Regulatory, chemical, and engineering aspects of solid and hazardous waste management, including RCRA, CERCLA, landfill and incinerator design, pollutant transport and fate, and potential for human health impacts.
Athena Title
Solid and Hazardous Waste Mgmt
Pre or Corequisite
BIOL 1107 or BIOL 1107E or BIOL 2107H
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to evaluate the evolution of environmental statutes and their impact on contemporary waste management practices.
Students will be able to synthesize federal 'rulemaking' processes and regulatory frameworks to develop comprehensive waste management strategies and environmental investigation protocols.
Students will be able to create a compliant remediation plan for an active superfund site that integrates federal and state regulations while addressing multi-pathway exposure risks to human and ecological receptors.
Students will be able to formulate evidence-based bioremediation strategies by critically analyzing current research literature and applying findings to hazardous waste site management.
Students will be able to communicate regulations to industry officials, politicians, classmates, and communities in a culturally appropriate way so that stakeholders can mobilize to comply with laws and propose changes to the regulations.
Students will be able to critique health risk assessment methodologies and integrate findings into comprehensive waste management decision-making frameworks.
Students will be able to generate innovative solutions for public waste management challenges by integrating technical, regulatory, and community-based considerations.
Topical Outline
1. Overview of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management and Environmental Statutes in the CFR Title 40.
2. Waste Management in the United States and in the Majority World
3. The "Rule Making Process" for Regulatory Development
a. Federal, State, and Municipal Law
4. Transparency of Risk Factors to Human Health in CERCLA, Risk Assessment for Humans Through Multiple Exposure Routes, Human Health Consequences of Exposures to Toxins from Hazardous Waste Disposal
6. CFR Title 40 Solid Waste Management (Subtitles C and D)
a. Recycling, Bioremediation, and Environmental Stewardship
b. Requirements for Hazardous Waste Generators, transporters, and disposal facilities
c. Corrective Action at RCRA Facilities
6. Site Characterization Studies
7. Soil and Groundwater Remediation Technologies (case studies)
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Creativity & Innovation
The capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
