Solid Waste Pollution

As people acquire more material goods, they generate more solid waste. People in developed countries generate more than twice as much solid waste than people in developing countries.

Waste Generation by Country, 2016

The average American generates about two kilograms (four pounds) of solid waste per day (see Doing Geography feature). Overall, residences generate around 60 percent of the solid waste and businesses 40 percent. Paper products, such as corrugated cardboard and newspapers, account for the largest share of solid waste in the United States, especially among residences and retailers. Manufacturers discard large quantities of metals as well as paper.

Sanitary Landfill Solid Waste Disposal

The sanitary landfill is by far the most common strategy for disposal of solid waste in the United States. More than one-half of the country’s waste is trucked to landfills and buried under soil.

This strategy is the opposite of our disposal of gaseous and liquid wastes: We disperse air and water pollutants into the atmosphere, rivers, and eventually the ocean, but we concentrate solid waste in thousands of landfills. Concentration would seem to eliminate solid-waste pollution, but it may only hide it—temporarily. Chemicals released by the decomposing solid waste can leak from the landfill into groundwater. This can contaminate water wells, soil, and nearby streams.

The number of landfills in the United States has declined by three-fourths since 1990. Thousands of small-town “dumps” have been closed and replaced by a small number of large regional ones. Better compaction methods, combined with expansion in the land area of some of the large regional dumps, have resulted in expanded landfill capacity.

Sanitary Landfill

San Joaquin County, California.

Some communities now pay to use landfills elsewhere. New Jersey and New York are two states that regularly dispose of their solid waste by transporting it out of state. New York City exports 25,000 tons of trash a day to other communities. Passaic County, New Jersey, hauls waste 400 kilometers (250 miles) west to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. San Francisco trucks solid waste to Altamont, California, 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

Pause & Reflect 11.3.3

Go online to research how sanitary landfills enlarge the nation’s carbon footprint, contributing to climate change.

Hazardous Waste

Disposing of hazardous waste is especially difficult. Hazardous wastes include heavy metals (including mercury, cadmium, and zinc), PCB oils from electrical equipment, cyanides, strong solvents, acids, and caustics. These may be unwanted by-products generated in manufacturing or waste to be discarded after usage.

According to the toxics release inventory published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2.2 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the land in 2016. Most production-related toxics were recycled, treated, or discharged other than into land. Mining operations were the largest polluters. The four largest polluters were Red Dog zinc mine in Kotzebue, Alaska; Twin Creeks gold and copper mine in Golconda, Nevada; San Manuel copper mine in San Manuel, Arizona; and Kennecott copper mine in Copperton, Utah.

Toxic Chemical Release Sites

If poisonous industrial residuals are not carefully placed in protective containers, the chemicals may leak into the soil and contaminate groundwater or escape into the atmosphere. Breathing air or consuming water contaminated with toxic wastes can cause cancer, mutations, and chronic ailments.

Plastic in the Great Lakes

Most plastics are used in manufacturing a wide variety of products, from cars to computers. They are also used for packaging of other products, notably beverages. Many of these plastic packages are discarded, flow into bodies of water, and wash up on shore.

Rochester Institute of Technology scientists Matthew Hoffman and Eric Hittinger have measured the amount and spatial distribution of plastic debris dumped into the Great Lakes. Using mathematical modeling and GIS, they have calculated that 10,000 metric tons (22 million pounds) of plastic end up in the Great Lakes annually.

The plastic waste is not distributed uniformly through the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan accounted for 52 percent of the plastic debris, Lake Erie 26 percent, Lake Ontario 16 percent, Lake Huron 6 percent, and Lake Superior 0.3 percent (Figure 11-69). The distribution is related to population concentrations as well as distinctive water circulation patterns. Plastic waste discarded in Chicago is trapped at the southern end of Lake Michigan. Lake Erie’s plastic debris is clustered near the Detroit River, as well as a southern strip originating from Cleveland.

Density of Plastic in the Great Lakes, 2009–2014

What’s Your INDUSTRIAL Geography?

A major source of plastic waste is water bottles. People get their water either from a faucet or a bottle. What’s your source of water?

1. The average American consumes around 100 plastic water bottles per year (2 per week). Do you consume more or less than the average number of plastic water bottles? Why do you use so few or so many bottles?

2. It takes around 2.5 gallons of petroleum to produce the 100 plastic bottles consumed by a typical American. That translates into around 65 miles of driving the typical American car. The average American drives around 25 miles per day. Do you (or a friend or family member) drive more or less than the average? What accounts for driving more or less than the average?

3. The average American recycles only one out of six water bottles. The rest are “thrown away” into landfills or into rivers, lakes, and oceans, where they take hundreds of years to disintegrate. What percentage of plastic bottles do you recycle? Why is your percentage higher or lower than the average?