waste management

Landfill Discussion

Many things cannot be thrown into a landfill because of their toxicity. Batteries should not be sent to a landfill because they can cause a health risk through the lead that may be leached into groundwater. Along with batteries, motor oil should not be sent to a landfill. Motor oil is a hazardous material and can burn and corrode metal. Electronic waste is another public health risk. This causes the same effect as batteries, because lead can be harmful to public health and can be leached into groundwater.

To limit this people can recycle electronic waste and batteries thus causing less amounts of it to go to landfills, along with having the beneficial uses of recycling. Also changing the publics mind of letting their hazardous materials into a landfill can help a lot because people think that they are only putting a small amount in landfills, but when everyone puts in a small amount it becomes a large amount.

Recycling Discussion

Paper, Aluminum, and plastics all have economic and environmental costs and benefits when it comes to recycling. Environmentally recycling paper allows less tress to be cut down, but requires a lot of energy in order to do so. Economically it provides jobs to people, but not many people buy from the paper industry. Environmentally recycling aluminum allows no extra mining to occur, but like paper requires a lot of energy to recycle. Economically aluminum is used in many different objects thus recycling increases production, but this causes faults in the metal. Environmentally recycling plastics prevents them from breaking down, but it is possible to release bad chemicals. Economically much is not spent to convert into other items, but it takes time to recycle.

Aluminum would be the best to set up for recycling because it doesn’t need extra effort. Also aluminum can be used to make many other products. It is a very easy process. I would spread awareness about recycling and aluminum to show how easy it is to help move towards a better environment.

Superfund/Brownfields Discussion

Superfund areas are contaminated land that is harmful to the public, and Brownfileds are areas that are contaminated but by the government are not said to be unsafe. Cherokee county in Kansas is a site that has become a superfund area through smelting and mining. And a site that was a brownfield but is now rehabilitated is the LTV Steel Mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Removing soil from a contaminated area has the problem of relocating it, because the area it is placed in will also be contaminated. With the vegetation, rehabilitation takes time and time is a valuable resource. Societal argument is with the safety of the public. With the land being contaminated people decide not to live on the land and can cause lawsuits and such. Environmentally the contaminated land affects the wildlife and the plants around that area.

BIG Picture Discussion 

Human Impact

Waste management affects humans greatly. If waste is not properly disposed of it can have large harmful impacts on humans. Landfills provide for an area to dispose of the waste, but cause risks because of leaching of chemicals into land and water. To eliminate some threat, recycling is necessary. Recycling reduces the amount of waste that is put into landfills, thus causing less of an impact on the land and the water that humans drink. The water can give toxic chemicals to humans through the leaching process.

Environmental Impact

Waste also affects the environment in a great way. The landfill reduces the space that could be used for ecosystems and contaminates land that harms biodiversity. The leaking from landfills can enter groundwater, thus harming aquatic ecosystems. Also buildup in the landfill or other techniques such as incineration can cause pollutants to grow and harm the environment.

Economic Impact

Disposing of waste costs a large amount of money, but brings in jobs to the industry. Recycling causes a great deal of use of energy, and to get the energy to recycle the resources cost money. Landfills are pricey and other techniques like incineration are even more expensive.

Government legislation

CERCLA is an act that helps clean up land that is contaminated (i.e. superfund areas).

Along with CERCLA the RCRA is an act that sets guidelines for waste management. Inside of this act, there is the hazardous waste act that provides for a system to proper waste disposal. The EPA enforces these laws strictly.