Page 32 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

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1 Introduction

Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.

Thorstein Veblen
The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899

As recently as three to four decades ago in the United States, the chemical, physical, and biologi-
cal properties of the municipal solid waste stream were of little or no concern to the local hauling
firm, the city council, or the citizens who generated the waste. Similarly, little thought was given to
the total quantities of waste produced. Waste volumes may have appeared fairly consistent from
year to year, since few measurements were made. Wastes were transported to the local landfill or
perhaps the town dump alongside the river for convenient final disposal. The primary concerns
regarding waste management were, at that time, aesthetic and economic, i.e., removing nuisance
materials from the curb or the dumpster quickly and conveniently, and at the lowest possible cost.
By the late 1980s, however, several events were pivotal in alerting Americans to the fact that the
present waste management system was not working. When we threw something away, there was
really no “away”:

1. The Islip Garbage Barge. The Mobro 4000 left Islip, Long Island, with another load of
about 3100 tons of garbage for transfer to an incinerator in Morehead City, North
Carolina. Upon learning that the barge may be carrying medical waste, concerns were
raised by the receiving facility about infectious materials on board, and the Mobro was
refused entry. From March through July 1987, the barge was turned away by six states
and countries in Central America and the Caribbean (Figure 1.1) The Mexican Navy
intercepted the barge in the Yucatan Channel, forbidding it to enter Mexican waters. The
ongoing trials of the hapless barge were regular features on many evening news pro-
grams. A municipal solid waste incinerator was eventually constructed in the Islip area
to receive the aged wastes for final disposal.
2. Beach washups. In 1988, medical wastes began to wash up on the beaches of New York
and New Jersey. In 1990 the same phenomenon occurred on the West Coast. Popular
beaches along the East Coast and in California closed because of potentially dangerous
public health conditions. Outraged officials sought the causes of this pollution, arranged
for clean-ups, and attempted to assure the public that the chances of this medical debris
causing illness were highly remote; however, public fears of possible contact with hepa-
titis B and HIV viruses led to a concomitant collapse in local tourist industries.
3. The Khian Sea. This cargo ship left Philadelphia in September, 1986, carrying 15,000 tons
of ash from the city’s municipal garbage incinerator for transfer to a landfill (Figure 1.2).
It was soon suspected that the ash contained highly toxic chlorinated dibenzodioxins; as a
result, the ship was turned away from ports for 2 years, during which it wandered the high
seas searching for a haven for its toxic cargo (Holland Sentinel, 2002). A total of 4000 tons
of the toxic ash was dumped on a beach in Haiti near the port of Gonaives. An agreement
was arranged 10 years later for the eventual return of the ash to the United States.
4. The plight of the sanitary landfill. The mainstay for convenient waste disposal in
the United States was becoming increasingly difficult and costly to operate and keep

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