chapter 18: managing our waste

Question 1

what is the beare roade site?

Answer 1

an ex landfill in scarborough that is now used to produce methane energy. LFGTE - Landfill gas to electricity

Question 2

what is the smokey mountain?

Answer 2

a landfill site in manilla with over 2 million tons of garbage

Question 3

municipal solid waste

Answer 3

non-liquid waste that comes from homes, institutions, and small businesses

Question 4

waste water

Answer 4

= water used in a household, business, or industry, as well as polluted runoff from our streets and storm drains

Question 5

leachate

Answer 5

the liquid that results when substances from
the trash dissolve in water as rain water percolates
downward

Question 6

what are the three main components of waste management?

Answer 6

source reduction (minimizing the amount of waste we generate), recycling, and disposing of waste safely and effectively

Question 7

decommissioning

Answer 7

Shutting down an

industrial site and getting it ready for cleanup and postindustrial re-purposing

Question 8

what are the main components of municipal waste in canada?

Answer 8

a, paper, organics, and plastics are the principal components of municipal solid waste

Question 9

how is waste disposal governed at the municipal level?

Answer 9

Collection, diversion, and disposal of solid waste

Drop-off facilities for hazardous waste

Question 10

how is waste disposal governed at the provincial level?

Answer 10

Movement of waste materials within the jurisdiction–Licensing of treatment facilities–Legislation and guidelines for landfill sites’

Question 11

what are sanitary landfills?

Answer 11

waste buried in the ground or piled in large, engineered mounds .. engineered to minimize leakage of contaminants

Question 12

what happened in islip new york when they tried to dispose of their garbage?

Answer 12

1987 landfills were full, and a barge traveled to empty the waste in North Carolina, which rejected the load

Question 13

incineration

Answer 13

garbage is burned at high temperatures.. hazardous chemicals are created and released during

Question 14

what do scrubbers do(waste)?

Answer 14

= chemically treat the gases produced in combustion to remove hazardous components and neutralize acidic gas

Question 15

landfill gases consist of roughly half ______

Answer 15

methane

Question 16

what are some source reduction strategies?

Answer 16

Reduce packaging–Ban or per-bag charges for plastic grocery bags–Increase the longevity of goods

Question 17

composting

Answer 17

= the conversion of organic waste into mulch or humus through natural biological processes of decomposition

Question 18

The less waste a house generates the less it is charged for trash collection….. this is an example of

Answer 18

pay-as-you-throw incentive

Question 19

industrial ecology

Answer 19

= redesigning industrial systems to reduce resource inputs and to minimize physical inefficiency while maximizing economic efficiency

Question 20

life cycle analysis

Answer 20

= examine the life cycle of a product and look for ways to make the process more ecologically efficient

Question 21

what is waste exchange?

Answer 21

= a network service with the goal of linking producers of waste with industries or individuals that can make use of the waste as raw material

Question 22

what is a reactive substance?

Answer 22

= substances that are chemically unstable and readily react with other compounds, often explosively or by producing noxious fumes

Question 23

what is a corrosive substance?

Answer 23

= substances that corrode metals in storage tanks or equipment

Question 24

surface inpoundments

Answer 24

shallow depressions lined with material, which hold liquid waste

Question 25

deep well injection

Answer 25

a well is drilled deep beneath the water table and waste is injected into it

Question 26

what is a brownfield?

Answer 26

sites that have been contaminated but have the potential to be cleaned up and remediated

Question 27

vector

Answer 27

an organism that transfers pathogens to a host

Question 28

radon

Answer 28

= a highly toxic, radioactive gas that is colorless and undetectable without specialized kit, can cause cancer

Question 29

where does lead poisoning come from? what are the potential threats?

Answer 29

water going through lead pipes, lead-based paint on popular brand-name children’s toys–
Damages organs, causes learning problems, behavior abnormalities, and death

Question 30

where do PBDES come from? what are the potential threats?

Answer 30

Computers, TVs, plastics, furniture–Endocrine disruptors, impacts brain and nervous system

Question 31

toxicology

Answer 31

= the study of the effects of poisonous substances on humans and other organism

Question 32

mutagens

Answer 32

cause dna mutations

Question 33

teratogens

Answer 33

cause birth defects

Question 34

neurotoxins

Answer 34

assault the nervous system

Question 35

endocrine disruptors

Answer 35

interfere with the endocrine (hormone) system

Question 36

pesticide drift

Answer 36

airborne transport of pesticides

Question 37

bioaccumulation vs biomagnification

Answer 37

toxicants build up in animal tissues ….. toxicants concentrate in top predators

Question 38

what is epidemology

Answer 38

large-scale comparisons among groups of people, generally for a long period of time

Question 39

what does LD50 measure?

Answer 39

= the amount of toxicant required to kill 50% of the subjects (think LETHAL)

Question 40

what does ED50 measure?

Answer 40

= the amount of toxicant required to affect 50% of the subjects (think EFFECT)

Question 41

acute exposure

Answer 41

= high exposure for short periods of time to a hazard

Question 42

substances are harmless until shown to be harmful… this is the ______ approach

Answer 42

innocent until proven guilty

Question 43

substances are harmful until they are shown to be harmless… this is the _____ approach

Answer 43

precautionary principle approach