Chapter 12 Waste NotesGuiding

Questions
p. 303-309

(1) What is solid waste? How much of it do we

produce in the U.S. each year? Solid waste is any
discarded material that is not a liquid or gas. The
U.S. produced 10 billion tons of waste
(2) Why has the amount of waste produced
doubled in the U.S. since the 1960s? The reason
why is because most items are designed to be
used once then thrown away.
(3) Compare and contrast biodegradable versus
non-biodegradable materials. Provide an example
of each as well. Biodegradable objects can be
broken down by living things and can be consumed
by them and unbiodegradable objects cant be
consumed. An apple is biodegradable and plastic is
unbiodegradable.
(4) Where does most of our solid waste come from
(about 70%)? It comes from manufacturing and
mining.
(5) What is municipal solid waste? What makes up
the largest portion of this waste (Figure 12-8)?

trash produced by households and businesses.

Paper makes up most of the waste.
(6) What percentage of our trash is recycled? Over
25%
(7) Where does our trash that is not recycled go
(you can use Figure 12-9)? Most of our trash goes
to a landfill.
(8) Describe three problems with storing waste in
landfills. Three problems with landfills is leachate.
Another is methane and how it gets in the landfills.
Another problem is the water near landfills can be
contaminated.
(9) When is NC estimated to run out of landfill
space (use Figure 12-12)? Because we are filling up
so much space in the landfills.
(10) Describe two problems with incinerating
waste. There is air pollution from the fire and there
is ash that comes from burning things.