Sci201 -1504a-09 Environmental Science and Sustainability Ip4 Municipal Landfills

Received an A for this paper

Betty Miller

SCI201 -1504A-09 Environmental Science and Sustainability

IP4 Municipal Landfills

November 6, 2015

Professor Juleen Lam

SCI201 Unit 4 Individual Project

Waste management is primarily landfills. Municipal solid waste (MSW) includes waste from residential, multifamily, commercial, institutions, schools, and government offices and is classified as non-hazardous. This does not include materials disposed of by other businesses such as; combustion ash, water and wastewater treatment waste, construction, and debris from demolition of buildings. The chart below shows the breakdown of waste disposed of in average United States landfill (Stevens, B.).

(Stevens, B.).

The production of synthetic materials produced pollution of the air. Synthetic materials are artificially made and will not decompose. This includes plastic and some paper; during this time, people did not know the hazards of these items. If they used it up, it quit working or it was no longer needed, items were tossed. They did not know what decomposition was and did not know the dangers of throwing these items away would impact the environment in later years. They thought once it was thrown away it would go away. Unfortunately, disease spread and rats and mice exploded in populations. By the 20th century, people came to realize that there was a lot of garbage. T this time, it wasn’t considered to be a hazard. London, England became over run with vermin because of the rotting material and food. The stench was horrible and many people died (Khan, M).

Household items banned from landfills include paints, cleaners/chemicals, motor oil, batteries, and pesticides and are called household hazardous waste. These are dangerous to put in a landfill because it can eventually contaminate groundwater dangerous to our health and to the environment. Most municipalities now have household hazardous wastes drop-off sites to prevent hazardous waste from entering the...