EVR 1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 32: Municipal Solid Waste, Electronic Waste, Incineration
Document Summary
E(cid:374)(cid:448)iro(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)tally, it is (cid:272)o(cid:373)pli(cid:272)ated to tell (cid:449)hether paper or plasti(cid:272) is (cid:862)(cid:271)etter(cid:863) Cradle-to-grave: considering the entire process of creating waste in order to reduce or minimize it. Waste: raw materials and energy are used to create products; waste is anything that is produced but is not useful or is not consumed. In the natural world, detritivores and decomposers recycle wastes from other organisms. Only humans generate waste than cannot be used by other organisms. Municipal solid waste: refuse collected from households, industries, institutions, etc. A lot of waste is composed by paper and produced from containers and packaging. 64% of our waste could potentially be composted and reused. Electronic waste: tvs, computers, and cell phones that contain toxic metals. Little e-waste is recycled (less than 20%), and is often exported to southeast asia. The three r"s a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:373)posti(cid:374)g di(cid:448)ert (cid:449)aste fro(cid:373) the la(cid:374)dfill. Reduce, reuse, and recycle are in order by preferred method of waste reduction.
