#1 Power Point Presentation 7-10 slides History of Waste Management-Regulation-APA Format

BEM 3601, Waste Management 1 Cou rse Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Summarize the history of waste management including impacts from early human civilization to current day. 1.1 List the major periods in the history of waste management. 1.2 Describe the institutions and events that have historically influenced waste management. 1.3 Explain how green design and life cycle assessment are currently affecting waste streams . 3. Assess the major regulatory developments surrounding waste management. 3.1 Identify the major regulations in waste management. 3.2 Discuss how the regulations affect waste management . Reading Assignment Chapter 1: Trends in Waste Management Chapter 2 : Green Engineering and Sustainable Design Aspects of Waste Management Chapter 3 : Regulation of W astes Chapter 4 : Waste Collection Unit Lesson On May 24, 2010, rescue workers donned impermeable hazardous material suits and then burrowed into the creaking, dangerous confines of a ruined South Side Chicago home, searching for the elderly couple trapped inside. More than an hour later, as curious ne ighbors gathered and a television news crew arrived to film the emergency rescue operations, Jesse Gaston , a 76 -year -old chemist and his wife Thelma , a retired school teacher, walked unsteadily into the hazy afternoon light, dehydrated and hungry but still among the living. The Gastons had been trapped by trash — their own trash (Humes, 2012). History of Waste Management Will the human race suffer the fate of the Gastons? By t hrowing away 102 tons of trash each in a lifetime , we are certainly putting oursel ves on that path (Humes, 2012). Although piles of trash, landfills, and hazardous waste barrels are all modern images, waste has been with us from the beginning. As early as 3000 BC, there were landfill sites outside the Minoan palace of Knossos in Crete (Girling, 2005). With industrialization came population growth and consumer culture, and the amount of garbage we produced increased dramatically. UNIT I STUDY GUIDE Introduction to Waste Management, Regulation, Collection, and Green Engineering BEM 3601, Waste Management 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Shulman (2011) defines three broad periods that are historically important to waste management: the post - war period (1945 -1970) ; globalization, scientific, and environmental awareness (1970 -1990) ; and implementation and progress (1990 -present). During each of these periods, organizations that are important to today’s global waste management issues were formed. For example, t he Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) was formed during the post -war period. Its mission is to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well -being of people around the world ” (OECD , n.d). The OECD pro motes sustainable use of materials, waste prevention, and sound management of waste. During the globalization period, the Stockholm meeting of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in June of 1972. The Stockholm Con ference introduced the concept of sustainable development on a global scale, and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was formed to coordinate environmental policy development in the international community. The Basel Convention was created un der UNEP in 1989. Its mission is to monitor the trans -boundary movement and management of waste. Green Engineering and Sustainable Waste Management In the past, product designers viewed waste as a necessary aspect of a product’s life cycle. Vallero (2011) emphasizes that “designs of much of the past four centuries have assumed an almost inexhaustible supply of resources” (p. 12) Today , green design takes into account the full life cycle of a product, including the impacts of its disposal. This is of ten done by making substitutions in the manufacture or make -up of the product (for example, exchanging a toxic chemical used in a process for one that is less toxic) . Green designers must be careful that the substitution does not create new problems as it solves the old ones . In making decisions about the relative cost of producing a greener product, impacts on individuals, societies, and ecology should be considered in addition to a basic cost -benefit analysis (Vallero, 2011). In addition to designing the products, manufacturing facilities should also be designed with the environment in mind. Traditional design approaches generally ignored the waste that would be generated from a facility’ s process es . Green design considers the waste produced at every step of a product’s manufacturing process and attempts to minimize it and eliminate it when possible. Waste Collection Even if our products are designed using green design principles, and our manufacturing facilities follow minimum -waste processes, we will still have waste. The logistics of collecting municipal solid waste can be rather complex, and there are many factors that must be considered. How large an area can one garbage truck cover before it is full? Should the waste disposal site be close to the l ocation where the garbage trucks are housed or close to the center of the collection area? At what point in its route should the collection vehicle stop at the tipping point? When is it full, or closest to the tipping point? Although studies have been don e and models can be used to attempt to answer some of these questions, municipalities may not have the time, money, or data to find the optimal solution for each problem. However, it is helpful for environmental professionals to be aware of the issues invo lved in waste collection and the factors that should be taken into consideration when formulating a waste -collection plan. As you read the case studies provided in Chapter 4, think about how they might apply to your area. Which methods would work? W hich would not? Why , or why not ? References Girling, R. (2005). Rubbish! Dirt on our hands and crisis ahead . London , England : Eden Project Books. Humes, E. (2012). Garbology: Our dirty love affair with trash . New York , NY : Penguin Group. BEM 3601, Waste Management 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Shulman, V. L. (2011). Trends in waste management. In T. M. Letcher , & D. A. Vallero (Eds.), Waste: A handbook for management (pp. 3 -10). Burlington , MA: Academic Press. The Organisation for Economic Co -operation and Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.o rg/about/ Suggested Reading Girling, R. (2005). Rubbish! Dirt on our hands and crisis ahead. London, England: Eden Project Books.