Waste & Energy
Waste products and fossil fuel usage are in part byproducts of our civilization and in part they are drivers of our civilization. Disposing of waste and managing fossil fuels present tremendous challenges to our society. We know that climate change is going to have a significant effect on the world, so that the world 100 years from now is quite different from the world today. We know that our waste cannot simply be thrown out, or it will pollute our environment. This presentation will outline specific examples to illustrate the problem.
I want you to take out your phone. It's probably already out. When will you be replacing that phone? Within the next year or two, maybe three if it's a new one. What's in a phone and where does it go? Electronics are a major category of waste, and a massive environmental challenge. Batteries are a major issue and electronics are a major contributor to toxic waste in our landfills (Clean Air Council, 2014).
Slide 3: Some companies recycle old phones. This is done by separating the toxic materials from non-toxic. Batteries must be removed. Many components are burned, and shipped to the developing world for this disposal to avoid polluting our cities....
Still more goes into landfills, as often people fail to recycle their phones, the result being that toxic chemical leach into the soil.
Slide 4: Another product that is a major waste issue is medical waste. Medical waste can be used needles, human tissue, and bloody bandages, among other things. Some of it is toxic, and some of it poses a significant threat to human health. None of it should go into a landfill. Medical waste is handled in different categories, including sharps, biohazard and more conventional medical waste.
Slide 5: To protect the public, medical waste disposal is subject to strict government regulations at the state level, overseen by the EPA (EPA, 2014). In general, medical waste is incinerated, rather than sent to a landfill. In some cases, the waste is bleached first to kill pathogens, or the waste is steamed in an autoclave. The medical waste system is completely separate from the normal waste system.
Slide 6: With both categories of waste discussed, the hazards demand that the waste is incinerated. This is energy-intensive, but it shows how dangerous certain kinds of waste are. While nobody is going to advocate that we should curtail our medical activities…
