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EG9 WasteMgt
EG9 WasteMgt
S. Hughes 2000
Waste Management
What is the need for waste
management?
On Staten Island, New York, a mountain
of trash is growing, entirely manmade.
• Each day: 11,000 tons of municipal
and corporate waste disposed of at
Fresh Kills Landfill
• Facility: 3,000 acres (>1200 ha), and
by the year 2005 the mountain of trash
is expected to reach 150 to 200m
• New landfills are constructed each year; some are many
kilometers away from where the trash was generated.
• What is the greatest contributor (by volume) to solid waste
at a landfill? Answer:
S. Hughes 2000
Waste Management Concepts and Problems
• Many people live in areas where concentration of toxic
pollutants exceeds standards (e.g. 25% of people in Russia)
• In 1991, 90% of countries had uncontrolled dumping of
industrial hazardous waste, >60% had hazardous chemicals
disposed of in uncontrolled sites
• Urban areas produce more waste than there is space for
disposal (1/2 of U.S. cities running out of landfill space) and the
costs for treatment and disposal are increasing dramatically
• Siting of new landfills depends on:
favorable environment for disposing waste
cost of land, transportation and disposal
social justice -- economic and social status of citizens
environmental justice -- healthy disposal
• Resources are depleted, health problems are growing, and
widespread environmental damage is occurring
• Waste disposal sites may become the mines of the future.
S. Hughes 2000
Philosophy of Waste Disposal and Management
The search for safer methods of waste management and
disposal has begun. This search is exemplified by the
paradigm shift occurring in the field of Waste Management
• Philosophy #1 -- Out of sight out of mind: widespread
environmental damage, the philosophy persists, and
continues to pose serious problems
• Philosophy #2 -- Dilute and Disperse (“the solution to
pollution is dilution”): First century of Industrial Revolution,
no longer suitable for waste disposal; many environments
have reached their maximum compensation points
• Philosophy #3 -- Concentrate and Contain: the most
popular today, very energy intensive and expensive
• Philosophy #4 -- Resource Recovery: waste converted to
useful material, requires technology, and volumes too large
• Philosophy #5 -- Integrated Waste Management:
Complex set of alternatives: source reduction, recycling,
composting, landfill, and incineration
S. Hughes 2000
Integrated Waste Management (IWM)
Trend to develop new methods of waste management that
will not cause health problems or become a nuisance
waste products = resources out of place
Reduce, Recycle, Reuse -- the three “Rs” of IWM;
difficult to have a balance of all three, also add Eliminate to
the list
Technological Advances -- increase the efficiency of
manufacturing processes, minimize waste generation
• Resource Recovery -- reuse and recycling is on the rise
• Sequential Land Use -- establish new developments over
old
• Alternative Methods of Waste Treatment
NOTE: ONE THIRD of all waste in the United States is
packaging! S. Hughes 2000
Materials Management -- Part of IWM, but provides
a new goal: Zero Production of Waste
• Eliminate subsidies for extracting virgin materials
(timber, minerals, oil, etc.)
• Establish “green building” incentives that use
recycled materials in new construction
• Establish financial penalties for production of products
that do not meet objectives of material management
• Establish financial incentives for industrial practices
that benefit the environment by enhancing sustainability
• Provide incentives for producing new jobs in
technology of materials management and practice of
reducing, recycling and reusing resources
S. Hughes 2000
Solid-Waste Disposal -- primarily an urban
problem, common methods include:
• On-site Disposal: most common in households (grinding
of kitchen food waste), disposal in sewage treatment plant
• Composting: a biochemical process, organic materials
decompose to humus-like material
• Incineration: the reduction of combustible waste to inert
residue; burns at high temperatures (900 to 1000 °C)
convert large volume of waste to small volume of ash
combustion used to supplement other fuels for power
• Open Dumps: oldest and most common way to dispose of
solid waste, without regard to safety, health, or aesthetics
• Sanitary Landfills: defined by the American Society of
Civil Engineering as a method of solid-waste disposal that
functions without creating a nuisance or hazard to public
health or safety -- This is an important geological problem.
S. Hughes 2000
Solid Waste Disposal
Types of materials or refuse commonly transported to a
disposal site.
Problems if:
• Higher water table
• Thinner cover
material
• Cover material has
moderate to high
hydraulic
conductivity
Source: Keller, 2000, Figure 12.2 S. Hughes 2000
Example #2: Solid-waste disposal site where waste is buried
above the water table in permeable material with high
hydraulic conductivity.
