MEE 5901, Advanced Solid Waste Management

Unit I Assignment

This assignment will allow you to demonstrate the following objectives:

 Assess the fundamental science and engineering principles of solid waste management.
 Examine the impact of solid waste on human populations.

Instructions: This assignment will allow you to understand the volume of non-hazardous waste
that is generated by small businesses and residential homes. A portion will go to the landfill, and
a portion will go into recycling programs for reuse or for repurposing. Being able to calculate
these is important for estimating the size of facilities handling this wastes and the equipment and
personnel required to collect and transport these wastes from point of generation to final
disposition.

Answer the questions directly on this document. When you are finished, select “Save As” and
save the document using this format: Student ID_Unit# (ex. 1234567_UnitI). Upload this
document to BlackBoard as a .doc, docx, or .rtf file. The specified word count is given for each
question. At a minimum, you must use your textbook as a resource for these questions. Other
sources may be used as needed. All material from outside sources (including your textbook)
must be cited and referenced in APA format. Please include a reference list after each question.

1) A front loader garbage truck of 40 cu. yd. collects municipal solid waste each week from
dumpster bins of apartment complexes located throughout the city. The waste in the truck is
compacted to 750 pounds/cu. yd. The uncompacted waste in the dumpster bin is 175 pounds /
cu. yd. (For all parts of this question, be sure to show all of your work.)
a) How many full dumpster bins with a 3 cu. yd. capacity can be placed into the garbage
truck?
3 x 175=525 (40 x 750)/525=5.72
b) If the apartment complex has a mandatory recycling program and each person places only
4 pounds/day of trash into the dumpster bin, how many people can the garbage truck
serve before it is full?
(40x750)/4=7,500
c) If the apartment complex has a mandatory recycling program and each person places only
3.5 pounds/day of trash into the dumpster bin, how many more people can the garbage
truck serve before it is full?
(40 x 750)/3=10,000

2) A municipal government has hired you to help them with its recycle program. Using the
information in Table 2-13 on p. 65 of the textbook, propose three key areas where you would
focus the municipal program and give your reasons for your proposals. In your answer, be
sure to discuss how this program would affect the population of the municipality. (Your total
response for all parts of this question should be at least 200 words.)

Greenwood City Government has requested assistance with developing a recycling program.
Initial focus according to EHS411, LLC should be the areas of greatest reduction of waste to
landfill. Per Worrell et al, the greatest opportunities to reduce landfill wastes is with paper and
paperboard, yard trimmings, and metals (Worrell, Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016).
 MEE 5901, Advanced Solid Waste Management
Unit I Assignment

Making contact and contract with paper and paperboard recyclers should be relatively easy given
the wide range of facilities that use these materials as their raw material. It is simple for
households and businesses to segregate this material. It is also less likely these materials will be
sent to the recycler in spoiled or otherwise unusable condition (such as expired milk being sent in
plastic gallon jugs to a plastic recycler). The EPA statistics for 2012 show that this material was
of the greatest weight recovered at 44.4 MMT and the greatest GHG benefit at 130.5 MMTCO2E
(Worrell, Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016).

Yard trimmings comes in second in the 2012 EPA statistics for 19.6 MMT recovered (Worrell,
Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016). Recommend Greenwood City Government recycle this directly and
allow for city residents and businesses to claim shredded materials for use in landscaping. The
GHG benefit is comparatively negligible at 0.8 MMTCO2E, but city appearance/morale and
recovered weight is worth this concession.

Metals contacts and contracts can be a bit sticky, however collection is relatively simple.
Depending on the contract, it may be possible for this part of the program to net a small profit to
the city for reinvestment into the recycling program and allow for more materials to be included.
Partnering with law enforcement on metals recycling will allow for those that steal metals to be
found out more close to home and remove this element from the city. -If a newly wired new
home build is robbed of its copper today and tons of intact (not scrap) wire is turned in
tomorrow, the case may be solvable. According to the EPA statistics from 2012, this is the third
greatest weight recovered for materials for that year and the second highest in GHG benefits as
20.6 MMTCO2E (Worrell, Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016).

