PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2011-12

Although it seems like it’s just sea water out there, we seldom forget about the black liquid that taints our deep blue. Oil is always finding its way into the ocean whether it’s through 1) natural seeps (47%), 2) consumption of petroleum/ run off (38%), 3) transportation of petroleum/leaks and oil spills (12%), or 4) extraction of petroleum (3%). However, a great amount of oil found its way into the ocean during the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A tanker that was destined for Long Beach, CA crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound and spilled 38,800 metric tons into the ocean. After this accident congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 which required double hulled tankers and a plan for clean up given that a spill occurred. This plan included a contingency fund, or a fund if an accident occurred. Good thing congress thought of that because in 2010

a well blew out and spilled 666,400 metric tons (a years worth of natural seeps) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This was known as the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. We jotted down some facts to compare the two in class, and came to the conclusion that the BP oil spill was worse in terms of amount of oil spilled. Despite this, both had major environmental impacts.

IMPACTS OF OIL SPILLS:

Wildlife:

• Oil in the pelts of otters or feathers of birds doesn’t let the animals trap heat and they die from hypothermia. It also reduces buoyancy and makes it harder for the animals to swim
• Animals could also die from ingestion and suffocate from smothering.

These bird most likely died from suffocation and smothering, and these pictures are only two of many thousands of animals that died in the accident.

However, actions to remediate the damage done by the oil, were taken.

• Mechanical methods: Booms, absorbents, skimmers, and blotters were used to reduce the amount of oil in the water.
• Absorbent booms skim and absorb water off the top
• Chemical Methods: Coagulants and dispersing agents like fire were used to get rid of the oil
• Biological: The use of bacteria or plants to neutralize contaminants: bioremediation.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html

It really is unbelievable the impact of these spills. At least now we know what measures can be taken in the event of another spill and can be prepared if another happens. We just have to learn from our mistakes..

A funny video that explains the chain of events of the Deepwater Horizon Spill…

On my flight to Hawaii I was eavesdropping on the conversation behind me and apparently she was traveling from Des Moines, IA to Hawaii because waste connection a company that handles recycling and waste management is having a meeting here. I rolled my eyes…apes is stalking me.

Sorry this is a bit late, but I went to Davidson to see my Wildcats win tonight.  Remember, when you use the term “hazardous” to describe waste it is defined as such by law (RCRA) and so, regulated (at least the industrial stuff). Here are the slides from today’s presentation as well as the 3 minute clip I showed on the dangers of e-waste:

If you missed Friday, we discussed the “next” industrial revolution. Did you know it was underway?

The last industrial revolution gave us the linear material flow economy-the one we diagrammed earlier in the week. While recycling programs do reduce some waste disposal and some extraction, they focus on the “downstream” end of that flow (waste disposal). Today, we learned of an ecoindustrial revolution that seeks to eliminate the concept of waste (so, waste = food). Yes, it seems like an oxymoron but we are talking about mimicking nature or industrial ecology. Idealistic? If you missed the movie shown in class, here is a 20 minute TEDTalk by William McDonough (from 2005) on some of his design ideas you should watch:

Seems idealistic, but you have to realize this is ALREADY changing BIG businesses (like Nike, Ford) in positive ways. If we do focus on two new Rs, redesign (design with no waste in mind) and refuse to use toxins in production, we can prevent a great deal of waste (esp. hazardous waste) and spend less money on/spend less time worrying about trash and recycling it. Some texts call this idea the “P2″ approach (Pollution Prevention). So, Will McDonough is a champion of a new set of Rs and if his revolution succeeds, we’ll no longer have a “grave.”

*Notice this puts a greater burden on engineers and product designers to eliminate waste, and lesser burden on the consumer to dispose of it. So, McDonough envisions all things being designed to stay in one of two cycles: biological and technical. Biological products are for consumption and can be composted (biodegradable). Technical products are “products of service” and can be recycled indefinitely. Radical?

