Hazardous Waste Management, Volume I

Sukalyan Sengupta

• Publisher: Momentum Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781945612893
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Gestione ambientale

Environmental engineers are primarily responsible for restoring hazardous waste sites to a condition where they will not cause adverse effect to human health and the environment and for creating a waste-handling architecture that prevents future industrial wastes from causing any damage. This book presents a roadmap for hazardous waste management. Beginning with the legal framework that defines what a hazardous waste is and when a waste becomes hazardous, a practicing engineer needs to have a general idea of environmental audits, toxicology, site characterization, treatment processes, and site-monitoring protocol. In addition, the toxic compounds of concern may partition into the soil, groundwater, and air. Thus, any attempt to deal with such a situation requires integration of law, science, technology, and social policy. This book guides the reader with the help of numerous solved examples with a clear goal of showing how these topics are integrated in practice.

CHAPTER 1

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HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDSCAPE

The harmful effects of some of the chemicals used by society were known from the beginning of early civilizations, but there was no systematic procedure to deal with this challenge. The problem grew much worse with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The quantum leap in industrial production needed robust methods of resource extraction, and these two combined to produce huge amounts of toxic wastes. The environmental and health effects of these activities were not understood or recognized initially, much less quantified. This was because it took a long time (decades, even generations) for the effects to be manifested in human populations in significant numbers and science had not progressed enough to provide irrefutable explanations for these situations. The 20th century witnessed some landmark episodes which propelled public sentiment toward a proactive approach to deal with this situation. Some of these episodes are presented here in brief. The reader is advised to get additional information about these instances, which is available from a multitude of print and online sources.

1.1 LANDMARK EPISODES

1.1.1 RACHEL CARSON’S SILENT SPRING

The Industrial Revolution resulted in mass urbanization, as factories needed labor force that was located nearby for daily shifts. This resulted in a massive reduction of farm labor. To maintain the agricultural production that was needed for an ever-growing population, but with a shrinking farm labor force, mechanization of agriculture became a necessity, as did the increasing use of chemicals and fertilizers in agriculture. In the 1950s, Rachel Carson focused her attention on the widespread and indiscriminate use of a particular pesticide, DDT. In her landmark book, Silent Spring published in 1962, Rachel Carson comprehensively documented how DDT exposure was associated with many public health and environmental effects. The book served as a “wake-up call” to enforce measures to deal with toxic wastes.

1.1.2 MINAMATA BAY DISASTER

In the mid-1950s, doctors in the Minamata Bay area of Japan started seeing many patients with symptoms of a disease of the central nervous system. Detailed investigations revealed that a common feature of all the victims was that they resided in fishing hamlets along the shore of the Minamata Bay. The primary suspect then was consumption of fish and shellfish from the bay. Further investigations showed that extremely high levels of mercury discharged from a local chemical factory had contaminated the bay and its bioaccumulation (see chapter 2) by fish and shellfish had resulted in massive amounts of mercury ingestion by the local population. This epidemic served as another warning to the global population that aggressive measures were needed to deal with the discharge of toxic industrial wastes.

1.1.3 LOVE CANAL

Love Canal, situated in the city of Niagara Falls in New York State, was originally built as a shipping lane in the 1890s, but the plan was abandoned soon. The defunct canal then became a hazardous waste disposal site, but was sold to the Niagara School District in 1952. An elementary school built on this site was soon surrounded by many homes. In the 1970s, homeowners complained of a strong odor and puddles of oil or colored liquid in yards and basements. Investigations revealed the presence of numerous toxic contaminants in the air, groundwater, and soil. Pioneering reporting by Michael Brown of the Niagara Gazette, who also documented birth defects and many physical abnormalities among the residents of this neighborhood, focused national attention on this site. Public pressure by the community culminated in President Carter declaring Love Canal to be a federal disaster site in 1978.

1.1.4 TIMES BEACH, MISSOURI

Times beach was a small community near St. Louis. A local entrepreneur, Russell Martin Bliss, discovered that spraying of waste oil on his horse arena and farm controlled dust very well. Impressed with its efficacy, other farm owners contracted Bliss to spray waste oils on their farms and barns. Soon, birds began to drop dead and horses started to develop sores, lose hair, and die. Investigations revealed that the waste oil contained excessively high levels of dioxins. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bought all the properties in 1983 and evacuated the residents in 1983.

1.2 REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

As the people became aware of these episodes and numerous others, they started demanding government action to manage hazardous wastes so that public health and the environment are protected. The U.S. Congress took a two-pronged approach in meeting this goal:

1.Managing currently generated hazardous waste

2.Remediation of contaminated sites

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, along with the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984, was passed to achieve “Cradle to Grave” control of hazardous waste through regulations on

1.Generators

2.Transporters

3.Owners/Operators of Treatment, Storage or Disposal (TSD) Facilities.

1.2.1 RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT (RCRA)

RCRA descended from Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965) and Resource Recovery Act (1970). These two were primarily concerned with safe handling, management, and disposal of solid waste, along with encouragement of waste minimization, waste recycle, and material and energy conservation.

1.2.1.1 Definition of Solid Waste

The term “solid waste” means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or source, special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 923).

1.2.1.2 General Definition of Hazardous Waste

A solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may

a.cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious, irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness; or

b.pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

Table 1.1 lists the provisions of RCRA. This volume focuses only on Subtitles A and C.

Table 1.1 RCRA Provisions

1.2.1.3 RCRA Provisions

Subtitle A

Goals and objectives of Subtitle A include the following:

1.Generation of hazardous waste to be reduced or eliminated

2.Land disposal should be the least favored method for disposal of hazardous waste

3.All waste must be handled to minimize present and future threats to human health and the environment

Subtitle B

The goals and objectives listed in Subtitle A are achieved by the following:

a.Proper management of hazardous waste

b.Minimization of the generation of hazardous waste

c.Minimization of land disposal of hazardous waste

d.Prohibiti...