Leachate can migrate down to fractured bedrock
(limestone)
High potential for groundwater pollution -- many open
and connected fractures in the rock.
Leachate
Moves quickly
through sand & gravel
Enters limestone,
transported through
open cavities and
fractures
Has little degradation
Source: Keller, 2000, Figure 12.3 S. Hughes 2000
Sanitary Landfills -- Site Selection Guidelines
Poor or Unacceptable Landfill Sites:
• Limestone or highly fractured rock quarries, and sand
and gravel pits (because they are good aquifer materials)
• Swampy areas, unless properly drained
• Floodplains, absolutely not acceptable
• Areas near coast; trash or leachate will pollute beaches
and coastal marine waters
• Any area with high hydraulic conductivity and high WT
Acceptable Landfill Sites:
• In rough topography, areas near heads of gullies, where
surface water is at a minimum
• Clay pits, if kept dry
• Flat areas, if a layer with low hydraulic conductivity
(aquitard, clay and silt) is present above any aquifer
S. Hughes 2000
Design of Sanitary Landfills -- complex, with multiple
barriers: clay liner, leachate collection system, and a
compacted clay cap
Idealized diagram of a landfill with a double liner of clay and
plastic, and a leachate collection system:
Map View Cross Section
S. Hughes 2000
• Limitations of CERCLA
CERCLA has a number of limitations. Most of its funds have been soaked up by
legal battles attempting to assign liability and responsibility. Also, CERCLA's testing
methods may not be stringent enough. Unfortunately this law deals with such huge
problems that it is not possible to be rigorous. A number of the CERCLA treatment
technologies are in themselves environmentally disruptive. Methods such as
excavation and removal of contaminated soil, structures etc. are widely used in
order to minimize time and money expenditures. Of course, they then have to
face the problem of what to do with the CERCLA material!
S. Hughes 2000
EPA - National Priorities List = Superfund Sites
Environmental impacts at Superfund sites (NPL) and some of
the pollutants encountered at the sites:
Source: Keller, 2000, Figure 12.8
Deep-well injection
system -- disposal in
sandstone or fractured
limestone capped by
impermeable rock and
isolated from fresh
water. Monitoring wells
are a safety precaution.
S. Hughes 2000
Deep-well Injection -- Disposal wells use high pressures
to overcome existing lithologic and hydrostatic forces in deep
aquifers, thereby forcing the aquifer to accept waste loads.
U.S. Federal regulations recognize 5 types of disposal wells,
each with their own particular guidelines:
CLASS I WELLS - used for disposal of hazardous and
non-hazardous industrial or municipal wastes.
CLASS II WELLS - used for injection of oil field brines
and other hydrocarbon wastes.
CLASS III WELLS - used for solution mining processes.
CLASS IV WELLS - those which historically disposed of
radioactive wastes (this is no longer done).
CLASS V WELLS - used for any activity not mentioned
above, such as geothermal steam mining operations.
NOTE: A major problem with deep well injection is that it can
cause earthquakes! S. Hughes 2000
Deep-well Injection -- Multiple factors must be considered
when selecting a disposal well site:
• Aquifer response to injection rates, pressures, type of waste
• The location of confining structures above and below
• Site bounded vertically and laterally by confining strata
• The location of faults, fracture zones, patterns of seismicity
• The location of any old conduits between aquifer layers
• Physical and chemical character of the waste
• Pretreatment of the waste may be required in order to avoid
system clogging, corrosion of well casings or other problems
• Aquifers with low pressure head, high transmissivity, and
high permeability are preferred
S. Hughes 2000
Monitoring Disposal Wells -- Essential part of any disposal
system; important to know where wastes are going, how stable,
how fast they migrate, especially if waste is toxic.
How liquid waste might enter a freshwater aquifer:
Reactor Low-level
Reprocessing Plant wastes
Spent fuel
High-level
solid waste
Federal repositories - geologic disposal Commercial burial
S. Hughes 2000
Terms for Understanding
anaerobic digester point source pollution
CAA non-point source pollution
cap/cover NPL
CERCLA ocean dumping
composting on-site disposal
cradle-to-grave RCRA
CWA recycle
deep well injection sanitary landfill
generator SARA
hazardous waste secure landfill
heavy metals soluble
incineration Superfund
Industrial Ecology urban runoff
Integrated Waste Management volatile
landfill waste
leachate waste disposal
liner waste management
Love Canal zero tolerance
S. Hughes 2000