Waste / Waste Management
What is the most popularly used method of waste management?
A) Landfills
B) Incineration / Combustion
C) Recovery / Recycling
D) Plasma Gasification
A) Landfills
True or False: Climate change is natural and normal—it’s happened at other points in history.
A) True
B) False
B) False - While it’s true that the Earth moves between ice ages and warm periods, the rate at which greenhouse gasses are being released into the environment has been having unnatural and concerning effects on weather, temperature, and wildlife.
What is the main reason the San Antonio River is so dirty?
A) Stormwater Runoff
B) Littering
C) Chemical Dumping
D) The river is actually 100% clean and safe :)
A) Stormwater Runoff - Runoff carries animal waste, sewage, and bacteria that collects on asphalt which makes the water unsafe to swim in or drink.
True or False: Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run a TV for three hours.
A) True
B) False
A) True
Out of the 3 R’s, which is the most important concept?
A) Reduce
B) Reuse
C) Recycle
A) Reduce
The preferred / most important tier of the waste management hierarchy is:
A) Recycling / Composting
B) Treatment and Disposal
C) Energy Recovery
D) Source Reduction and Reuse
D) Source Reduction and Reuse
How much has the planet's average surface temperature risen since the late 19th century?
A) 1℉
B) 2℉
C) 3℉
D) 5℉
B) 2℉
Which of the following is NOT an organization geared towards making San Antonio a more sustainable city?
A) Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas
B) Bexar County Sustainability Fund
C) Texas Agricultural Land Trust
D) Build San Antonio Green
B) Bexar County Sustainability Fund
How much does lighting account for global electricity use?
A) 5%
B) 10%
C) 15%
D) 20%
C) 15% - Lighting accounts for 15% of global electricity use. Switching to LEDs will use 90% less energy and last far longer than with the use of incandescent lights.
What is the most recycled material in the world?
A) Paper
B) Plastic Bottles
C) Cardboard
D) Steel
D) Steel - Did you know that steel is the most recycled material in the world? In North America, we recycle around 80 million tons of steel each year.
True or False: Is it possible to recycle 100% of the paper we use? 300
A) True
B) False
B) False! Because of permanent storage, contamination and fiber degradation, we could never recycle 100 percent of our paper.
How do scientists know that rising CO2 levels and rising temperatures are closely linked?
A) Studying ice cores drilled from Iceland and Greenland
B) Monitoring air quality in China
C) They can feel it like a spidey sense (Scientists are just like that)
D) Studying and comparing samples of water taken from the Atlantic and Pacific ocean.
A) Studying ice cores drilled from Iceland and Greenland
How much does it cost to dump at a landfill in San Antonio? (Total city services for a large 95 gal bin?)
A) $10
B) $20
C) $30
D) $40
C) $30
How much money on average can solar panels save you?
A) $1,000
B) $1,200
C) $1,500
D) $2,000
C) $1,500
What percentage of our waste is recycled on a global level?
A) 10%
B) 13%
C) 17%
D) 22%
B) 13%
On average, how much waste does the average American produce per day?
A) 2.7 lb
B) 3.2 lb
C) 4.5 lb
D) 5.1 lb
C) 4.5 lb
Today, CO2 levels are _____% higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution began.
A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 40%
D) 55%
C) 40%
What year did San Antonio begin the program for the organic material green bins?
A) 2011
B) 2012
C) 2013
D) 2014
A) 2011
How much money can you save a year on average by using a reusable water bottle?
A) $1,236
B) $2,145
C) $1,729
D) $2,118
A) $1,236
What country has the best recycling rate?
A) Austria
B) Wales
C) South Korea
D) Germany
D) Germany - Since 2016, Germany has had the highest recycling rate in the world, with 56.1% of all waste it produced last year being recycled.
When were the first federal waste management laws introduced to the US?
A) 1954
B) 1960
C) 1965
D) 1971
C) 1965
Who is attributed for being the first to discover climate change?
A) James Hansen
B) Susan Solomon
C) Svante Arrhenius
D) Albert Einstein
C) Svante Arrhenius - Svante Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist who was the first to claim in 1896 that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced global warming. He proposed a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature.
How many species of animals live in San Antonio?
A) 287
B) 938
C) 183
D) 318
D) 318
What are the major sources of renewable energy? They start with S, G, W, B, and H.
Solar, Geothermal, Wind, Biomass, Hydropower
From most to least important, what is the order of the waste management hierarchy?
A) Disposal, Energy Recovery, Recycling, Reuse, Minimization, Prevention
B) Recycling, Energy Recovery, Disposal, Prevention, Reuse, Minimization
C) Prevention, Minimization, Reuse, Recycling, Energy Recovery, Disposal
D) They’re all equally important
C) Prevention, Minimization, Reuse, Recycling, Energy Recovery, Disposal