Today’s TopicMinimizing Solid Waste

Learning Goal:

SWBAT explain how they can reduce their daily

contribution of solid waste.

Please take out your notes, as we will

continue with yesterday’s notes.

We will also give out the study guide for

the final now.

RecapWhat are the two ways in which people

can lessen their personal impact on the

waste they create?

Reduce and Reuse.

What is source reduction?

ReduceWhen we reduce the amount of waste we

produce, we lower the costs of disposal and

recycling.

We also conserve resources and produce less

pollution.

The act of reducing the volume or toxicity of

waste generated, including designing and

manufacturing products with minimal volume

of material and longer useful life is known as

source reduction.

Source Reduction

Source

Reduction

Goods with

Longer

Lives

Less

Packaging

Banning

Certain

Plastics

Consume

Less

ReusingIn addition, you could be reusing,

repurposing, or selling items when you’re

finished with them.

Reduce PackagingAlthough packaging has its function:

Preserving freshness

Preventing breakage

Preventing tempering

Providing information

Too much packaging is harmful.

Reduce PackagingYou can make a difference by purchasing

items with minimal packaging, buying

food in bulk, and buying unwrapped

foods and vegetables.

You can also opt to

purchase items that

are made from

recyclable materials.

Reduce Use of Nonbiodegradable Plastics

Is this a familiar scene on grocery day?

Reduce Use of Nonbiodegradable Plastics

While you may use plastic bags for one

day, some creatures have to deal with it

for years.

Reduce Use of Nonbiodegradable Plastics

Each year, Americans discard 100 billion

plastic grocery bags.

Because most plastic

is not biodegradable

Biodegradable means an object will

decompose or break down naturally.

Reduce Use of Nonbiodegradable Plastics

Because plastic has only been widely

used for a few years, it is unknown how

long it takes for plastic to truly break

down.

As a result, creatures

may get trapped,

disfigured, or die

from plastic exposure.

Fighting BackSome places around the world have

taken steps to minimize the use of plastic

bags.

Ireland has placed taxes on plastic bags.

San Francisco, CA has

banned nonbiodegradable

plastic bags.

Design Goods to LastAnother thing we can do in order to

reduce the number of items we dispose

of is to purchase items with a long

lifespan.

However, due to planned obsolescence

(the practice of designing a project with

an artificially limited useful life), this can

be very difficult.

Planned ObsolescenceThink about technologies you use:

Playstation 1

1995 – 2000 (5 years)

Playstation 2

2000 – 2006 (6 years)

Playstation 3

2006 – 2013 (7 years)

Playstation 4

2013 - ????? (8 years?)

Financial IncentivesTo help limit the amount of garbage that

people throw away, some states or towns

utilize a “pay-as-you-throw” approach.

Municipalities will charge residents for

home trash pickup

according to how much

trash they put out.

Bottle BillsAnother program to encourage recycling is the

“bottle bill”.

In some states, consumers can return empty

bottles and cans to stores or collection

facilities and receive a refund of 5 cents per

bottle or can.

Participating states have

reported that the program

has reduced beverage litter has decreased by

69 – 84%, and total little by 30-64%!

Waste RecoveryIn addition to cutting our consumption of

goods, we can also turn to composting

and recycling to reuse used materials.

According to the EPA, in 2007 we

recovered almost one third of our

municipal solid waste by

recycling or composting!

Waste RecoveryNot only does this give our waste a

second life, but in recycling and

composting we saved energy equal to

more than 10 billion gallons of gas!

We also prevented the release of more

than 190 million metric tons of CO2,

which is equal to the amount that

35 million cars release each year!

CompostingAs we know, composting is the

conversion of organic waste into mulch or

humus through natural biological

processes of decomposition.

This compost can then be used to enrich

soil and used throughout municipalities or

in your own garden.

Some towns have a compost pick-up,

alongside their normal garbage/recycling.

RecyclingWe can also recycle much of our municipal

solid waste.

Recycling is the collection of materials that

can be broken down and reprocessed to make

new items.

How It Works

Once your recyclables are picked up (or

dropped off), they travel to a material

recovery facility.

Here’s a video explaining how recycling

and a material recovery facility works.

Limits of RecyclingRecycling rates vary from product or

material to another, and even from state

to state.

Recycling rates in the USA range from

5% - 50% material recycled.

In NJ: 30% - 40%

In PA: 20% - 30%

In NY: 67%

RecyclingNot all material can be perfectly reused

again.

Aluminum cans can safely be reused as

another aluminum cans.

However, certain things, such as paper,

glass, cardboard, and plastic normally

turn into a product of lesser quality.

DowncyclingDowncycling is the process of

converting waste materials or useless

products into new materials or products

of lesser quality and reduced

functionality.

Paper, for example,

may get turned into

pulp, and then turn

into toilet paper.

DowncyclingNot all glass can be recycled properly.

In fact, only 25% of glass gets

downcycled into things such as fiber optic

cables or an additive in concrete.

The remainder winds up in a landfill, as

the glass gets crushed too much to be

used properly.

Downcycling

UpcyclingSome materials will get upcycled,

however.

Upcycling is the process of reusing a

material in such a way to create

something more valuable than the

original material.

Upcycling, however typically requires the

input of fresh material, so it can become

expensive.