WASTE MANAGEMENT

Almost nothing can anger and mobilize citizens faster than an announcement of the siting of a new waste disposal facility in their community or neighborhood. Visions of plummeting property values, aesthetic degradation and nuisances, miscarriages, birth defects and sick children can move even the most ordinarily apathetic citizen to activism. Yet we tend to pay no attention to the problems of waste management until such management directly threatens us, our families, or our property. Nevertheless, the lifestyles we lead and the products we enjoy cause the generation of huge amounts of wastes which must somehow be managed.

Concepts of waste disposal
Integrated waste management
Types of waste
Types of disposal

Wastewater Reading + book

http://www.epa.gov/OWM/
The EPA wastewater office
There are FAQs on pretreatment and biosolids
There are also fact sheets under Municipal technologies on every aspect of wastewater treatment.

http://danpatch.ecn.purdue.edu/~epados/septics/wwater.htm
Components of wastewater

http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/CAFO-brochure3.pdf
Proposed CAFO regs

Liquid waste
Sources
Waste stream characteristics
Laws
Municipal wastewater
Biosolids handling
Deep well disposal

AFOs
What is a AFO? a CAFO?
What is the problem?
What are the new regs?

Solid waste
Municipal solid waste
Sources
Waste stream characteristics

http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/admin/topdoc/pd/020/02-01/waste.html
An overview of solid waste in Texas

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/index.htm (pretty much everything, Basics and beyond)
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/fact-fig.htm (some general info on recycling, landfills etc)

Landfills
http://www.howstuffworks.com/landfill.htm/printable
What is a landfill?
How is it sited?
What are the federal and state regulations?
How must a MSW landfill be designed?

Incineration
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/5803.html (Fairly new pub from Nas on health effects, read exec summary)
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/incinerator.html (Basics of incineration technology)
What is incineration? How does it work?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
What types of incinerators are there?
How do they work?

We''ll talk more about air toxics later.

Hazardous waste
Definitions
Sources
Waste stream characteristics
Uncontrolled sites investigations

Laws
RCRA
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/general/orientat/
This is a manual, a plain English guide. It is very long, read selected parts, don't print it.

What is RCRA, SWDA, HSWA?
In brief, what is RCRA all about?

What is solid waste?
Can hazardous waste ever be solid waste?
What is leachate?

What is a hazardous waste?
Who is a hazardous waste generator?
What are the requirements for a generator?
What are CESQGs and what do they have to do?
Who is a transporter? What do they have to do?
The full burden of the law is on TSD facilities which are?
Who is exempted?
What do TSDS have to do?
How does a TSD landfill have to be designed?

CERCLA
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm (There are two one-page overviews for CERCLA and SARA)

In brief, what is this law all about?

What types of response actions are done?
What is the NCP?
What is SARA?
In brief what did SARA do?
What is a hazard ranking system?
What is the NPL?

Who is liable under CERCLA?
Defenses
What are the general rules governing clean-up?

What has been accomplished by CERCLA legislation?

Solutions

The 3 Rs

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/recycle.htm
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/reduce.htm
http://www.epa.gov/payt/
What are the 3Rs?
How has recycling chnaged?
What can be recycled?
How can recycling be encouraged?
What is PAYT?

Composting
http://www.epa.gov/compost/omms.pdf (cost/benefit analysis) - executive summary
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/compost/index.htm (everything you ever wanted to know about composting)
What is composting?
Why should we compost?
What kinds of programs exist?
What are the benefits?
What can compost be used for?