Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

6. Would you oppose having a hazardous waste landfill,waste treatment plant, deep-injection well, or incineratorin your community? Explain. If you oppose these disposalfacilities, how do you believe the hazardous wastegenerated in your community and your state should bemanaged?7. Give your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing witheach of the following proposals for dealing with hazardouswaste:a. Reduce the production of hazardous waste and encouragerecycling and reuse of hazardous materialsby charging producers a tax or fee for each unit ofwaste generated.b. Ban all land disposal and incineration of hazardouswaste to encourage recycling, reuse, and wastetreatment and to protect air, water, and soil fromcontamination.c. Provide low-interest loans, tax breaks, and other financialincentives to encourage industries producinghazardous waste to reduce, recycle, reuse, treat,and decompose such waste.8. Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. Listthe three most important components of your strategyfor dealing with (a) solid waste and (b) hazardous waste.PROJECTS1. Collect all of the trash (excluding food waste) that yougenerate in a typical week. Measure its total weight andvolume. Sort it into major categories such as paper, plastic,metal, and glass. Then weigh each category and calculatethe percentage in each category. What percentageof this waste consists of materials that could be recycledor reused? What percentage of the items could you havedone without? Tally and compare the results for your entireclass.2. What percentage of the municipal solid waste in yourcommunity is (a) placed in a landfill, (b) incinerated,(c) composted, and (d) recycled? What technology isused in local landfills and incinerators? What leakageand pollution problems have local landfills or incineratorshad? Does your community have a recycling program?Is it voluntary or mandatory? Does it have curbsidecollection? Drop-off centers? Buyback centers? Ahazardous waste collection system? Devise a plan for improvingthe MSW system in your community and submitit to local officials.3. Make a survey of the hazardous materials (Figure24-16, p. 549) found in your house or apartment,or in your family home if you live in a dorm. Which ofthese materials are actually used? Call city officials tofind out how you can dispose of hazardous chemicalsyou do not need.4. What hazardous wastes are produced at your school?What happens to these wastes?5. Go to the EPA Superfund website at www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl.htm. Click on your state tofind out how many hazardous sites it has on the NationalPriority List. Find any sites close to where you live or goto school. Click on each site near you to learn about itshistory, what types of pollutants it contains, the sourcesof these pollutants, how it is being cleaned up, andprogress toward this goal.6. If possible, visit a local recycling center or materialsrecoveryfacility to find out how it works, where thematerials separated out for recycling go, how the pricesof these separated materials have fluctuated in the last3 years, and the major problems faced by the facility.7. Go to a large office supply store and compare pricesfor comparable grades of copy paper made from virginpaper with those containing some recycled content.Make the same price comparison at a stationery store.8. Use the library or the Internet to find bibliographic informationabout Arthur C. Clarke and Anne Platt McGinn,whose quotes appear at the beginning and end of thischapter.9. Make a concept map of this chapter’s major ideas, usingthe section heads, subheads, and key terms (in boldface).Look on the website for this book for informationabout making concept maps.LEARNING ONLINEThe website for this book contains study aids and manyideas for further reading and research. They include achapter summary, review questions for the entire chapter,flash cards for key terms and concepts, a multiple-choicepractice quiz, interesting Internet sites, references, and aguide for accessing thousands of InfoTrac ® College Editionarticles. Log on tohttp://biology.brookscole.com/miller14Then click on the Chapter-by-Chapter area, choose Chapter24, and select a learning resource.562 CHAPTER 24 Solid and Hazardous Waste