Lecture
Consider the diagram below. This is the "Total Product Life Cycle" or the Materials Economy. All material you used started with a mine (unless it is organic) and ends at a landfill. Consider how much pollution can be associated with the production and disposal of one product.
The life cycle of a product begins when the raw materials are obtained and ends when the used-up product is discarded. At each step, or transport between steps, waste by-products are generated (Wright/Prentice Hall).
Jerry Springer has a good knack for exposing the "trash" of society. The type of stuff people don't talk about or do hidden inside their house. Although this lecture won't include a fight between alcoholic Siamese twins and a cheating transvestite, we will talk about the true trash of society--the stuff you "throw away."
Trash sits along a roadside on the Caroline Islands. Handling waste in third world or developing countries is a major challenge, as these countries lack money or the education to safely dispose of sewage or trash. (Photo: NOAA.)
We are going to find out exactly where "away" is, and why you are so interested in throwing so many things there. We will give the long overdue credit to that really nice person who kindly takes your trash away for you. Within this lecture, I will focus on where trash in Indianapolis eventually is laid to rest. Additionally, we will take a look at recycling, how it works, and why your should participate.
Finally, no discussion of waste would be complete without putting our mind really in the gutter-->the sewer to be exact. We will see how sewage is managed in Indianapolis and outlying areas.
This Lecture is organized into five sections:
- Collection
- Landfills
- Incinerator
- Sewage
- Recycle
You can click the tabs at the top of the page to access the five sections of this Lecture. Use the arrows at the bottom of each page to scroll through all pages of the Lecture, each section has several pages.
(click for larger image) Look at all the arrows in this figure and think about the other Earth processes that affect or are affected by waste disposal. This is Figure 17.13 from your textbook.)
Make connections because the Earth is an integrated system: In this module, you will need to think about the concepts we’ve learned in the Soils Module (Soil Properties like Hydraulic Conductivity), Other Earth Components (Groundwater and Water Resources), and Rivers and Flooding (Watersheds and the Hydrologic Cycle). All of these should help to inform you how our waste disposal methods affect and are affected by other Earth Systems. For instance, why is it important not to build a landfill in an area of sandy soil near a groundwater recharge zone? Well, because the high hydraulic conductivity of the soil would make the groundwater resource vulnerable to contamination. As water percolated down through the landfill, anything that dissolved in the water – water is a solvent! – would eventually end up in the groundwater – and it does. See the figure above (Figure 17.13 from the 4th edition). It shows the relationship between the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Lithosphere when it comes to waste disposal. Now, we are a part of the Biosphere, so the changes are caused by us and the effects (such as degraded water quality and exposure to pollutants) then affect plant life, animal life, and us.