BIO 121 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Life-Cycle Assessment, Landfill Gas, Industrial Ecology
Document Summary
Waste -> any unwanted material or substance that results from human activity or process. Municipal solid waste -> non-liquid waste that comes from homes, institutions, and small businesses. Industrial solid waste -> waste from production of consumer goods, mining, agriculture, petroleum extraction, and refining. Hazardous waste -> solid or liquid waste that is toxic, chemically reactive, flammable, or corrosive. Three main components of waste management: minimize amount we generate, recover discarded materials and recycle them, dispose of waste effectively and safely. Waste stream -> flow of waste as it moves from sources to disposal destinations. Source reduction -> minimizing waste at its source. Recovery -> removing waste from the waste stream. Generated in homes, public facilities, small businesses, and colleges = trash or. Sanitary landfills -> waste is buried or piled in mounds to prevent it from contaminating environment and threatening public health: must meet standards set by epa under resource conservation and recovery act.
