Lesson 22- Waste Streams

Question 1

Waste streams

Answer 1

• Is the complete flow of waste, whether it is from domestic or industrial sources. Each waste stream represents the life cycle of waste from its source up until its eventual dispose

Question 2

What is the attitude to waste in the UK?

Answer 2

• 50% of UK do not think reducing waste is their responsibility
• 52% of UK think reducing waste is in the responsibility of producers
• 50% of the UK think it is too expensive to re-use or repair broken items

Question 3

Waste reduction in the UK example?

Answer 3

• The 5p carrier bag
• All retailers with 250 or more full time employees wewre required to charge a minimum of 5p for all single use plastic carrier bags from October 5th 2015
• Not a tax for the government but a donation to charity

Question 4

Why was the 5p carrier bag put in place?

Answer 4

• In 2014 over 7.6 billion single-use plastics were given to customers by majour supermarkets in England
• =140 bags per person= 61,000 tonnes of plastic
• This became a great problem for our environment as they take hundreds of years to degrade in our environment

Question 5

Impact of the 5p carrier bag?

Answer 5

• Within the first 6 months, the total number of plastic bags used fell from over 7 billion to half a billion. Svaing 40,801 tonnes of plastic
• Asda and Tesco saw a spike in the number of trolley, basket and bag for life thefts, leading to some supermarkets placing security tags on these items

Question 6

What is a circular economy?

Answer 6

Question 7

How is Adidas demonstrating the ‘circular economy’?

Answer 7

• They have combined with a policy that collects plastic waste from the beach
• They break down these plastics, melt them down, and spin them into a fabric-like yarn

Question 8

Waste hierarchy?

Answer 8

Question 9

Unregulation as a form of waste disposal

Answer 9

• In developing world cites where environmental laws and policing of the law is less structured, many large organisations will release liquid and sold waste into local water courses or waste will be left abandoned on wasteland.
• Lack of an enforcement agency by the government often means that this happens regularly and the impact on the environment is a problem.
• Large areas of land become contaminated which can lead to ill-health for local people

Question 10

Recycling and Recovery as a form of waste disposal

Answer 10

• Resource recovery is the selective extraction of disposed materials for a specific next use such as recycling, composting or energy generation.
• Taipei in Taiwan has made itself a modern metropolis of clean streets, due to its efficient and comprehensive ‘4-in-1’ recycling programme. Citizens are paid for separating their rubbish, in a pay as you throw scheme.

Question 11

Reduction (incineration) as a form of waste disposal

Answer 11

• Uses incineration to reduce the volume of disposed waste by 90%. General waste can be safely burned at high temperatures and under carefully controlled conditions can ever produce electricity and heat.
• However, incinerators cost a lot of money. The upfront cost of the Hedon Incinerator in Hull was around £144 million and unlike recycling or other waste disposal strategies, incineration provides fewer jobs for the local community.

Question 12

Burial (landfill) as a form of waste disposal

Answer 12

• Landfills are essentially hollows in the ground where rubbish is dumped. Modern landfills have linings of plastic or compacted clay to prevent leachate (a mixture of materials from the waste in the landfill and rainwater) from running out of the landfill.
• Gases such as Methane are produced as waste decomposes
• In Singapore, the local government has developed the first offshore landfill, which is situated in the South Island of Semakau. The landfill which is made up land reclaimed from the sea, takes up 3.5 square KM is estimated to be in use until 2045
• Creates a pleasant looking area but means the island can be used for recreational purposes in the future.

Question 13

Submergence as a form of waste disposal

Answer 13

• Actual submergence of unsorted municipal waste in oceans is banned by international convention due to the possible toxins which can be released into the water damaging marine life.
• In the UK, submergence of sewage sludge or radioactive waste has been banned since 1998. Only fish wastes and inert material of natural origin i.e. rock and mining wastes can now be dumped at sea. 99% of waste submerged is locally-generated sediment