Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 8, Municipal Waste, Page 2

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE: WHAT IS IT?

Americans spend approximately $30 billion a year to manage the disposal of 8 billion tons of waste.(7) Approximately 196 to 200 million tons are labeled as municipal solid waste - durable and nondurable goods, containers, food scraps, yard waste and inorganic waste from homes, institutions and businesses. The remaining 7.8 billion tons are generated by manufacturing, agriculture and mining. Municipal solid waste can also include sludge from water and wastewater treatment facilities, septic tanks and construction and demolition debris.

WASTE DISPOSAL IN TEXAS BY SOURCE

*Residential, commercial and institutional waste

Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Municipal Solid Waste Plan for Texas, 1994. Draft Document (Austin: TNRCC, October 1994).

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DISCARDED IN THE UNITED STATES

Though there have been efforts to more accurately determine the amount of municipal solid waste Americans discard, the methodology for determining it is a bit of a guessing game. The general assumption is that Americans are an ever-growing wasteful bunch - consuming and disposing of huge amounts of paraphernalia. According to authors Rathje and Murphy, "... a long view of America's municipal solid waste stream would suggest that, on a per capita basis, the nation's record is hardly one of unrestrained excess. Indeed, the word that best describes the situation with respect to overall volume may be: stability." (8)

YearTons of MSW Discarded in the United States

1960 88 million tons of MSW were discarded

1990196-200 million tons of MSW were discarded

2000222 million tons of MSW are projected to be discarded.

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE IN TEXAS

According to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Texans dispose of approximately 21 million tons of municipal solid waste per year and pay more than $1 billion each year for the management of municipal solid waste.(9) According to a study conducted for the Texas Water Commission (now the TNRCC), 63 percent of the MSW generated in Texas is residential and 37 percent is commercial or institutional.(10) Municipal solid waste is disposed of through landfills, incineration, waste-to-energy facilities, and land application (for sludge). Recycling and composting are also used to manage municipal solid waste.(11) In Texas as in most other places in the U.S., landfill disposal is still the predominant method of solid waste management.

An average Texan generates about 5.6 pounds per day of municipal solid waste, compared to 4.3 pounds per person per day nationally. The municipal solid waste disposal rate for Texas is about 4.9 pounds per person per day, compared to about 3.6 pounds nationally.(12) The discrepancy between the amount of solid waste generated and the amount disposed of is due to several factors, including the use of recycling and composting. According to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, if the total amount of all types of waste - including construction, demolition debris and sludge - received by municipal solid waste facilities in Texas is considered, the per capita disposal rate increases to about 6.7 pounds per day.(13)

COMPONENTS OF MSW GENERATION IN TEXAS

Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Municipal Solid Waste Plan for Texas, 1994. Draft Document (Austin: TNRCC, October 1994).

IMPORTATION AND EXPORTATION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

In 1992, approximately 1 percent or 176,071 tons of the total waste received by municipal solid waste facilities in Texas came from other states or Mexico. Eighty-five percent or 148,143 tons of this 1 percent was sludge from New Jersey that ended up in a landfill in Tyler, Texas; the remainder was medical waste and contaminated soil.(14) These figures do not include the estimated 150,000 tons of New York municipal sludge brought to Texas by a private company and applied to company-owned land near Sierra Blanca. Very little municipal solid waste is exported from Texas.(15)

WHAT'S THE FUSS OVER THE STUFF?

Unlike some states, Texas is not in immediate danger of running out of landfill space. Though some areas of the state lack sufficient landfill facilities, statewide landfill capacity is adequate for the next 20 years.(16) This is true even as Texas begins to send much of its non-hazardous industrial waste to municipal waste landfills. On the other hand, the cost of managing waste is on the rise and the public well-being and health of the environment are dependent upon its good management.

Municipal waste, when properly managed, does not pose an immediate threat to human health or the environment. In Texas, however, there are incidences where municipal solid waste has threatened both the public health and the environment:

• In 1994, at least 28 landfills were discovered to have caused groundwater pollution;(17)

• In 1994, methane gas had "migrated" beyond acceptable levels at 63 municipal landfills;(18)

• In 1991, residents of an Austin apartment complex built on an old municipal landfill had to be evacuated due to methane accumulation in several apartment units;

• Sixty-three percent of the 420 landfills open in 1992 were located within one mile of residential land uses;(19)

• New federal regulations to protect human health and groundwater are causing higher landfill costs, resulting in landfill closures.(20)

• About the amount of used motor oil from one oil change can contaminate a million gallons of drinking water.

  Source: Keep Texas Beautiful, Inc. Grassroots, June/July, 1994

The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission estimates that each Texas household produces 15 to 22 pounds of household hazardous waste each year or an estimated 60,000 tons annually. Most of these hazardous materials are buried in landfills.

Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Request for Legislative Appropriations for Fiscal Years 1994-1995, Revised Edition. October 16,1992.

Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 8, Municipal Waste, Page 2

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