Deck 14: Solid and Hazardous Waste

Question 1

Urban curbside recycling costs cities

A) a great deal, but citizens approve the expense anyway.
B) nothing at all because the materials pay for expenses.
C) more than any other disposal method.
D) far less than landfilling or incinerating.
E) nothing, in fact, all cities make money with recycling.

Answer 1

far less than landfilling or incinerating.

Question 2

Which of the following actions would probably encourage efficiency and recycling programs?

A) discontinue energy and water subsidies to industries when they are processing raw materials.
B) discontinue subsidies that favor the extraction of raw materials.
C) consumers asking for and buying products made from recycled products.
D) All of these are correct.
E) discontinue subsidies that favor the extraction of raw materials and consumers asking for and buying products made from recycled products are correct because industries do not receive water and energy subsidies.

Answer 2

All of these are correct.

Question 3

Composting is a waste disposal method that

A) is useful only for single households.
B) is technologically complex.
C) vastly reduces total waste volumes.
D) is more environmentally costly than landfilling.
E) is not realistic for college students.

Answer 3

vastly reduces total waste volumes.

Question 4

The main method for disposing of municipal wastes in the United States is ___________ while _____ is the main method in Japan.

A) incineration; recycling
B) recycling; landfilling
C) landfilling; recycling
D) landfilling; incineration
E) recycling; incineration

Question 5

In the United States about two-thirds of a ton of waste is generated for each person (including children). Compared to the United States, Japan and Europe generate about half that amount. One of the factors that probably does not contribute to this difference is

A) the United States collection and dumping processes mix and crush everything together so separation is not possible.
B) the fact that Japan is an island with limited space.
C) the high rate of recycling in Japan.
D) that people in the United States have a higher standard of living than Japan and Europe.
E) All of these probably contribute to the difference in the waste stream.

Question 6

Using a refillable beverage container (returnable bottles) would be an example of __________ materials.

A) reusing
B) recycling
C) reducing
D) redefining
E) None of these are correct.

Question 7

Recycling aluminum is most important for

A) saving raw materials (the ore).
B) saving energy.
C) saving landfill space.
D) reducing pollutants in the air and water.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 8

In the case of sanitary landfills, the cost of disposing of wastes is _____ as technology provides safer alternatives.

A) slowly increasing
B) slowly decreasing
C) staying relatively stable
D) sharply increasing
E) sharply decreasing

Question 9

Recycling, in terms of solid waste management, means

A) reusing materials.
B) melting or shredding to make new products.
C) keeping intact but putting to a new use.
D) using less of the material in production of a product.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 10

Toxic landfills are frequently located in ________ areas.

A) wilderness
B) urban
C) rural
D) nonpopulated
E) suburban

Question 11

Illegal dumping and storage of hazardous waste

A) continues to threaten public health.
B) has completely stopped since the Superfund Act.
C) has not stopped completely but is rare.
D) has become a problem mainly since the Superfund Act.
E) will always be present because people are not concerned about toxic wastes.

Question 12

"Waste stream" is a term describing

A) the steady production of all waste products that humans produce.
B) the process of eliminating domestic and commercial waste.
C) the production of solid waste, specifically.
D) the intermittent production of particular wastes.
E) the production of liquid waste, specifically.

Question 13

The National Priority List is a list of sites that

A) we currently have money to deal with.
B) deserve research for possible cleanup.
C) will probably never be cleaned up.
D) seriously require cleanup to prevent further environmental and health damage.
E) are especially vulnerable to hazardous wastes (e.g., aquifer recharge zones) and are not available for future building permits.

Question 14

Individual efforts to reduce the volume of the waste stream

A) have enormous cumulative effects.
B) are fairly useful because it demonstrates to corporations that we care.
C) have some effects, but we need to target industries to reduce their waste stream instead.
D) have little effect but make people feel better.
E) matter very little.

Question 15

In recent decades, unregulated open dumps have ____________ in developing countries.

A) nearly disappeared
B) mostly become regulated
C) remained the primary disposal method
D) been replaced by incineration and methane generation
E) been replaced by sanitary landfills

Question 16

Hazardous waste is anything that

A) causes human health threats.
B) severely contaminates the environment.
C) is toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, corrosive, or explosive.
D) has the potential of causing health problems.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 17

The most often overlooked of the "three Rs" is

A) recycle.
B) reuse.
C) release.
D) redefine.
E) reduce.

Question 18

The questions of ____ and _________ are among the biggest problems in cleaning up hazardous waste sites.

A) liability; degree of purity required
B) appropriate technology; location
C) appropriate technology; liability
D) degree of purity required; appropriate technology
E) location; cost

Question 19

Landfills differ from open dumps in that

A) landfills are smaller.
B) dumps are cleaner and smell less.
C) landfilled waste is compacted and covered.
D) landfills are cheaper to operate.
E) Landfills and dumps are the same thing.

Question 20

CERCLA legislation

A) established the NPL.
B) requires the testing of the toxicity of substances.
C) requires brownfields to be developed.
D) requires the EPA to clean up toxic waste sites.
E) all of the these.

Question 21

Secure landfills are those that

A) have no groundwater below them.
B) accept no toxic substances.
C) are built like a bathtub with a lid.
D) are sealed entirely with durable plastic.
E) are sealed entirely with concrete.

Question 22

Brownfields are

A) landfills that have been converted to farmland.
B) contaminated areas in cities that have to be abandoned.
C) facilities that use plants to convert hazardous wastes to less harmful substances.
D) farmland that has been made useless because of improper disposal of toxic waste.
E) none of these are correct.

Question 23

According to the EPA, the US produces _____ tons of solid waste per year.

A) 9 million
B) 70 million
C) 800 million
D) 11 billion
E) 123 billion

Question 24

The US stopped all dumping of municipal refuse into oceans in 1958.

Question 25

Photodegradable plastics can breakdown in a landfill.

Question 26

Using the heat from a trash incinerator to power nearby facilities is a process known as

A) energy recovery.
B) recycling.
C) massburn.
D) composting.

Question 27

Using bacteria to 'eat' the oil from an oil spill would be an example of

A) energy recovery.
B) bioremediation.
C) phytoremediation.
D) brownfield recovery.

Question 28

A single PVC bottle in a truckload of PET plastic could make the PET useless for recycling.

Question 29

Biological treatments of hazardous waste involve ___________ hazardous substances.

A) using plants, bacteria or fungi to absorb and detoxify
B) the genetic alteration of species suffering from
C) using microorganisms to disperse
D) special organic chemical processing of
E) None of these are correct.

Question 30

The major disadvantage of incinerating waste is

A) it costs more than landfilling.
B) it produces significant air pollution.
C) it cannot be done without first sorting the wastes.
D) both it costs more than landfilling and it produces significant air pollution are correct.
E) both it costs more than landfilling and it cannot be done without first sorting the wastes are correct.

Question 31

Chemical processing is a way of __________ hazardous waste for safe disposal.

A) reducing the volume of
B) neutralizing
C) incinerating
D) filtering and precipitating
E) acidifying

Question 32

Secure landfills are usually sealed with gravel.

Question 33

In terms of cost and safety, one of the best ways to manage hazardous waste is to produce less hazardous waste.