THE
STUFF WE THROW AWAY
OPEN-FILE REPORT SW-13.of
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THE STUFF WE THROW AWAY
This script for the 22-minute, 16-rrrm motion
picture written and produced for the
Bureau of Solid Waste Management by
STUART FIN LEY, INC.
under Contract No. CPE 69-111, is reproduced here
as an Office of Information open-file report (SW-13.of)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Public Health Service
Environmental Health Service
Bureau of Solid Waste Management
1970
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THE STUFF WE THROW AWAY
22-Minute, 16-mm Motion Picture
Sound, color. Order no. AM-1404.*
THE STUFF WE THROW AWAY describes the massive
problem of collecting and disposing of America's
solid wastes. It illustrates a variety of new
and improved techniques. These are being
investigated and demonstrated under provisions
of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The film is
designed to be useful to the lay public while
providing technical guidance to municipal
engineers and local officials.
New York City
streets during
1968 sanitation
strike
(super titles)
Lady walking
by heap of
plastic bags
of refuse
Stack of bags
of refuse
Ladies walk
thru stacks
of refuse
Fashionable
apartment with
refuse stacked
out front
Garbage littering
slum streets;
other scenes
showing refuse
on streets
SEQUENCE //I - INTRODUCTION
Once upon a time, there was a big American city
that had a little problem....a garbage strike.
As the days went by, the little problem got bigger!
... and bigger! (pause) Stacks of sacks.
"How deep can this get?"
In the better parts of town, they had very high-
class garbage.
But, in the low-rent areas, they had very common garbage.
But, it's a funny thing...all over town...swanky
areas and slums alike...things smelled just about
the same...pretty stinky!
*May be borrowed from the National Medical Audiovisual Center (Annex),
Station K, Atlanta, Georgia 30324.
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Garbage on
streets
(continued)
Dump
Burning dump
New York
Strike pickup
Finally, the people cf this big city settled their
little strike.. .and r any of their, to this day,
remember the moral ol the story...that:
"effective solid waste management is essential
in this complicat ed twentieth century urban
civilizat ion."
SEQUENCE #2 - THE PROBLEM
Only if we protect and preserve the natural
environment can man survive. Our discards...we
call them sclid wastes...jeopardize our continued
existence. The land;,cape becomes littered with
dumps...
then, to reduce the volume, we set fire to them
and thus dininish OIK; problem arid create another
even more irsidious one...air pollution.
American throw away over five pounds of refuse
per person per day....a staggering total of nearly
200 million Cons a yi:ar. Unfortunately, pollution
is proportional to people. Collection and disposal
problems become aggravated w len people live in
concentratec areas. It costs New York City $30
to collect i.nd dispose of a ton of solid wastes.
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Maul dumps
into the ocean
Men loading and
operating
fluidized bed
incinerator
Throughout the country, 13 percent of the population
has no refuse collection service. This results
in indiscriminate dumping which litters the landscape
and creates health hazards. The President and the
Congress have indicated great concern and programs
are now underway to assist local communities. The
federal program which includes a wide variety of
research and demonstration grants is predicated
on one fundamental principle...we must develop a
better system.
SEQUENCE #3 - RESEARCH PROJECTS
Ever wonder how solid wastes could be handled more
effectively? Some new ideas from the Environmental
Health Service. Here in a University of West Virginia
laboratory, a new concept of incineration is being
investigated. Refuse, already ground to uniform
consistency, is fed into a fluidized bed reactor...
equipment commonly used by the chemical industry
to obtain controlled reactions between gases and
solids. Here, the modified pilot reactor becomes
a furnace. The gas is air, moving up the column
under pressure, and the suspended solids are a mixture
of particles of burning refuse and inert sand which
serves as a heat sink.
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Demonstration tube
of boiling water:
man drops red
balls in; CU
balls suspended
in tube
2 men examining
residue
Attendents at
hospital waste
collection
station
This is a simulation of the reaction occurring inside
the furnace as the particles reach a fluidized state
resembling boiling water at combustion temperatures.
The development of fluidized bed incineration is
one of many varied projects conducted with federal
aid under programs of the Bureau of Solid Waste
Management, a branch of the Environmental Health
Service, Public Health Service, U.S. Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare. The incinerator
is still experimental, but it already promises
more complete and cleaner burning.
