Waste and Plastic Shopping Bags Essay

Submitted By vanafranco
Words: 1398
Pages: 6
Open Document
Ch. 16
1. E-waste problems: discarded TV. sets, cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices.

2. Hazardous pollutants in e-waste: polyvinylchloride (PVC) brominates flame retardants, lead, and mercury. This can contaminate air, surface water, ground water, and soil. And can cause serious life threatening problems for e-workers.

3. Solid waste- any unwanted or discarded material we produce that is not a liquid or gas.

4. Industrial solid waste- produced by mines, farms, and industries that supply people with good and services.
Municipal solid waste (garbage or trash)- the combined solid waste produced by homes and workplaces other than factories.

5. (413) In 2008, the organization for economic cooperation and development projected that between 2005 and 2030, the worlds output of MSW will almost double.

6. Hazardous toxic waste- threatens human health or environment because it is poisonous, dangerously chemically reactive, corrosive, or flammable.

7. Organic compounds- various solvents, pesticides, PCBs, and dioxins.
Non-degradable toxic heavy metals- lead, mercury, and arsenic.

8. U.S. population of 4.5% worlds’ people produces about 33% (1/3) world’s waste.

9. Largest MSW (2009) were cardboard or paper (28% total), food waste (14%), yard waste (14%), plastics (12%), metals (9%), rubber, leather, and textiles (8%), wood (7%), glass (5%), misc. (3%).

10. (414) Stuff we throw away:
-enough tires to circle planet 3X
-enough diapers ea. Yr. to reach the moon and back 7X
-enough carpet to cover state of Delaware.
-2.5 mill. (non-returnable plastics) reach the earth to moon 6X
-274 mill. Plastic bags (3,200) per second.
-enough paper to build a wall 3.5 meters high from NYC to SF, CA.
- 186 bill. Pieces of junk mail (about 45% unopened)

11. Integrated waste management- variety of coordinated strategies for both waste disposal and waste reproduction.

12. 3 R’s
Reduce- consume less and live a simpler lifestyle.
Reuse- rely more on items we can use repeatedly.
Recycle- separate and recycle paper, glass, cans, plastics, metal, and other products or buy from recycled materials.

13. Solutions to reducing solid waste:
-follow 3 R’s
-ask yourself if you really need a particular item, refuse, packaging.
-rent, borrow, or barter goods, buy second hand, donate or sell unused items.
-buy things that are reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
-avoid disposables
-use e-mail or text instead of paper mail.
-read newspapers or magazines online and e-books.
-buy products in bulk or concentrated form.

14. (416) Ireland, Taiwan, and the Netherlands taxed shopping bags. Ireland taxed about 25 cents per bag. And cut plastic bag litter about 90 %

15. Bangladesh banned the use of all or most types of plastic shopping bags.

16. (416 box) Things to do:
-buy beverages in refillable glass containers.
-use reusable plastic or metal lunchables.
-carry food in reusable containers instead of aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
-use rechargeable batteries.
-when eating out bring your own reusable silverware and napkins
-bring reusable container for takeout food or leftovers.
-carry groceries in reusable basket or cloth-bag.

17. PAUT- Pay-as- you-throw or fee-per-bag waste collection system.

18. (418 box) Recycling advantages:
-reduces energy and mineral use and air and water pollution.
-reduces green house gas emissions.
-reduces solid waste.
-can save landfill space.

Disadvantages:
-can cost more than burying in areas with ample landfill space.
-reduces profits for landfill and incinerator owners.
-source separation inconvenient for some.

19. (418 bottom box) Recycling by MBA Polymers- they succeeded by designing a 16-step automated process that separates plastics from non plastic items in mixed waste streams, and then separates plastics by type or grade.

