Solid Waste
Where does most of the solid waste in the US end up?
Sanitary landfills
Identify two pathogens that use mosquitoes as a vector
Malaria, West Nile Virus, Zika Virus
Identify three items that should not go into a sanitary landfill as they are considered household hazardous waste.
E waste
Cleaning chemicals
Bug spray
Batteries
Oil based paints
etc.
Describe the effects of tropospheric ozone vs stratospheric ozone.
Tropospheric ozone: respiratory and eye irritant
Stratospheric ozone: blocks harmful UV rays
Calculate the percent decrease in Zika cases locally acquired in the US from 2016 to 2017. Make a claim that would explain the decrease in Zika cases.
(224-7)/224 = 0.969
-96.9%
The United States had an abnormally warm and wet summer in 2016 which increased mosquito populations therefore spreading Zika.
The United States sprayed for mosquitoes in 2017 which explains the stark decrease in Zika cases from 2016.
Describe a benefit and a drawback of waste incineration.
Benefit: decreases the volume of waste that needs to be landfilled
Drawback: contributes to air pollution
Identify the microorganism used for biological treatment of waste to breakdown hazardous organic compounds.
Bacteria
Identify the approximate LD50 of Tetrodotoxin on mice as shown in the graph linked below.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lP-6J96V2HvbysLmTCHyGDeRilhuSr1SF5eHWaJr7cU/edit?usp=sharing
250mg/kg BW
Identify and describe two reasons why developing countries have higher rates of infectious diseases compared to developed countries.
Less access to healthcare increases the spread of treatable diseases
Lack of access to solid waste disposal and sewage treatment leads to an increase in exposure to pathogens
Lack of funding for reducing vectors like mosquitos leads to increased infection rates of vector based diseases
In 2022 municipal solid waste in Sioux Falls totalled 250,000 tons. 40,000 tons of that waste was recycled. Calculate the percent of waste recycled in Sioux Falls. The national average recycling rate was 32%. Compare the average Sioux Falls recycling rate with the national average and make a claim on how Sioux Falls can become better at recycling.
16% of waste is recycled in Sioux Falls which is half of the national average recycling rate.
Sioux Falls can become better at recycling by providing public recycling bins at parks with infographics of what should go into the landfill vs be recycled. (Answers vary)
Identify the 3Rs in waste reduction and describe them in order of energy saved (Most -> least)
Reduce: less items that need to be produced, the more energy saved
Reuse: if things need to be purchased, reuse them so they don’t end up in a landfill or need to be replaced
Recycle: still important but the most energy intensive of the three to sort and meltdown old materials to make new ones. Can save energy compared to harvesting new and manufacturing new materials.
Compare and contrast the process solid waste disposal vs sewage treatment.
Compare: both take precautions to limit contamination of surface waters and groundwater, both use biologic treatment to breakdown organics
Contrast: solid waste stores waste in sanitary landfills, sewage treatment stores some waste in sanitary landfills but most waste can be filtered out and water can be released back into surface waters
Describe how a scientist could study the LD-50 of humans for a pollutant.
Using a model organism such as mice and treating them with different levels of a toxicant
Describe the steps in disease transmission to humans when a tick vector is involved.
Tick feeds on an infected animal and contracts disease
Tick feeds on humans and transmits the disease
In 2020, 1.5 billion smartphones were purchased. Each smartphone sold contains an average of 0.15g of lithium. Calculate the number of grams of lithium used in the production of smartphones in 2020. Include the unit in your answer. Show your work for full credit.
1.5x10^9 smartphones x (0.15g lithium/ smartphone) = 2.25x10^8 grams of lithium
Explain why much of the E-waste from the US is shipped to developing countries for processing.
Cheaper labor
Less regulations for toxic chemicals
Less dumping fees for E-waste
Less likely for people in developing countries to sue successfully when they get sick from e-waste
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of combining stormwater and sewage for treatment.
Advantages: litter can be filtered out during primary treatment so it doesn’t get into water bodies, some fertilizers can be filtered out during secondary treatment reducing the risk for elevated nutrients leading to eutrophication and fish die offs in local water bodies
Disadvantages: in systems where stormwater and sewage is combined, heavy rains run the risk of raw sewage being dumped into bodies of water without any treatment
Students conducted an experiment of the LD-50 of salt on pea seeds. Identify the control group, independent and dependent variables of the study
Control: peas germinated w/o salt
Independent: salt concentration
Dependent: pea germination or pea mortality rate
Describe how West Nile Virus is transmitted to humans.
The virus is carried by an infected mosquito that transmits the virus when it bites a human.
Catalytic converters contain on average 5 grams of platinum. During the recovery process, only 80% of the platinum can be successfully recovered. If a thief steals 20 catalytic converters and the going rate for platinum is $30.25 per gram, how much money does she stand to make after the recovery process?
5g platinum x 20 cat. Conv. x (0.8 recoverable grams platinum/ 1 gram platinum) x ($30.25/ gram platinum) = $2,420