**Folks in class saw me submerge a book (meant to be made of a technical cycle nutrient) in a beaker of water. Several folks were curious about the material use to make that book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things, so here is a little more info on it: http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm

Book made from a "technical nutrient"

So we debated recycling. Is it good for the environment? Is it bad for the environment? It’s a decision that each of us have to make, what’s your decision?

Here are some points people made that may help you decide, or at least help you understand each point of view.

Pros for Recycling

- Landfills

• Landfills are harmful. You’re putting non-biodegradable substances into the ground and you can’t guarantee the safety of the landfill as methane is created. Methane is a greenhouse gas and contributes to climate change.
• Landfills are not cheap, and though they reduce the problems of pollution and toxins, they are still toxic.
• Leachate has to be treated which costs a lot of money and puts pressure on sewage treatment plants.
• 36% of all methane emissions in the US are from landfills (which is a large percent). This greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere, a global commons, and isn’t just isolated to above were the landfill is.
• Urban smog created by the release of methane can affect the health of people and the environment in a negative way.
• Water wasted recycling paper is the same amount that is wasted processing leachate from the landfills.

- Incinerators

• Incinerators are more expensive than recycling programs.

- Tree Farms

• Recycling paper should be done because tree farms may provide paper but they do not replace the biodiversity of a forest.

+ Benefits of Recycling

• The real benefit of recycling is reusing materials to avoid further harm to the environment from extracting raw materials.
•  Recycling programs create jobs in the collecting and reprocessing process.

Click Here for Richard A. Denison’s Commentary on why Recycling is NOT Garbage

Cons For Recycling

+ Landfills

• There is plenty of room on the planet for landfills.
• They are safe so there is really no reason to recycle.
• Methane and Leachate from Landfills are regulated. Methane is used to create energy for the community.
• Landfills aren’t particularly expensive because most of them are built where not a lot of people.
• The amount of methane that is released by the landfills is a minor addition in comparison to farming and other things. With emissions coming from recycling trucks and recycling centers, you’re not cutting all of the emissions out.
• Can provide jobs and bring money into rural areas.

+ Tree Farms

• There are more trees then there have been before. Trees are being rejuvenated and he lumbering provides jobs.

- Recycling

• Recycling is economically detrimental,resulting in loss of jobs in lumbering, working at landfills, and others.
• Paper recycling wastes a significant amount of water.

The Beautiful Fresh Kills Landfill in NY

Click Here for an article about why “Recycling is Garbage!”

And just for fun, some recycling propaganda!

So in class today, we discussed e-waste, which is essentially the disposal of computers, televisions, phones, and other electronics. We then discussed the harmful consequences involved in the process, especially when it’s exported to foreign countries like India and China. However, we never really got to talking about a good way to get rid of the waste. My question to all of you is, “What’s an effective and responsible way to dispose of e-waste?”

In class on Wednesday, February 8, we discussed the material flow economy, which can also be called the “waste stream”. This was inspired by a video called The Story of Stuff (see first attached video). We did not watch the video in class, but I highly recommend that you watch this video for clarification because it discusses everything that we went over in class. The following picture is a graphic that represents material flow economy.

Now to go through the diagram step by step to make sense of it…

***Note: pay close attention to the “tion”s to give a name to each step. It will make it easier to keep things organized.

1. The first important thing to note is that this diagram shows the process of MSW (municipal solid waste) from the “cradle” to the “grave”. So this is basically the life cycle of the waste. Also note that this is a linear display where products are made, used, and discarded.

2. The first step of this linear display is shown by the first image which is of the earth. This step is called is called extraction of virgin resources or raw materials. This is how waste begins. Resources be extracted in many ways such as drilling, mining, and harvesting.

3. The next step represents production. This displays how the virgin resources are taken to a factory, or sometimes multiple factories, to be made into products. This is where the materials are refined and processed. The ultimate goal is manufacturing. This is basically where the plans for the raw materials are made into finished products.

4. The third image represents the distribution step. This is when the finished products are distributed to retailers who will sell the products.

