WASTE DISPOSAL

by Luke Bassis

The disposal of garbage in the world is a problem that continues to grow with the
development of industrialized nations and the growth of population. Since the
beginning of time people have needed to find a way of disposing of their trash. In
18th century England and France, carters were paid by individuals to carry trash
and discard it on the outskirts of town. Disposal in open pits became routine and
Benjamin Franklin initiated the first municipal cleaning program in Philadelphia in
1757. Since then we have come a long way and have developed types of waste that
cannot simply be dumped into a hole.

THE PROBLEM
As Americans, we generate almost 208 million tons of solid waste each year. By the
year 2000, that number is expected to increase 20%. Today, each one of us generates
about 4.3 pounds of waste per day. As a country we generate more garbage than any
other country by far. Although we have come up with many different methods of
disposing of this garbage, there really is no absolutely safe way to do the job.

TYPES OF WASTE

Waste can be divided into many different types. The most common methods of
classification is by their physical, chemical and biological characteristics. One
important classification is by their consistency. Solid wastes are waste materials that
contain less than 70% water. This class includes such materials as household
garbage, some industrial wastes, some mining wastes, and oilfield wastes such as
drill cuttings. Liquid wastes are usually wastewater's that contain less than 1%
solids. Such wastes may contain high concentrations of dissolved salts and metals.
Sludge is a class of waste between liquid and solid. They usually contain between
3% and 25% solids, while the rest of the material is water dissolved materials.

HAZARDOUS VS. NON-HAZARDOUS

Federal regulations classify wastes into three different categories. Non-hazardous

are those that pose no immediate threat to human health and the environment.
Household garbage is included into this category. Hazardous wastes are of two
types: those that have common hazardous properties such as ignitability or
reactivity and those that contain leachable toxic components. The last type of waste
is entitled Special Wastes and is very specific in nature. They are regulated with
specific guidelines. Some examples would be radioactive wastes and medical wastes.
METHODS OF DISPOSAL

There are many different methods of disposing of waste. Landfill is the most
common and probably accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation's municipal
refuse even though Landfills have been proven contaminates of drinking water in
certain areas. It is the most cost affective method of disposal, with collection and
transportation accounting for 75 percent of the total cost. In a modern landfill,
refuse is spread thin, compacted layers covered by a layer of clean earth. Pollution
of surface water and groundwater is minimized by lining and contouring the fill,
compacting and planting the uppermost cover layer, diverting drainage, and
selecting proper soil in sites not subject to flooding or high groundwater levels. The
best soil for a landfill is clay because clay is less permeable than other types of soil.
Materials disposed of in a landfill can be further secured from leakage by solidifying
them in materials such as cement, fly ash from power plants, asphalt, or organic
polymers.

Refuse is also burned in incinerators. It is more expensive but a safer method of

disposal than landfills. Modern incinerators are designed to destroy at least 99.9%
of the organic waste material they handle. Numerous thermal processes recover
energy from solid waste. Companies burn in-plant wastes in conventional
incinerators to produce steam. Pyrolysis, a process of chemical decomposition,
produces a variety of gases and inert ash. Garbage burned in incinerators has
poisoned air, soil, and water. Communities near incinerators have objected to them
because of fears about possible emissions.

Yet another method is the pumping of hazardous wastes into deep wells. There is a
strong opposition to this method because of the apparent explosions and even
earthquakes that have resulted from waste injection techniques.
Organic materials that have little or no heavy metals can be detoxified biologically.
Composting and land farming, in which materials are spread out over a large land
area so that microbes can decompose them, are examples of biological treatment of
hazardous waste. If the materials are not detoxified before they percolate into
groundwater than obvious repercussions may occur. The practice of recycling solid
waste is an old one. Metal implements were melted down and recast in prehistoric
times. Today, recyclable materials are recovered from municipal refuse by a
number of methods, including shredding, magnetic separation of metals, screening,
and washing. Composting includes preparing refuse and breakdown of organic
matter by aerobic microorganisms. Increasingly, municipalities and private refuse
collection organizations are requiring those who generate solid waste to keep
recyclable items separate from other waste.

Livestock waste created by large livestock operations generate more than 30 times
more waste than humans. Yearly, the industry produces a total over 1.375 billion
tons of waste. Environmental products and technologies corporation, a company
focused on solving environmental problems while enhancing the productivity of
farming operations in the United States, has come up with a system to remedy the
amount of livestock waste. Their Closed Loop Waste Management System converts
animal wastes into commercial quantities of a pathogen free, nutrient rich, soil
building material. Systems like this one are a good example of the direction our
country should be moving in when dealing with the waste we generate.

