Hazardous Waste By Sydney Block

Purpose: 

The purpose of this presentation was to inform the class about hazardous waste in the United States and and around the world. Hazardous waste disposal is an international issue that is important to be aware of and to know how to encourage safer ways to dispose these toxic materials.

Overview of Presentation:

-Hazardous wastes are byproducts of human activities
-This issue became prevalent in the 1970s when a number of high-profile human health and environmental pollution crises focused public attention on the problem
- United States industries, farms, mines, military facilities, cities, and small businesses generate roughly 200 million tons of hazardous wastes each year
-Each year, industrialized nations with strict environmental regulations export more than two million tons of hazardous waste for disposal in poorer developing nations with less stringent waste disposal oversight

Discussion Questions:

           Should there/can there be an international law limiting and regulating hazardous waste?

·      What steps do you think the US needs to take in order to decrease the amount of hazardous waste produced by American industries, farms, mines and military facilities?

·      How else can governments encourage clean and safe waste disposals?

Sources Used in Report:

"Hazardous wastes." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 4th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Gale Science In Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

"Drums Containing Radioactive Waste." Alternative Energy. Ed. K. Lee Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, and Kathleen J. Edgar. 2nd ed. Detroit: U*X*L, 2012. Gale Science In Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

"Polluted swamp at the Inger Oil Superfund toxic waste site." Environmental Encyclopedia. Ed. Marci Bortman, Peter Brimblecombe, and Mary Ann Cunningham. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Science In Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.

"Toxic foam caused by the accumulation of pollutants." Biotechnology: In Context. Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2012. In Context Series. Gale Science In Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2012.