28.6 Hazardous Waste

1. Chapter 28Waste Management 2April Lauyer, Kelly Bocchino, Nikki Minaj, Trevor Casey, Sebby Leslie

2. 28.6 Hazardous Waste • In the United States, approximately 1,000 new chemicals are marketed each year and about 70,000 chemicals are currently on the market. • 35,000 of these chemicals are confirmed to be hazardous to the health of people or the ecosystems • Each year the U.S. produces about 700 million metric tons of chemical waste

3. Hazardous Waste • About half of all hazardous wastes are generated by chemical product industries, with electronic, petroleum, and coal industries each contributing about 10% • An relatively unknown source of these materials is from buildings destroyed by natural causes. • In the picture to the right a worker is disposing of rotten chicken in a facility that was declared a toxic waste site after Hurricane Katrina

4. Hazardous Waste • Hazardous Waste disposal went unregulated until recent years, and there are and estimated 32,000-50,000 disposal sites where no regulations were in place • Scientists believe that the most serious environmental hazard facing the U.S. today may be the management of hazardous chemical materials • Chemical waste leaks into the environment in a number of ways, including: barrels that have rusted or tipped over leaking into the bedrock, liquid waste seeping into ground water, and liquid chemicals illegally dumped in fields or along roads

5. 28.7 Hazardous-Waste Legislation • The recognition of the dangers of hazardous waste to people and the environment in the 1970’s led t proper management acts. • The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was developed in 1976. • This identifies hazardous waste and their life cycles in order to  issue guidelines and responsibilities to those who manufacture, transport, and dispose of the waste • Also known as “cradle to grave” management • RCRA applies to sold, semisolid, liquid, and gaseous  hazardous wastes • A waste is considered hazardous if its concentration, volume, or infectious nature may contribute to serious disease or death or poses a hazard to people and the environment from improper management.

6. Hazardous-Waste Legislation • In  1980,Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Comprehension, and Liability Act (CERCLA). • Defined policies and procedures for release of hazardous substances into the environment • Development of a list of sites where hazardous substances were likely to or already most serious problems • Establishes a superfund to clean up worst abandoned hazardous sites. • CERCLA was strengthened by changes in 1984 and 1986: • Improved and tightened standards for disposal and cleanup of waste • Banned land disposal of certain hazardous chemical • Initiated a timetable for phasing out disposal of all untreated liquid hazardous waste in landfills or surface impoundments • Increase the superfund which was initially$8 billion (approved another $7.4  billion) • Superfund cleanups are behind schedule and are not sufficient to decontaminate all targeted sites.

7. Hazardous-Waste Legislation • Property owners were being held liable for costly cleanup of hazardous waste present on the property even if they didn’t directly cause the problem. • Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 provides a possible defense against such liability if the property owner has completed an environmental audit prior to purchase. –Audit involves studying past land use at the site from old maps and reports –May also involve drilling to sample groundwater and soil to determine if hazardous material is present –Audits are now considered routine prior to property purchase • SARA legislation requires certain industries report all releases of hazardous materials, and a list of companies releasing hazardous substances (known as the “Toxic 500”). • In 1990, Congress reauthorized hazardous waste control legislation: –Establishing who is reliable,  assisting cleanup funds when necessary, providing measures where people who suffer are compensated, and improving the required standards for disposal and cleanup of hazardous waste. • Establishing who is reliable,  assisting cleanup funds when necessary, providing measures where people who suffer are compensated, and improving the required standards for disposal and cleanup of hazardous waste.

8. 28.8 Hazardous-Waste Management: Land Disposal • Secure Landfill: confines waste to a specific location; control, collect, treat leachate • Advantages: several impermeable layers/filters to ensure leachate doesn’t contaminate soil • Disadvantages: liners/filters can fail, drains can clog, animals can chew through liners • Land Application: intentional application of waste materials to surface soil • Advantages: soil constantly recycles organic/inorganic matter by decomposition • Disadvantages: not an effective treatment for inorganic substances like salts and heavy metals

9. Land Disposal • Surface Impoundment: natural topographic depressions and synthetic excavations are used to hold hazardous liquid waste • Disadvantages: pollution caused by seepage and evaporation • Deep-well Disposal: waste is injected into permeable rock layer several thousand meters below surface in basins capped by impervious rock • Advantages: isolated from freshwater aquifers to assure injection of waste won’t contaminate existing water • Disadvantages: limited number of suitable sites, limited space within each site, must be carefully monitored

10. Land Disposal • Direct disposal of waste is often not the best initial alternative • Cannot guarantee that waste will be contained and will not cause environmental disruption • Pollution of air, land, surface/ground water may result from failure of land disposal sites • Pollution of groundwater is most significant risk; easiest way for humans to be affected

11. Secure Landfill Deep Well Disposal Waste Removal - California 1998 - USEPA

12. 28.9 Alternatives to Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste • Chemical Waste Management would benefit by including processes such as source reduction, recycling, and resource recovery, treatment, and incineration. • Advantages: • Useful chemicals can be reclaimed and reused • Treatment of wastes may make them [the wastes] less toxic and therefore less likely to cause problems in landfills. • The actual waste that must eventually be disposed of is reduced to a much smaller volume. • Because a reduced volume of waste is finally disposed of, there is less stress on the dwindling capacity of waste disposal sites.

13. Alternatives to Land Disposal • The main goal of source reduction in hazardous waste management is to reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated by manufacturing or other processes. • Hazardous chemical waste may contain materials that can be recovered for future use. • These acids/solvents that can be found in hazardous chemical waste can be processed to remove contaminates.

14. Alternatives to Land Disposal • Hazardous chemical waste can be treated by a variety of processes to change the physical or chemical composition of the waste and so to reduce its toxic or hazardous characteristics. • Hazardous chemical waste can be successfully destroyed by high-temperature incineration.

15. 28.10 Ocean Dumping • Oceans cover more than 70% of the earth • They maintain our global environment and cycle carbon dioxide, which regulates the climate, and cycle phosphorous and nitrogen

16. Ocean Dumping • Ocean Dumping Act of 1972- provide for meeting US commitments under the 1972 Convention on the Prevention for Marine Pollution by Dumping of Waste and Other Matters • Prevents dumping, signed by over 80 countries • Bans dumping of radiological, chemical, biological warfare agents, and high-level radioactive waste

17. Ocean Dumping • 1988- extended this to include sewage sludge, industrial waste, and medical wastes • 1992- established a national coastal water quality monitoring program • Ocean dumping still continues however; with the growth of population, waste will continue to end up in the ocean

18. Ocean Dumping • Dredge spoils: solid materials from industrial and municipal discharges, removed to improve navigation • Industrial waste: acids, refinery waste, paper mill wastes, pesticide wastes • Sewage sludge: solid material that remains after municipal wastewater treatment • Construction and demolition debris: cinder block, plaster, dirt, stone, and tile • Solid waste: refuse, garbage, explosives, radioactive waste, and untreated sewage

19. Ocean Dumping • Dumping is a serious problem of ocean pollution and a health hazard to all • Areas with continual pollution are located near shore- also areas with valuable fisheries • Ex. Shellfish have been found to contain organisms that produce diseases like polio and hepatitis • Effects of Ocean Dumping on Animals

20. Ocean Dumping • Causes death, retarded growth, vitality, or reproductivity of marine organisms • Reduction of oxygen content in oceans • Eutrophication caused be depletion of oxygen • Habitat changes caused by waste disposal practices

21. Ocean Dumping • Europe-blooms of toxic algae are becoming more common • Microlayer- the upper 3mm of ocean water, contains phytoplankton essential to marine life • This layer also tends to collect pollutants, about 10 to 1000 times more than other layers • This spreads to beaches and harbors, reducing visual appeal and stimulates economic loss, like the millions of dollars spent cleaning up.

22. 28.11 Pollution Protection • Control was established through laws, and accomplished by chemical, physical, or biological treatment and collection, transformation, or destruction of pollutants. • Pollution Prevention- identifying ways to prevent the generation of waste rather than finding ways to dispose of it.

23. Pollution Protection • Purchasing the proper amount of raw materials- no excess • Exercising better control of materials- less waste produced • Substituting nontoxic chemicals • Improving engineering and design of manufacturing processes- less waste produced

24. Pollution Protection • Called P-2 approaches • Wisconsin- producing cheese, was faced with the disposal of about 2,000 gallons a day of a salty solution. Initially, they dumped this solution onto nearby agricultural lands • The solution was applied incorrectly; causing the salt levels to rise, damaging the crops • This forced the Department of Natural Resources in Wisconsin to regulate the discharge of salt into lands

25. Pollution Protection • Cheese makers then modified their process to reduce the amount of salt, using an evaporator • This reduced salty waste by 75% and reduced the amount of salt the company needed to purchase by 50% • This story, among many others, suggests that minor changes can result in large reductions of waste, and large savings