Solid and Hazardous Waste

Question 1

year that the EPA was formed

Answer 1

1972

Question 2

year that RCRA passed

Answer 2

1976

Question 3

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Answer 3

• forbade open dumping
• introduced the sanitary landfill
• removal of solid waste is the responsibility of the government

Question 4

Subtitle C waste

Answer 4

hazardous waste

Question 5

Subtitle D waste

Answer 5

• non-hazardous waste
• MSW
• municipal sludge
• industrial non-hazardous wastes
• sometime construction and demolition waste

Question 6

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Answer 6

paper, paperboard, yard trimmings, food wastes, plastics, glass, metal, and wood wastes

Question 7

sources of MSW

Answer 7

residential, institutional (schools, hospitals, prisons), commercial (restaurants, office buildings, stores), industrial packaging and administrative wastes

Question 8

top landfill materials

Answer 8

paper, food, yard trimmings, plastics

Question 9

top recycled materials

Answer 9

paper, cardboard, confidential documents

Question 10

MSW vehicles

Answer 10

government owned or contractors, compacting

Question 11

transfer station

Answer 11

• MSW is concentrated before taken to a processing facility or a landfill

Question 12

bottom layer of a Subtitle D landfill

Answer 12

• 2 feet of compacted clay OR
• bentonite clay (expands with water contact and becomes water proof)

Question 13

landfill closure

Answer 13

• caps or covers
• meant to be impermeable
• cannot build on top of it

Question 14

methane release from closed landfills

Answer 14

• generated by anaerobic microbe growth
• venting required, relieves downward pressure
• can be collected and used to add power to the grid

Question 15

waste reduction

Answer 15

reducing the amount of wastes prior to entering the waste stream

Question 16

waste reduction activities

Answer 16

• package or product redesign that reduces material or toxicity
• reducing use by modifying practices

Question 17

landfill source reduction - recycling stream

Answer 17

• conserve resources by reducing the need for virgin and nonrenewable materials
• reduce the amount of pollution by using secondary materials that require less energy to process
• save energy by using recycled materials, less is required for processing

Question 18

Materials recycling facilities (MRF’s)

Answer 18

prepare recyclables for marketing

Question 19

how much plastic packaging recycling is closed-loop

Answer 19

2%

Question 20

composting

Answer 20

the process of degrading organic matter by microorganisms into a humus-like material

Question 21

what does composted material do?

Answer 21

conditioning soil by improving soil porosity and aeration, and increasing water retention

Question 22

uses for compost

Answer 22

wetlands mitigation, land reclamation, storm filtrates, soil amendments, mulches, and low-grade fertilizers

Question 23

incineration

Answer 23

past combustion without harnessing the heat produced

Question 24

waste-to-energy (WTE)

Answer 24

combustion of waste with the production of energy

Question 25

hazardous wastes

Answer 25

discarded solids or liquids with substances that are fatal in low concentrations, toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic

Question 26

characteristic waste

Answer 26

corrosive, explosive, reactive, and flammable materials

Question 27

how much toxic waste produced by US industry in a year

Answer 27

400 million tons

Question 28

largest industry sources of toxic waste

Answer 28

chemical and petroleum industries

Question 29

cradle-to-grave system

Answer 29

wastes are tracked to the point of disposal

Question 30

Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA)

Answer 30

- focused on protecting groundwater - 1984

Question 31

3 major options for managing hazardous wastes

Answer 31

- reducing the production of waste by reducing the amount generated or recycling/reusing the hazardous material after its generation - reducing the volume and/or hazard of the waste - long-term storage or disposal

Question 32

waste treatment to reduce toxicity, mobility, or volume

Answer 32

biologic, chemical, physical, stabilization/solidification, thermal

Question 33

long-term storage and disposal

Answer 33

landfills, surface impoundments, underground injection

Question 34

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund)

Answer 34

authorized the federal gov to spend $1.6 billion over a five year period for emergency clean-up activities

Question 35

potentially responsible parties (PRPs)

Answer 35

people/businesses responsible for hazardous waste contamination

Question 36

retroactive liability

Answer 36

parties may be held liable for acts that happened before Superfund's enactment in 1980

Question 37

Joint and several liability

Answer 37

any one PRP may be held liable for the entire cleanup of the site (when the harm caused by multiple parties cannot be separated)

Question 38

Hazard ranking system (HRS)

Answer 38

based on the estimated hazard potential of the hazardous waste site, gives a numerical value

Question 39

National Priorities List (NPL)

Answer 39

sites with the highest scores from the hazard ranking system

Question 40

factors used in the Hazard Ranking System

Answer 40

waste characteristics, distance to the local population, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water supplies

Question 41

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

Answer 41

- 1986 - increased funding and provided new and stricter standards

Question 42

Title III of SARA

Answer 42

- Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) - established requirements for federal, states, and local governments, tribes, and industry regarding emergency planning and community right-to-know reposrting on hazardous and toxic chemicals

Question 43

how many sites on the NPL

Answer 43

1344

Question 44

current superfund sites

Answer 44

more than 33,000

Question 45

paper landfill %

Answer 45

27

Question 46

yard trimmings landfill %

Answer 46

13.5

Question 47

plastics landfill %

Answer 47

12.8

Question 48

metals landfill %

Answer 48

9.1

Question 49

glass landfill %

Answer 49

4.5

Question 50

food landfill %

Answer 50

14.6

Question 51

paper recycling %

Answer 51

38

Question 52

metal recycling %

Answer 52

7

Question 53

plastic/glass recycling %

Answer 53

14

Question 54

MSW landfill %

Answer 54

52.5

Question 55

MSW recycling %

Answer 55

25.8

Question 56

MSW composting %

Answer 56

8.9

Question 57

MSW combustion with energy recovery %

Answer 57

12.8