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Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling — HS Environmental Science practice questions

12 multiple-choice questions and 13 flashcards on Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling, about 8% of the HS Environmental Science bank. Every one carries a written rationale.

Written and maintained by the CoStudy team · last updated 2026-10-02 · how we write and review questions

What this chapter covers

Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling is one of 11 chapters in CoStudy's HS Environmental Science bank, and it holds 12 of the bank's 150 multiple-choice questions — roughly 8% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.

Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.

Free Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling practice questions

3 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.

Microplastics are a concern because they:

  1. dissolve quickly in water
  2. persist and enter food webs
  3. are too small to affect organisms
  4. come only from fishing nets

Answer: B — persist and enter food webs

B) Correct — They last for centuries and are found in oceans, soil, and even human blood. A) They persist. C) Animals eat them. D) They come from many sources.

Which step in the waste hierarchy has the greatest benefit?

  1. Recycle
  2. Reuse
  3. Landfill
  4. Reduce

Answer: D — Reduce

D) Correct — Avoiding waste saves materials and energy. A) Uses energy and comes after reduce and reuse. B) Comes after reduce. C) Is the least preferred option.

Burning trash in a waste-to-energy plant:

  1. destroys all waste without leaving any pollution or ash
  2. shrinks waste volume but releases air pollution and ash
  3. creates electricity without releasing any CO₂
  4. ranks above recycling in the waste hierarchy

Answer: B — shrinks waste volume but releases air pollution and ash

B) Correct — It also produces electricity. A) Ash and emissions remain. C) Burning releases CO₂. D) Recycling ranks higher.

Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling flashcards

4 cards from the 13 in this chapter.

Microplastics?

Plastic pieces smaller than 5 mm, from broken-down debris, synthetic fibers, and products. They persist and move up food webs.

MSW (Municipal Solid Waste)?

Household trash. Mostly paper, food, plastic, yard waste, metals.

Sanitary landfill design?

Clay and plastic liners, leachate collection pipes, daily soil cover, and methane collection keep waste from polluting groundwater and air.

Composting?

Decompose organic waste. Produces fertilizer. Reduces methane from landfills.

Practise the full chapter

These are a sample. The full Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste, and Recycling chapter runs 25 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.

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