Demonstration project personnel examine the residue
which constitutes only a small fraction of the
original volume of the refuse. The fluidized bed
incinerator stack emission contains far less particulate
loading than conventional incirerators.
Another university research project is examining
hospital wastes. Think how flive£se_ _th_ey_ are. In
addition to the ordinary ones...garbage, paper, and
other dry combustibles and non-combustibles such
as bottles and cans...hospitals generate unusual
wastes related to medical treatment and surgical
procedures that require special handling and
disposal.
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Man separating
waste materials
Man examining
waste samples
2 men remove
molten glass
from kiln and
pour into mold
Glass sample
Glass goes into
coating apparatus
Coated sample
Time lapse:
broken sample
disintegrates
beside unbroken
sample
In order to develop data on the nature and volume
of the various waste materials and to devise better
management methods, they are identified and carefully
separated.
Analysis of the different materials and their
processing may even point to desirable changes in
the design of hospital service areas and waste
handling equipment.
Glass has few equals as a container. It's chemically
inert...won't react with any other substance. That's
good. But once millions of bottles and jars are
discarded, they won't burn or degrade. They just
lie there, taking up space. That's bad. This team
of Clemson University scientists is making glass with
a difference....
It's soluble in water. But what good is it for
holding...say, soda pop?
Well, first it's put into a "chemical vapor
deposition apparatus," and coated with a very thin
film of inert material.
Then, it will hold anything.
Break the film...and the glass slowly dissolves.
So does the solid waste handling chore.
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Man examining
caged chickens;
pan down to waste
trough; water
flushes through;
filtration tank
with man sampling
Teacher and
students at
strip mine
Chickens and other animals concentr.ited in com-
mercial cages, and feed-lots crmtribute increasingly
to the solid waste load. In this University of
California experimental closed hydraulic system,
water flushes the manure to a high-rate oxidation
pond. There, its nutrients are reclaimed photo-
synthetically in the production of algae. The
digested sludge can be used as fertilizer, and
the dried algae as supplemental food for ruminant
animals. Resources from waste.., through research.
These student s inspecting an abandoned strip mine
are a new breed. Their graduate studies emphasize
environmental control, Several universities are
expanding their curricula to provide qualified
engineers in this crucial area. . ..recognition
that specialized training, as well as imaginative
research, is essential for effective solid waste
management and the total protection of our environ-
ment.
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Bagged waste
collections,
Barring ton,R.I.
Container storage
and collections,
Chilton County,
Ala.
SEQUENCE #4 - COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
Solid wastes are in the bag in Harrington, Rhode
Island. The heavy paper container holds mixed
refuse, and is deposited...bag and all...in a
sanitary landfill. The simple, efficient system...
after 3 year's demonstration is proving easier
for householders, a time- and labor-saver for
workers, cleaner and more sanitary for everyone.
Townspeople favor the system, and a sharp increase
in the volume of wastes collected indicates they're
making greater use of a better service.
In a rural community, house-to-house collection
is economically unfeasible, and random dumping
and littering is unbearable. Chilton County,
Alabama, found a solution. It's keeping itself
"clean and green" with a network of neighborhood
storage receptacles. Residents deposit their
household refuse whenever it's convenient.
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Truck picks up
container
Container-train
system, Wichita
Falls, Texas
The containers are emptied twice weekly, and the
accumulatiom; placed in a central sanitary landfill
shared with t:he county seat of Clanton and 3 smaller
municipalities. These cities continue to provide
house-to-housie collection but have closed their
open dumps. Throughout the county, about 90 small
random dumps and their rat populations have been
replaced by about the same number of handy and
tidy containers and one specially equipped truck...
a pretty fair exchange.
The container-and-truck idea is applied in a
different way in Wichita Falls, Texas. Here, the
containers have wheels. The waste load is trans-
ferred to the mother truck for disposal at a
sanitary landfill, while a train of containers
is used to make collections along the route. All
data on routes, load weights, equipment and personnel
usage are computerized daily. Data analysis relates
the type and volume of waste generation to land-use...
residential, commercial, and industrial... and
will permit development of a complete management
model, simulating the container-train collection
and disposal system. With this model, optimum use
and expansion can be projected as population grows
and land-use patterns change..demonstrating a systems
analysis approach to solid waste management planning.
