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APES Ch. 16 Vocab
Waste Generation and Disposal - AP Environmental Science, Chapter 16
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Waste | Anything not useful or consumed, nonuseful products generated in human systems |
| Municipal solid waste (MSW) | Waste collected by municipalities from households, small businesses, schools, prisons, hospitals, etc. - about 60% comes from residences and 40% comes from commercial and institutional facilities |
| Waste stream | The flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, placed in a landfill, or otherwise disposed of |
| Source reduction | Seeks to reduce waste by reducing, in the early stages of design and manufacture, the materials destined to become MSW |
| Closed-loop recycling | The recycling of a product into the same product |
| Open-loop recycling | The recycling of one product into another product (ex: plastic soda bottles into fleece jackets) |
| Compost | Organic matter that has decomposed under controlled conditions to produce an organic-rich material that enhances soil structure, cation exchange capacity, and fertility |
| Leachate | The water that leaches through solid waste and removes various chemical compounds with which it comes into contact |
| Sanitary landfills | Engineered ground facilities designed to hold MSW with as little contamination of the surrounding environment as possible - contain a clay or plastic lining on the bottom, a system of pipes below to collect leachate, and a soil or clay cap |
| Tipping fees | Fees charged to community members to cover the costs of building a landfill |
| Siting | The designation of a location for a landfill - can be controversial because they usually end up in lower-income areas |
| Incineration | The process of burning waste materials to reduce their volume and mass and sometimes to generate electricity or heat |
| Waste-to-energy system | When heat generated by incineration is used rather than released into the atmosphere |
| Hazardous waste | Liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge waste material that is harmful to humans or ecosystems - about 36 million tons are produced in the U.S. each year |
| The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or the Superfund act) | Taxes the chemical and petroleum industries and uses the revenue to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites when a responsible party cannot be found and requires the federal government to respond directly to the release of threatening substances |
| The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act | Designed to reduce or eliminate hazardous waste (cradle-to-grave tracking) - the EPA maintains a list of hazardous waste and works with businesses and state/local authorities to minimize its generation and track it until proper disposal |
| Brownfields | Contaminated industrial or commercial sites that may require environmental cleanup before they can be redeveloped and expanded (like Superfund sites, but managed by state and local governments) |
| Life-cycle analysis | Looks at the material used and released throughout the lifetime of a product - from the procurement of raw materials through their manufacture, use, and disposal |
| Integrated Waste Management | Employs several strategies (source-reduction in combination with some configuration of recycling, composting, landfills, etc.) in order to reduce the environmental impact of MSW |
Created by:
emilyjane1221
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