Overall, this initial focus is designed for early wins in reducing landfill impact, landfill costs, and
returns to the community in small profits, appearance, morale, and crime reduction possibilities.
While 3 proposals is good practice, it is recommended that RFPs be sent as far as the state border
to allow for the greatest competition. A sustainable Greenwood taking many bids for small
improvements such as this will also increase citizen confidence that their tax dollars are
benefiting the community and no lining some crony’s pocket.

Works Cited
Worrell, W., Vesilind, P., & Ludwig, C. (2016). Solid Waste Engineering; A Global Perspective
(3d ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

3) A mobile phone is comprised of 15.5% of copper, and nickel and silver comprise 2.5% as
broken down on p. 66, Fig 2-15. These three metals represent 83% of the potential toxicity
that the components of the phone can exert on the environment. Describe how copper is toxic
to the environment and how this can affect the residents of an area. (Your total response for
all parts of this question should be at least 200 words.)

Table 2-4, #46

2-15, #66-67
Copper has the capacity to
 MEE 5901, Advanced Solid Waste Management
Unit I Assignment

4) Describe the elements of the Integrated Solid Waste Management program. Give a detailed
discussion and explanation as to which element has the greatest potential to affect the success
of the program. What science and engineering principles are involved in this program? (Your
total response for all parts of this question should be at least 300 words.)

There are five elements of an Integrated Solid Waste Management program. They are reducing
waste quantity; reusing materials; recycling and recovering materials; combusting for energy
recovery; and landfilling (Worrell, Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016). These concepts are quite simple
in theory, but complicated at times for execution.

Reducing waste quantity is just that. This involves reducing consumer waste through better
packaging and fewer single use items being marketed. As this child of the 1980’s and 90’s can
attest, this ‘diet’ for the consumer is not going well. The consumers themselves are addicted as
they still buy heavily packaged items and retailers and stores are driven by damage and theft
reduction. Achieving a balance for waste reduction is also difficult. This student returned to the
US after living and recycling in Germany for 2 years. The bimonthly pick up of recycling cans
could not keep up with our newfound ability to sort trash.

Reuse is also quite simple. The metal coffee can becomes a planter. The old towel becomes a
rag. Old shoes become ladder cleats to prevent damage to surfaces they lean against. In the end,
these materials still conclude their useful lives in a recycle bin or landfill. Yogurt cups and egg
cartons birth new life to seedlings.

Recycling is use of consumer segregated waste material’s core material. The aluminum coffee
can becomes an HVAC duct. Newspaper becomes cellulose insulation.

Recovering is fundamentally sorting mixed waste to remove recyclable materials. This is labor
intensive to separate from regular trash. While EPA tends to group recycling and recovery
together, this student believes “recOVERy” can be remembered as ‘it was almost over’ for that
material (Worrell, Vesilind, & Ludwig, 2016).

Some things, no matter how hard we try, will always end up in a landfill. These are items such
as disposable diapers, cat litter box trash, and used diatomaceous earth filter cakes we made at a
plant I managed.

While all of these models work well for society, reuse is the most valuable of these concepts.
Before any consideration of technological applications…. It can completely eliminate many
paper items from the waste stream entirely. Toilet paper rolls can be used for seed starting and
biodegrade. Shredded newspaper makes a fine weed barrier and soil cover. Wood chunks not
chemically treated can be used with a chimney apparatus to barbecue without charcoal or
petroleum hydrocarbon starter fluids.

Works Cited
 MEE 5901, Advanced Solid Waste Management
Unit I Assignment

Worrell, W., Vesilind, P., & Ludwig, C. (2016). Solid Waste Engineering; A Global Perspective
(3d ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.