Index: Assigment 1: Solid and Hazardous Waste
Index: Assigment 1: Solid and Hazardous Waste
Index: Assigment 1: Solid and Hazardous Waste
Facultad de Ingeniera
Instalaciones Mecnicas
Index
Page
Introduction.. 2
Objectives . 3
Solid and Hazardous Waste ..... 4
Solid Waste... 4
Solid and Hazardous Waste ..... 6
Household Hazardous Waste 7
Industrial Hazardous Waste .. 7
Final disposal of solid and hazardous waste .. 8
Conclusions.. 11
Annexes.... 12
References Guide ...... 19
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Introduction
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Objetives
Solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant,
water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material,
resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from
community activities. Nearly everything we do leaves behind some kind of waste.
It is important to note that the definition of solid waste is not limited to wastes that are
physically solid. Many solid wastes are liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material.
The materials that are collected under the term solid waste include many different
substances from a multitude of sources. The sources of solid wastes are dependent on the
socioeconomic and technological levels of a society. A small rural community in Ethiopia
may have known types of solid waste from known sources. While a big city such as Addis
Ababa may have many sources.
Most people can identify solid waste when they empty their trashcans. There are much
more household wastes that are considered to be solid waste than realized. In all cases
the following sources are universal:
Agricultural: solid wastes due to agricultural activities: food residues, animal dung,
crop residues, etc. Such wastes are usually non-hazardous and negligible in rural
Ethiopia.
Industrial wastes: from various types of industrial processes. The nature of the
waste depends on the type of industry and kind of raw material involved. There
may be toxic and hazardous wastes that have adverse effects to the environment.
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Solid and Hazaurd Waste
Simply defined, a hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or
capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment. Hazardous waste
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is generated from many sources, ranging from industrial manufacturing process wastes to
batteries and may come in many forms, including liquids, solids gases, and sludges.
EPA developed a regulatory definition and process that identifies specific substances
known to be hazardous and provides objective criteria for including other materials in the
regulated hazardous waste universe. This identification process can be very complex, so
EPA encourages generators of wastes to approach the issue using the series of questions
described below:
In order for a material to be classified as a hazardous waste, it must first be a solid waste.
Therefore, the first step in the hazardous waste identification process is determining if a
material is a solid waste.
The second step in this process examines whether or not the waste is specifically
excluded from regulation as a solid or hazardous waste.
Once a generator determines that their waste meets the definition of a solid waste, they
investigate whether or not the waste is a listed or characteristic hazardous waste.
Finally, it is important to note that some facilities petitioned EPA to delist their wastes from
RCRA Subtitle C regulation. You can research the facilities that successfully petitioned
EPA. (View in annexes.)
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Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), also referred to as domestic hazardous waste or
home generated special materials, is a waste that is generated from residential
households. HHW only applies to waste coming from the use of materials that are labeled
for and sold for "home use". Waste generated by a company or at an industrial setting is
not HHW.
The following list includes categories often applied to HHW. It is important to note that
many of these categories overlap and that many household wastes can fall into multiple
categories:
Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material
that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories,
industries, mills, and mining operations. It has existed since the start of the Industrial
Revolution. Some examples of industrial wastes are chemical solvents, paints, sandpaper,
paper products, industrial by-products, metals, and radioactive wastes.
Toxic waste, chemical waste, industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste are
designations of industrial wastes. Sewage treatment plants can treat some industrial
wastes, i.e. those consisting of conventional pollutants such as biochemical oxygen
demand. Industrial wastes containing toxic pollutants require specialized treatment
systems.
According to EPA estimates, manufacturing, mining and agricultural industries, along with
commercial and domestic sources in the U.S., generate about 8 billion tons of waste each
year, about 265 million tons of which were hazardous in 1990 under RCRA.
Industrial solid waste - is divided into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Hazardous
waste may result from manufacturing or other industrial processes. Certain commercial
products such as cleaning fluids, paints or pesticides discarded by commercial
establishments or individuals can also be defined as hazardous waste. While RCRA does
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provide a general definition of hazardous waste, the hazardous waste "definition" has been
further refined through regulations.
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Historically, some hazardous wastes were disposed of in regular landfills. This resulted in
unfavorable amounts of hazardous materials seeping into the ground. These chemicals
eventually entered to natural hydrologic systems. Many landfills now require
countermeasures against groundwater contamination. For example, a barrier has to be
installed along the foundation of the landfill to contain the hazardous substances that may
remain in the disposed waste. Currently, hazardous wastes must often be stabilized and
solidified in order to enter a landfill and must undergo different treatments in order to
stabilize and dispose them. Most flammable materials can be recycled into industrial fuel.
Some materials with hazardous constituents can be recycled, lead acid batteries.
Recycling
Many hazardous wastes can be recycled into new products. Examples may include lead-
acid batteries or electronic circuit boards. When heavy metals in these types of ashes go
through the proper treatment, they could bind to other pollutants and convert them into
easier-to-dispose solids, or they could be used as pavement filling. Such treatments
reduce the level of threat of harmful chemicals, like fly and bottom ash[citation needed],
while also recycling the safe product.
Portland cement
Another commonly used treatment is cement based solidification and stabilization. Cement
is used because it can treat a range of hazardous wastes by improving physical
characteristics and decreasing the toxicity and transmission of contaminants. The cement
produced is categorized into 5 different divisions, depending on its strength and
components. This process of converting sludge into cement might include the addition of
pH adjustment agents, phosphates, or sulfur reagents to reduce the settling or curing time,
increase the compressive strength, or reduce the leach ability of contaminants.
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combustion rate of the waste and therefore reduce the air pollutants produced in the
process.
Pyrolysis
Some hazardous waste types may be eliminated using pyrolysis in an ultra high
temperature electrical arc, in inert conditions to avoid combustion. This treatment method
may be preferable to high temperature incineration in some circumstances such as in the
destruction of concentrated organic waste types, including PCBs, pesticides and other
persistent organic pollutants.
Conclusions
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1. Solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment
plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other
discarded material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural
operations, and from community activities.
3. The hazardous wastes must often be stabilized and solidified in order to enter a
landfill and must undergo different treatments in order to stabilize and dispose
them. For example by recycling it, using it as a fuel alternative, in the manufacture
of cement, etc.
Annexes
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The following table lists hazardous wastes from non-specific sources, along with industry
and EPA hazardous waste numbers and hazard codes for these hazardous wastes:
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References Guide
Regulations are codified annually in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
Title 40: Protection of Environment is the section of the CFR that deals with EPA's
mission of protecting human health and the environment.
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