Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

24-2 PRODUCING LESS WASTEWhat Are Our Options? Managementor PreventionWe can try to manage the solid wastes weproduce or try to reduce or prevent theirproduction.We can deal with the solid wastes we create in twoways. One is waste management. This is a high-waste approach(Figure 3-18, p. 53) that views waste productionas a largely unavoidable product of economic growth.It attempts to manage the resulting wastes in waysthat reduce environmental harm, mostly by mixingand often crushing them together and then buryingthem, burning them, or shipping them off to anotherstate or country. In effect, it mixes the wastes we producetogether and then transfers them from one part ofthe environment to another.The second approach is waste reduction, a low-wasteapproach that recognizes there is no “away.” It viewsmost solid waste as potential resources that we shouldbe reusing, recycling, or composting. With this approachwe should be taught to think of trash cans andgarbage trucks as resource containers. Figure 24-3 listsways to reduce waste. Study this figure carefully.Waste reduction is based on the four R’s for dealingwith the wastes we produce: refuse, reduce, reuse, orrecycle (including composting). It is the preferred solutionbecause it tackles the problem of waste productionat the front end—before it occurs—rather than atthe back end after wastes have already been produced.It also saves matter and energy resources, reduces pollution(including emissions of greenhouse gases),helps protect biodiversity, and saves money.1st PriorityPrimary Pollutionand Waste Prevention• Change industrialprocess to eliminateuse of harmfulchemicals• Purchase differentproducts• Use less of a harmfulproduct• Reduce packagingand materials inproducts• Make products thatlast longer and arerecyclable, reusable,or easy to repair2nd PrioritySecondary Pollutionand Waste Prevention• Reuse products• Repair products• Recycle• Compost• Buy reusable andrecyclable productsSolutions: How Can We Reduce Solid Waste?The Sustainability SixReducing consumption and redesigning the productswe produce are the best ways to cut waste productionand promote sustainability.Here are six ways to reduce resource use, waste, andpollution—what we might call the sustainability six.First, consume less. Before buying anything, ask questionssuch as: Do I really need this or do I just want it?Can I buy it secondhand (reuse)? Can I borrow or rentit (reuse)?Second, redesign manufacturing processes and productsto use less material and energy. A skyscraper built todayincludes about a third less steel than one the samesize built in the 1960s because of the use of lighterweightbut higher-strength steel. The weight of carshas been reduced by about one-fourth by using suchsteel along with lightweight plastics and compositematerials. Plastic milk jugs weigh 40% less that theydid in the 1970s, and aluminum drink cans containone-third less aluminum. All of these changes involvesavings in energy use as well as materials.Third, redesign manufacturing processes to produceless waste and pollution. Most toxic organic solvents canbe recycled within factories or replaced with waterbasedor citrus-based solvents (Individuals Matter,p. 489). Hydrogen peroxide can be used instead of toxicchlorine to bleach paper and other materials. Threenontoxic ways to clean clothes are now available. Onecleans clothes with water in computer-controlled machinesand another uses a nontoxic silicone solvent inconventional dry-cleaning machines. A new methodsubmerses clothes in liquid carbon dioxide. Checkyour local phone directory to locate dry cleaners thatuse these alternative methods.Fourth, develop productsLast Prioritythat are easy to repair, reuse,remanufacture, compost, or recycle.A Xerox photocopier withWaste Management• Treat waste to reducetoxicity• Incinerate waste• Bury waste inlandfills• Release waste intoenvironment fordispersal or dilutionFigure 24-3 Solutions: prioritiessuggested by prominent scientistsfor dealing with material use andsolid waste. To date, these wastereductionpriorities have not been followedin the United States and inmost other countries. Instead, mostefforts are devoted to waste management(bury it or burn it). (Data fromU.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and U.S. National Academyof Sciences)http://biology.brookscole.com/miller14535