Hazardous wastes pose a danger to humans or other living organisms. Management

of radioactive and other hazardous wastes is subject to federal and state regulation.
No satisfactory method has yet been demonstrated for disposing permanently of
radioactive wastes.

THE EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a government agency established to

enforce the proper disposal of wastes and conduct research in related areas. They
reported that 208 million tons of municipal solid waste were generated in the United
States. Of the municipal solid waste generated, 56 million tons (27 percent) were
recovered by recycling or composting, 33.5 million tons (16 percent) were
combusted at high temperatures, and 118.5 million tons (57 percent) were landfilled.

In addition 279 million tons of hazardous waste was generated in the United States.
Wastewater accounted for 267 million tons (96 percent) of the generated hazardous
waste. The majority (146 million tons, 53 percent) of the hazardous waste was
managed in waste water treatment units. Deepwell/underground injection
accounted for 21 million tons (7.5 percent) of the generated hazardous waste,
landfills accounted for 1 million tons (less than 0.5 percent), and combustion at high
temperatures accounted for 5 million tons (2 percent). The majority of the
remaining 104 million tons (37 percent) of hazardous waste underwent some type of
treatment.

FRESH KILLS

One example of waste affecting people is the Fresh Kills Landfill. The landfill on
Staten Island in New York City is one of the most amazing products of waste in the
world. It is undoubtedly the largest man-made object in the world and can be seen
from space. New Yorkers generate 26,000 tons, or 6.2 pounds per household of
waste every single day. About half of that is commercial waste picked up and
transported out of the City by private carting companies. The remainder is
residential waste that the Department of Sanitation collects. The only home for the
residential waste that is collected, 13,000 tons per day, is the Fresh Kills Landfill on
the western shore of Staten Island. The amount of waste landfilled at Fresh Kills
each day has been reduced, through the City's ambitious solid waste management
strategy and its recycling program, from 21,200 tons per day in 1986 to the current
13,000 tons per day. Since the Landfill was erected nearly fifty years ago there has
been a constant level of complaint from the residents of Staten Island. They see and
smell the garbage on a daily basis should they happen to live in the area of the
landfill. Finally, the city has made plans to phase out the dumping of all of the cities
garbage onto Staten Island. Eventually, they plan to cover the landfill with a clay
cover and then layers with dirt and grass. Landscapers will be hired to plant plants
that need little care or maintenance, and wildlife will once again roam the western
banks of Staten Island.

RECYCLING

It takes time, energy, labor, and money to make new products from recycled ones.
Right now it's often easier or cheaper for manufacturers to use virgin rather than
recycled materials to make things. For recycling to be worthwhile, manufacturers
need the technology to make new products from recycled materials, high quality
recovered materials that meet manufacturers' specifications, a steady supply of
recovered materials, affordable materials, and customers to buy products that
contain recycled materials. Separating glass jars, aluminum cans, and newspapers
and setting them by the curb or taking them to a recycling center is only part of the
recycling process. To complete the recycling loop, those cans, papers, and bottles
must be remade into new products that you buy and use.

WHATS NEXT

The best method of reducing waste disposals negative effect on society is simply to
prevent its generation. If the consumers of our country were to make a firm stand
against the production of useless waste and the furtherance of recycled products, the
producers would have no choice but to conform to our wishes. If it means a price
increase, so what? Any price increase we pay now will be worth the extra healthy
years we will be able to inhabit this planet, it will be worth it for our children and
their children. In a capitalistic society where politicians see no further than their
next election and everything that's produced is for a profit, we are almost surely
doomed to make decisions that will hurt us in the future. It is obvious we have to be
our own leaders in the battle versus waste disposal, because we are the only ones
who care about our future on this earth.

Bibliography

Baum, Bernard and Parker, Charles H. Solid Waste Disposal. Ann Arbor, 1974.

Daniel, David E. Geotechnical Practice for Waste Disposal. London, 1993. Figures1-
5

Pepper, Ian L. and Gerba, Charles P and Brusseau, Mark L. Pollution Science. San
Diego: Academic Press, 1996. Figures 8-12

Revelle, Penelope and Charles. The Environment: Issues and Choices for Society.
Boston, 1984. Figures 6-7

Websites

Turning Garbage into Gold

http://www.solidwastemag.com/library/garbage.htm

Reassessing the History of U.S. Hazardous Waste Disposal Policy

http://www.fplc.edu/risk/Vol8/summer/Brown+.htm
Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov