Define hazardus wastes. Discuss the disposal of hazardous wastes.
Answers
Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.[1]
Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known or tested to exhibit one or more of the following hazardous traits:
Ignitability
Reactivity
Corrosivity
Toxicity
Listed hazardous wastes are materials specifically listed by regulatory authorities as hazardous wastes which are from non-specific sources, specific sources, or discarded chemical products.[2]
Hazardous wastes may be found in different physical states such as gaseous, liquids, or solids. A hazardous waste is a special type of waste because it cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products of our everyday lives. Depending on the physical state of the waste, treatment and solidification processes might be required.
Ignitability
Reactivity
Corrosivity
Toxicity
Listed hazardous wastes are materials specifically listed by regulatory authorities as hazardous wastes which are from non-specific sources, specific sources, or discarded chemical products.[2]
Hazardous wastes may be found in different physical states such as gaseous, liquids, or solids. A hazardous waste is a special type of waste because it cannot be disposed of by common means like other by-products of our everyday lives. Depending on the physical state of the waste, treatment and solidification processes might be required.
Worldwide
Worldwide, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) estimated that more than 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are produced universally each year, mostly by industrialized countries (schmit, 1999). About 1 percent of this is shipped across international boundaries, with the majority of the transfers occurring between countries in the Organization for the Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) (Krueger, 1999).[3]One of the reasons for industrialized countries to ship the hazardous waste to industrializing countries for disposal is the rising cost of disposing of hazardous waste in the home country.[3]
Regulatory history
In the United States
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Hazardous wastes are wastes with properties that make them dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides. In regulatory terms, RCRA hazardous wastes are wastes that appear on one of the four hazardous wastes lists (F-list, K-list, P-list, or U-list), or exhibit at least one of the following four characteristics; ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity. in the US, Hazardous wastes are regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Subtitle C[4].