Do Now:

• What do these images have in common. Do you own any of them? If so, where do you dispose of them once their used up?

Aim: How Should We Deal with Hazardous Waste?

Concept 21-5 A sustainable approach to hazardous waste is first to produce less of it, then to reuse or

recycle it, then to convert it to less hazardous materials, and finally, to safely store what is left.

We Can Use Integrated Management of Hazardous Waste

• Integrated management of hazardous wastes– Produce less– Convert to less hazardous substances– Rest in long-term safe storage

• Increased use for postconsumer hazardous waste

Integrated Hazardous Waste Management

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Thumb up – fully understand concept

Thumb down – do not understand conceptThumb sideways – are not sure about the concept

Case Study: Recycling E-Waste• 70% goes to China

– Hazardous working conditions– Includes child workers

• Reduce toxic components in electronics

• Dell and HP take recycle their products

• Europe has high-tech smelters with strict standards

We Can Detoxify Hazardous Wastes

• Collect and then detoxify– Physical methods: Charcoal, resin,precipitating– Chemical methods: cyclodextrin in soils– Use nanomagnets: remove pollutants from water– *Bioremediation: bacteria used to destroy toxins– Phytoremediation: plants as sponges for soil & water

• Incineration

• Using a plasma arc torch : HIGH TEMPERATURES and ELECTRICAL CURRENT

Solutions: Phytoremediation

We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste

• Burial on land or long-term storage– Last resort only but most common.

• Deep-well disposal– 64% of hazardous liquid wastes in the U.S.

We Can Store Some Forms of Hazardous Waste

• Surface impoundments– Lined ponds or pits

• Secure hazardous landfills

Surface Impoundment in Niagara Falls, New York

Solutions: Secure Hazardous Waste Landfill

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Thumb up – fully understand concept

Thumb down – do not understand conceptThumb sideways – are not sure about the concept

Leaking Barrels of Toxic Waste at a Superfund Site in the United States

LAWS

• RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

• 5% of waste is regulated by RCRA• CERCLA: Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. - Identify sites contaminated by HW and clean

them up…aka superfund sites.Super Fund Act: Pay for what they polluted

Summary:

• Should the U.S. Congress reinstate the polluter pays principle by levying taxes on chemical, oil, mining, and smelting companies to reestablish a fund for cleaning up existing and new superfund sites? Explain.

Homework:

• Complete the Ecological Footprint Analysis on pg. 584-585