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SEQUENCE #5 - LANDFILLING TECHNIQUES
Kenilworth dump and An open dump is bad enough. A burning one is worse.
sanitary landfill,
Washington, B.C. Fire consumes some of the combustible waste, but
scourges the area with smoke and ash...and rats
and flies survive it. Here at Kenilworth, in the
heart of metropolitan Washington, D.C., a burning
dump was transformed into a model sanitary land-
fill under a Health. Education, and Welfare demon-
stration grant. Deliveries of refuse and incinerator
residue were spread and compacted, and completely
covered with 6 to 8 inches of earth by the end of
each day.
The completed fill, contoured and graded, is being
developed as a recreational area by the District
of Columbia and the National Park Service...demonstrating
the value of the sanitary landfill technique in
reclaiming a blighted area.
Another kind of scar on the landscape...an abandoned
strip mine. Suppose it could serve as a burial ground
for solid wastes and be reclaimed in the process?
Sanitary landfill demonstrations are being conducted
at this mine site and 2 others in Allegheny County,
Maryland, by the County, the State, and the Cities
of Frostburg and Cumberland. They provide centralized
service to 60 thousand people, have eliminated
Cumberland's open burning dump and smaller scattered
ones, and will eventually restore these old mining
sites to their natural beauty.
Strip mine and
landfill,
Frostburg, Md.
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Above-grade
landfill
Virginia Beach,
Va.
Here's a small mountain of refuse near the Atlantic
Ocean at Virginia Beach...an innovative sanitary land-
fill conceived by the state director of Virginia's
solid waste activities. It will take all of the
city's refuse for several years to build "Mount
Trashmore," as- wags call it, tD a height of about
60 feet above ground level...a bowl around an artificial
lake and something of n landmark in an area of flat
terrain. A very useful landmark, though. Grading
already anticipates its ultimate purpose. Some
day this will be an expanse of seats...an amphitheatre
with a soap box derby track and other facilities
for the enjoyment of this coastal resort's residents
and visitors.
Some coastal communities are considering disposal
of their solic. wastes by dropping them well off
shore at sea, but too Little is yet known of the
ecological effects of this practice. Certainly,
most of the nation has no choice but to use the
land for disposal. In the process, the land can
be despoiled, or it can be protected and enhanced.
Sanitary landfill techniques make the difference.
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SEQUENCE #6 - THE MOLE AND THE MONSTER
D & J Press,
Niagara County,
N.Y.
"Mole," King
County, Wash.
This prototype press is known as the "monster."
Perhaps it should be called the "magician." It
makes solid wastes disappear. The machine receives
refuse by the truckload and, in a series of coordinated
operations, compacts it, extrudes it in the bottom
of a trench, all the while digging the trench, back-
filling it, and compacting and levelling the earth.
This new variation on the sanitary landfill concept
is being used on a hundred-acre site by the Niagara
County, New York, Solid Waste Agency. Its members
include eight of the county's twelve towns, as well
as the Cities of Lockport, North Tonawanda, and
Niagara Falls. The Agency disposes of the solid
wastes of a quarter of a million people, and is
demons tra r irit' ai-d evaluating a novel new landfilling
narhine.
Here in King, icuiily, Washington, which also includes
the City of Seat'.le, soLLd wastes are being loaded
into another ".rototype -Landfill machine ... this one
constructed to the County's own specifications.
The "mole" performs about the same functions as
the "monster" e::cept that the trench is excavated
and backfilled bv auxilliary equipment.
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Reduction mill
in operation at
Madison, Wise.
various scenes
The "monster" and the "mole"represent new concepts
in sanitary Landfilling and a great deal more
experience in their operation is needed. They may
prove feasible and economically practicable largely
under conditions where established sanitary land-
fill techniques cannot be used but in such
special situations, their contributions to good
solid waste management will be invaluable.
SEQUENCE #7 - MILLING AND COKPOSTING
The possible advantages of grinding solid wastes
in a hammer-type reduction mill before deposit
in a landfill are being demonstrated by the City
of Madison, Wisconsin. Milling refuse substantially
reduces its /olume and effectively extends the life
of the fill site. The mill is simply constructed,
easy to operate, and quite reliable. The milled
product spreads easily on the fill, compacts and
grades well and settles le-.ss than unmilled refuse.
The product is not odorous, and a control area...
left without earth cover...has attracted no rats.
Observations so far indicate that the quantity
of material rejected by the nill is quite low, and
that the use of milled refuse considerably improves
the quality of the landfill.