5. The fourth picture is representing the consumer and is called consumption. This simply means that the consumer buys the product from the retailer. This is where most people think that all the waste comes from. When, in fact, that is not true. Production, distribution, and consumption all produce waste from the output made by the factories and the trash accumulated at retail stores (all stores have dumpsters out back that are filled with waste).

6. Now the consumer has a choice of what to do with their waste. If they decide that it is trash, then there are two main things that could happen to it.

-the upper arrow has “bury” written inside of it. This is where 55% of the trash ends up-in a landfill. A landfill is an underground storage for trash, but is more complicated than it seems. The hole must be lined with clay, sand, and a liner to help absorb and prevent leakage. There also has to be a vent to prevent the methane from escaping without being purified from the air first. Methane is a greenhouse gas meaning that is a warming gas, and can lead to more global warming. These landfills are usually covered, or “capped”, and used for recreational parks.

-the lower arrow has “burn” written inside of it. This is where 12% of the trash ends up-in an incinerator. This is where the waste is obviously burned and can be converted into bottom ash. It might contain some hazardous material depending on what was burned.  While coal power plant ash might be used for drywall, the trash inincerator ash has other uses such as for asphalt, cement, and concrete. We briefly discussed some pros and cons of an incinerator. One pro is that it has a smaller footprint compared to the landfill. This means that less habitats and biodiversity are not jeopardized. But one con is that it really does not encourage less trash because without trash, these businesses would not operate. And another con is that more air pollution is released in the process.

But if the consumer does not want to throw away their trash, then the three R’s come into the picture. The first R is reduce and it is the most important of the three. Now, by this time, the consumer has already used the product, but in the future they could choose to use less of it. The next R is reuse. This is essentially temporarily diverting the waste from the “grave”. And the last R is recycle. Recycling is bringing the waste back to the production stage so that it can be remade into something that could be used again. The main goal of recycling is to keep waste out of the “grave”.

The last thing that we briefly discussed in class is the MRF (material recovery facility). The second attached video is a good explanation of what actually takes place inside a MRF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXt8 (story of stuff video)

http://www.recyclebank.com/live-green/the-cycle  (MRF video)

The focus of today’s lesson was what happens to trash after we put it on the curb for garbage collection and what trash consists of. Even though all of us are well aware that out of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; reduction is the most important factor in waste management because of course if there is less waste in the first place then there is less that will ultimately end up buried in a sanitary landfill or burned in an incinerator (not including the option of recycling in this scenario). 

http://www.epa.gov/wastes/nonhaz/municipal/index.htm

The above pie chart explains the breakdown in the U.S.’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) consists of and from the categories above it is evident that paper/paperboard products make up the largest percentage of MSW. And the link above is a great resource for some facts and graphs on MSW in the U.S. and also on this link are some graphs that show the MSW generation rates and the MSW recycling rates. 

The graph shows what appears to be a leveling off of waste generation per person which could be a good thing because of the importance of waste management. Hopefully in years to come we will see a downward trend to our total and to our per capita waste generation.

This graph shows the total amount of MSW in millions of tons being recycled and the percent of generation recycled. It is notable that around 1985 recycling rates skyrocketed and have been on the rise since then but unfortunately appear to possibly be leveling off (for now).

And all of the different types of MSW in the pie chart above can end up in one of three places: buried in landfills, burned in incinerators, or recycled. Of the U.S.’s MSW 55% is buried in sanitary landfills, 12% is burned/incinerated in mass-burn incinerators, and the remaining 34% is recovered through recycling. But today we focused mainly on the trash that gets buried in the landfills. You can’t just dig a hole anywhere you want and bury your trash. Landfills are an engineering marvel that follow strict regulations to prevent causing dangerous conditions for surrounding areas. Building a landfill is a science that is amazingly depicted at this site: http://deoracle.org/learning-objects/landfill-construction-model.html which shows and explains an animation of the sanitary landfill construction process from building to filling to management. Here is an example of the first diagram:

And even though we didn’t cover incineration in class yet here is a youtube video that explains how waste can be used to create energy: how a waste-to-energy plant works