20. (419) Bio plastics- are a good idea. They can be lighter, stronger, and cheaper, would require less energy
Show More

Related Documents: Waste and Plastic Shopping Bags Essay

Summary Of Dallas's Plastic Bag Ban

After reading this article, “Dallas’s Plastic Bag Ban Went into Effect on January 1st, and Nobody Seems Happy about It”, by Dan Solomon, I believe that this is one of the major issues that will cost us and our kids in the future. I mean it doesn’t seem like a big issue for many right now, but the plastic wastage we do every day adds up. The plastic wastage we do usually ends up on the land fields or is dumped in the ocean. This not only destroys the marine life, but also damages our environment.…

Words 400 - Pages 2

Plastic Final Draft Essay

compound known as celluloid that would change modern history. This is the first known plastic compound to demonstrate the ability to mold when heated and maintain its shape once cooled. While the chemical compounds have evolved over the years, so have its uses and our dependency on them. If we look around our room today, we can see that nearly every product in our house either consists or was built by some form of plastic. This dependence raises some alarming questions. What are the ramifications of our…

Words 2960 - Pages 12

Essay The Hidden Life of Garbage

guarded, and veiled.(178)”Rogers claims that the Waste Management Inc. operates its Geological Reclamation Operations and Waste systems (GROW) landfill on a historical river valley in Pennsylvania in which Washington had crossed the Delaware river. At the landfill site, Rogers’ states, “the logic of our society’s unrestrained consuming and wasting quickly unravels. (178)” In addition, Rogers explains “the aptly named GROWS landfill is part of Waste Management Inc’s (WMI) 6000-acre garbage treatment…

Words 1151 - Pages 5

Story Of Stuffs Essay

planet is already consumed. *In US only less than 4% of original forest present, 40% of water ways are undrinkable, *We are using more than our share, US has only 5% of world’s population but we are using 30% of world resources creating 30% of worlds waste. *Loosing 200 trees a minute in amazon alone *Producing 100,000 synthetic chemicals without knowing there impact on us and to the environment *BFR chemical which make things more fire proof .We are using them in computer, couches even to other pillows…

Words 647 - Pages 3

Essay on Accra Ghana Megacity Project

recycling and waste management support. Drinking water as well as water for other uses comes in the form of small plastic sachets. These sachets are then tossed aside and are not refillable. The streets of Accra are being filled with discarded sachets and trash. Trashy bags Project is what brought me to this city. This is a project that takes all the plastic trash that is often found on the streets of the city and transforms the material into a useful product. There are 23 lines of bags that offer over…

Words 2122 - Pages 9

No Impact Man Essay examples

use of power, producing no waste along with anything that emitted carbon dioxide, and anything to avoid an impact on the environment. This was indubitably a good experience and a benefit to him, however people outside his immediate circle may think otherwise. People argue between his project of it had either positive or negative impact to the Earth. Others argue about whether if he even accomplished anything. One of Beavens main concerns was the use of plastic that is currently polluting…

Words 1154 - Pages 5

Essay on business studies

is in a supermarket. However, through short term aggressive pricing when they first move into an area, Tesco often shuts down these markets, reducing access to fresh fruit and veg for the poorest. 6) Tesco offer their best deals in out of town shopping centres rather than their city centre stores. This not only encourages driving, but also excludes those without cars – mostly, poorer people. 7) In the 5 years to 2002, an average of 50 local food shops were lost in the UK every week, largely…

Words 2141 - Pages 9

Ocean Pollution Research Paper

ocean. 2. Toxic Chemicals from Industries Industrial and agricultural waste are another common form of wastes that are directly discharged into the oceans. Not only are there some chemicals in these wastes that could be a threat to marine life, but these chemicals bio accumulate up the food chain. This means that these chemicals do not get dissolved and sink at the bottom of the ocean.…

Words 1316 - Pages 6

Essay on 18 Withgott 2ce Tif

Ed. (Withgott) Chapter 18 Managing Our Waste 18.1 Graph and Figure Interpretation Questions Figure 18.1 Discarded electronic waste can leach heavy metals including lead. The light-coloured bar shows the percentage of electronic devices leaching. The U.S. EPA's regulatory threshold for lead leachate is 5 mg/L. The graph shows the percentage of devices that exceed the threshold, as well as the average concentration of lead leachate from each waste category. Use Figure 18.1 to answer the following…

Words 6100 - Pages 25

Mgt 230 Week 2

Wal-Mart states they are focused on four strategies and the top one is becoming truly global. (Wal-Mart Stores Factsheets). In 2010, Wal-Mart reduced the plastic bag waste across their global operations by 47.95 million pounds, or approximately 3.5 billion bags. This represents a 21 percent reduction from our 2007 baseline. In Chine in 2010 reduced the waste by 84percent using 2007 as a baseline. Wal-Mart wants to stay on top globally where economics…

Words 1045 - Pages 5