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Windrow of compost
being turned
Dirty
incinerator
operation
Milled refuse is also being composted in several
projects such as this one conducted by the Joint
U.S. Public Health Service-Tennessee Valley
Authority Compositng Project at Johnson City,
Tennessee. Composting is not the one miraculous
solution to all disposal problems; but it does
convert organic refuse to a useful product, and
in some situations may be more practicable than
landfilling or incineration.
SEQUENCE // 8 - INCINERATION PROBLEMS
Incineration is like the little girl children sing
about. When it's good, it's very, very good...
but when it's bad, it's horrid. About 360 incinerators
handle almost 10 percent of the nation's total
waste load; but no more than 50 of these facilities
are adequate. Some of the others can be remodeled.
The rest should simply be replaced. And additional
ones will be needed as the volume of solid waste
increases.
SEQUENCE #9 - INCINERATION TECHNIQUES
Shippensburg, Pa. The Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, Sanitary Authority
incinerator plant;
interior shot front is demonstrating a new type of incinerator because
end loader pushing
refuse into chute; it must dispose of the solid wastes of some 12,500
TS refuse moving on
conveyor people without a suitable area being available for
a sanitary landfill. The combustible refuse
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Borough Mgr. Smith
opening and looking
into incinerator
porthole; TS flames
inside
MS perforated
drum
Inside revolving
drum
Cincinnati
experimental
incinerator;
top of stack
smoking; WS
zooms out to
whole unit
Smoking fire bed
with ring of air
nozzles (2 scenes)
Technicians
operating and
monitoring; zoom
out to WS of unit
with no stack
emission visible
goes into a facility specially designed to meet
air pollution control standards and eliminate
environment:al health hazards while reducing the
refuse to i:he smallest passible volume.
The heart of the furnace is this stainless steel
perforated drum, revolving in a steady stream
of air...like a giant clothes dryer... to achieve
maximum combustion.
The rotary grate incinerator, as it: is called, may
prove to be an efficient, economical means of solid
waste disposal for 'nany relatively small urban
areas.
An incinerator stack shouldn't smoke. This one
doesn't except when it's made to. It's part of
an experimental furnace built to study the control
of emissions.
Through the1 nozzles ringing this fire bed, directed
streams of air can be introduced for cleaner burning
As investigators alter combustion conditions, they
monitor the composition of gases flowing upward
through the stack and into the atmosphere. Seventy
percent of America's municipal incinerators do
not have adequate aLr pollution control devices.
This Environmental Health Service staff research
project is representative of the efforts to advance
the techno..ogy of incineration.
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Fresno, Calif.
grape vineyard
zooming out to
include wind-
borne ash and
smoke; IS of
burning dump
"No Dumping"
sign full screen,
zooming out to
closed dump
Fresno refuse
trucks on
collection
rounds
(3 scenes)
SEQUENCE #10 - CONCLUSION
A grape vineyard next to an open burning dump just
doesn't make any sense.
The dump is closed...as all local cities, the county,
the state, and the federal government cooperated
to devise a unique trailblazing study of the solid
waste problems facing a 12-hundred-square-mile area
including the city of Fresno, California. Uncoordi-
nated methods of handling municipal, industrial,
and agricultural wastes were analyzed; and a total,
integrated waste management plan devised. Most
plans are concerned simply with handling wastes.
The Fresno Study, using systems analysis, focuses
on managing solid wastes to achieve the desired
end product throughout the urban-rural region:
unblighted land...clean air and water...a pleasant,
healthful environment.
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TS compactor at Sanitary land rilling and composting are emphasized...
landfill, zooming
out to pan of with very lit:le incineration...and greater resources
long line of trucks;
CU of truck,
followed by
another pan of
trucks
(End Titles)
recovery is a future goal.
The more we consume and use...the more we throw
away...an endless stream of solid wastes with technical
problems and environmental dangers that have become
national in szope. These research, development*
and training activities are a portion of the national
search for ne*/ and Improved methods.
There are man/ more projects, and there will be
many others, all supported, in part, by the U.S.
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under
the Solid Waste Disposal Act, providing federal
assistance to the technological advancement of solid
waste management. Whether local and state govern-
ments and private enterprise can apply the advance-
ments depends on the willingness of the American
people to bear the cost. Saving the environment
will be expensive; bul then, another one isn't
available. . .at: any price
U.L1. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Public Healti Service
Environmental Health Service
Bureau of Sol id Waste Management
1970
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