back into usable land by either removing the contaminated soil or by planting vegetation that would decontaminate the soil.  Explain two potential problems with each of these methods of reclamation. Reclaiming these sites is a debatable hot topic these days.  Explain one societal and one environmental (argument? benefit? other?) for reclaiming and using the land.

Superfund sites, such as the Madison County Mines in Montana, are those locations which have the highest risk to public health and are managed solely by the federal government; Brownfields, in contrast, don't have to be nearly as dire and are managed by state and local governments. They are contaminated industrial and commercial sites that didn't achieve Superfund status such as Seattle's Gasworks park. One of the problems with simply removing the contaminated soil is how to dispose of it. Simply shifting to another locations just shifts the problems and treating it is costly or it would have been treated on site. Another problem is that transporting the soil itself is fairly costly, especially considering the amount and weight of soil along with the distance that would have to be traveled. Planting vegetation to decontaminate the soil wouldn't require moving the soil, but the new vegetation might crowd out native vegetation and decrease biodiversity if the environment is extremely habitable to them. Conversely, a lot of irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, all with their own negative consequences, might be needed to persuade them to grow if the environment isn't very conducive to them. Reclamation of the land could be societally beneficial because the land could be used for community purposes, such as building a new town park or a city vegetable garden or a new school or some other facility currently lacking. Environmentally, the decreased pollutants would help the natural ecosystem redevelop which preserves native species and is beneficial to biodiversity.

BIG Picture Discussion

This is where you will make the four BIG PICTURE connections to the ENTIRE UNIT. Please tie in information you learned in your reading (chapters 16 and 17), from the notes in class, the clips we watched and from your reading and research.  There is not an exact length that I am expecting other than it should definitely be at least a paragraph for each section, should be thorough and show understanding of the topic.  Remember to be specific in your examples.  Do not just say "there are laws that govern this" or "people destroy the Earth."  Give me the names of the laws, what they regulate and who enforces them.  Tell me what humans are doing to destroy the earth.      

Human Impact

Humans are intrinsic to the idea of waste management because they are the reasons waste must be actively managed. Humans produce waste that no other organism use which is why the waste necessitates managing. They are the ones setting up the facilities, spearheading the movements, creating the waste, and passing the laws concerning waste management. Additionally, humans are affected by their waste, too. Much of the waste can be neurotoxins, teratogens, carcinogens, or endocrine disruptors which harm humans. Human health is also influenced by the environment. Diseases specific to animals can mutate and start infecting humans, just as HIV and bovine spongiform encephalopathy did.


Environmental Impact

Waste management affects the environment in many ways. Harmful wastes and pollutants are detrimental to the environment and can negatively affect organisms. For example, medical waste is ill disposed of so pills dissolve in the water and as certain sensitive organisms are exposed, their hormones can become imbalanced and males start producing ovaries due to decreased levels of testosterone and increased levels of estrogen. Transportation of wastes also requires lots of fuel which contributes to carbon emissions. Landfills disrupt the natural ecosystems, especially since often waste does not decompose quickly. Leaching can occur as a result and the leachate is harmful to organisms as well and can easily contaminate surface and groundwater. Organic waste in landfills is anaerobically respirated which releases large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, which contributes to climate change. Even recycling has waste products that can be toxic pollutants.


Economic Impact

The economy has greatly contributed to these proportions of waste. In an effort to generate more profit and keep up with technological development, products were made more disposable, leading to the throw-away society that has created so much waste. Consumerism, people buying and buying products instead of working to reduce and reuse them, also contributes the problems of waste management. Recycled materials can be sold to businesses which minimizes the need to go mine raw materials and can help streamline those industries. Waste management has also created new jobs and industries as waste must be collected, transported, and processed.


Legislation

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 controls hazardous waste by allowing the monitoring of products from cradle to grave (production all the way to disposal). It gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to take actions to oversee hazardous waste. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 allows the EPA to tax polluting industries to replenish a fund used to help mitigate the effects of these industries' pollution in areas where it poses a great threat to public health which is how the law acquired the colloquial name of the Superfund Act. This legislation is specific to the federal government and covers only the most extremely harmful sites. Brownfields function similar to the Superfund Act but expand resources to cover other sites that may not have been deemed dire enough to be Superfund sites and involves local and state governments.