Chapter 17. Chapter 17: Solid Waste
How can industry and individuals reduce...?
Guiding Question 17.5
How can industry and individuals reduce the amount of waste that they produce?
Why You Should Care
Industry produces far more waste than consumers do (consumers’ MSW is only 2% of the overall waste produced in the United States). Industrial waste is expensive to dispose of and efficiencies that make less of it or reduce it can improve profits. Industrial ecology seeks to take efficiency to another level by recycling wastes among related industries. Here, one factory’s waste is used by a nearby factory as a raw material or as energy.
Individuals could feel powerless in the waste debate—so little impact can be made with household recycling and waste reduction. It is important to remember that consumers choose products—your buying choices could include products made by companies that contribute to reduction of waste.
Test Your Vocabulary
Choose the correct term for each of the following definitions:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Areas in which industries are physically positioned near one another for “waste-to-feed” exchanges (the waste of one becomes the raw material for another). | |
| Using a product more than once for its original purpose or another purpose. | |
| Using less of a resource by choosing durable goods that will last or can be repaired. | |
| Choosing NOT to use or buy a product if you can do without it. | |
| Reprocessing items to make new products. |
1.
In the Kalundborg industrial park, what does the electric power station receive from other industries, farms, and the municipality?
| A. |
| B. |
| C. |
| D. |
5.
Donating or giving away used clothing is an example of:
| A. |
| B. |
| C. |
| D. |
10.
What do the three arrows on the recycling symbol mean?
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| B. |
| C. |
| D. |
14.
Short-Answer Questions
Single-stream recycling is a curbside program where residents put all of their recyclables into one container. This creates a commingled stream of paper, plastic, glass, metal, and any other recyclables to be gathered. It has several advantages:
- Residents do not need to have separate containers or remember to put out some recyclables one week and the other recyclables the next week. This increases curbside recycling by 30–60%.
- Waste haulers can automate recycling by picking up the whole container without sorting it at the curbside. It helps to automate recycling and makes it easier to keep accurate records of recycling rates.
Unfortunately, after collection, the recyclables must be sorted. This shifts the cost and effort from the curbside (resident and garbage truck) to the sorting facility. Sorting is typically an automated process at an MRF (material recovery facility) and recovery means “recovering as much as we can of each recyclable category.” Typically, the recovery rates are high, but not as high as they are if the recyclables are sorted curbside (about 3–5% less according to Canadian research). Any commingled recyclables that cannot be separated are landfilled (typically less than 2%).
1) The number of communities that participate in single-stream recycling rose from 500 in 2007 to more than 2,000 in 2012. Why would closing landfills and increasing tipping fees accelerate adoption of single-stream recycling?
2) More than half of American communities have some recycling available (drop-off, curbside, or single-stream), but the remainder do not, and probably will never, begin recycling. What factors could be holding back recycling in those communities?
3) Think about the recycling awareness in your community. Could adopting single-stream recycling actually lower environmental awareness by making recycling so easy that no one thinks about the consequences?
2) Recycling is still a product of distance and density. The more distant the residences from the MRF, the less likely that recycling will be profitable for the waste hauler. The lower the density of residences for the area, the fewer stops to make and the less money can be made by the waste hauler.
3) Single-stream recycling is like a double-edged sword. In cities where it has been the norm for several years, recycling rates initially increased and then leveled off. One of the reasons for this could be a lower environmental awareness of recycling’s importance. Awareness of recycling options and constant publicity are the main tools being used to try to continue increasing recycling rates.
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