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? Any discarded
material that isnt a gas or a liquid. More than 10
billion tons is produced here yearly.
(2) Why has the amount of waste produced doubled
in the U.S. since the 1960s? Because most products
are now designed to only be used once then thrown
away.
(3) Compare and contrast biodegradable versus non
biodegradable materials. Provide an example of each
as well. Biodegradable material is material that can
be broken down by living things to simpler
chemicals, but non-biodegradable material cant be
broken down. Examples of biodegradable material
are newspaper and paper bags, and examples of
non-biodegradable material are any plastics.

(4) Where does most of our solid waste come from

(about 70%)? Manufacturing and mining.
(5) What is municipal solid waste? What makes up the
largest portion of this waste (Figure 12-8)? Trash
produced from businesses and houses. Paper makes
up the largest portion.
(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 it is stored in landfills,
and some is incinerated.
(8) Describe three problems with storing waste in
landfills. One problem is water containing toxics
dissolved from the waste in a landfill. A second
problem is the methane produced. The third problem
is that they are very expensive.
(9) When is NC estimated to run out of landfill space
(use Figure 12-12)? In 5-10 years.

(10) Describe two problems with incinerating waste.

Some of the waste ends up as gas, polluting the air,
and they also reduce the motivation to recycle from
the people.