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 wastes are
any discarded or abandoned materials. Solid
wastes can be solid, liquid, semi-solid or
containerized gaseous material, 33 million tons of
food makes its way to landfills every year.
(2) Why has the amount of waste produced
doubled in the U.S. since the 1960s? We have
created more non-biodegradable products, and
become more wasteful.

(3) Compare and contrast biodegradable

versus non biodegradable materials. Provide an
example of each as well. Biodegradable materials
are substances or objects capable of being
decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms,
such as Human and animal waste, or plant
products, wood, paper, food waste, leaves, grass
clippings. Non-biodegradable waste is a type of
waste that cannot be broken down into its base
compounds by micro-organisms, air, moisture or
soil in a reasonable amount of time, such as
plastics and Styrofoam.

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

(about 70%)? Paper, yard trimmings, food scraps,
and plastics.
(5) What is municipal solid waste? What makes up
the largest portion of this waste (Figure 12-8)?
more commonly known as trash or garbage
consists of everyday items we use and then throw
away, such as product packaging, grass clippings,
furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps,
newspapers, appliances, paint, and batteries,
paper makes up the largest portion.
(6) What percentage of our trash is recycled? 30
percent of trash is actually recycled.
(7) Where does our trash that is not recycled go
(you can use Figure 12-9)? Our un-recycled trash
goes to landfills.
(8) Describe three problems with storing waste in
landfills. Some of the trash does not decompose in
a timely manner, some of the trash smells, and the
trash has nowhere to go once we run out of landfill
space.
(9) When is NC estimated to run out of landfill
space (use Figure 12-12)? In the next 20 years.

(10) Describe two problems with incinerating

waste. It can cause health problems to humans
living around it, and environmental pollution.