ENVS 1126 Lecture Notes - Lecture 32: Municipal Solid Waste, Nail Polish, Anaerobic Digestion
25 Nov 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Municipal solid waste: municipal solid waste includes: Total of all materials thrown away from homes and commercial establishments and collected by local governments. Problems of landfills: leachate, methane production, incomplete decomposition, settling, leachate, as water percolates through soil, it carries with it dissolved trash components. Mercury thermometers: florida is especially bad, methane production, methane is produced from anaerobic decomposition (where oxygen cannot reach, inside the landfill) Methane is a component of greenhouse gases. Methane is flammable (people have died: gas well: tap the landfills and use the methane as fuel. There are 390 gas well projects in the us: incomplete decomposition, many plastics are not digestible by decomposing bacteria, biodegradable products were the answer. Increased leachate (catch 22: settling, the land is unstable and cannot be used. Irrigation drainage tiles, sheet plastic, recycling bins: pete: polyethylene terephthalate. Carpets, jackets, film, strapping, new pete bottles.
