Container disposal, current methods

Chemical compatibility tests using U.S. EPA Method 909040 should always be performed for hazardous waste sites, but some municipal waste sites also contain hazardous, nondegradable materials. U.S. EPA conducted a 5-year study of the impact of municipal refuse on commercially available liner materials and found no evidence of deterioration within that period. However, in a current study of leachate quality in municipal landfills, the Agency has discovered some organic chemical constituents normally found in hazardous waste landfill facilities. Apparently, small quantities of household hazardous waste enter municipal sites or are disposed of as small quantity generator wastes. As a result of these findings, U.S. EPA developed a position on the need for chemical compatibility tests for thousands of municipal waste disposal sites. 

Production, Import/Export, Use, Release, and Disposal. Hexachloroethane is not manufactured for commercial distribution in the United States (Gordon et al. 1991 IARC 1979 Santodonato et al. 1985). However, current production as a by-product and import information are not available. Current uses of this chemical and the amounts consumed by each use, including militaiy uses, were not located. This information would be helpful in assessing potential exposure to workers and the general population. The amount of the chemical disposed of by industrial facilities was reported to EPA (TRI93 1995), but information on quantities of hexachloroethane-containing wastes disposed of by military facilities was not located. Rotary kiln or fluidized bed incineration are acceptable methods for disposal of waste containing hexachloroethane (HSDB 1995). 

The first three editions of this book were printed at the University of Alberta. In 1990, the book was published by Lewis Publishers/CRC Press. This is the third edition from the current publisher. The information contained in the first University of Alberta edition was compiled from published material. The second and third University of Alberta editions incorporated new or modified methods for spillage and waste disposal developed in my laboratory. The development and testing of procedures for disposal of small waste or surplus quantities of hazardous chemicals in my laboratory is ongoing. Thus, the previous CRC Press edition included 50 additional entries of chemicals that are animal carcinogens. This edition incorporates 15 chemicals used as pesticides. 

Waste disposal methods Place material and absorbent into sealed containers and dispose of in accordance with current applicable laws and regulation. 

Methods and materials for containment and cleaning up Eliminate all ignition sources. Runoff may create fire or explosion hazard in sewer system. Absorb on fire retardant liquid-absorbing material (treated sawdust, diatomaceous earth, sand). Shovel up and dispose of at an appropriate waste disposal facility in accordance with current applicable laws and regulations, and product characteristics at time of disposal (see also Section 13). 

The valuable fertile elements are recovered from the acid solution by extraction with an organic solvent. The acid residue, containing the extremely radioaetive fission products, is processed to convert the waste into a stable solid form. The fission product waste, in a very concentrated form, is stored for ultimate disposal. This waste represents a different problem than the waste from current burner reactors. Because of the chemical concentration step there is less total mass of material. The same concentration process that reduced the mass of the waste concentrates the radiation produced into a smaller more intense package. This waste is so radioactive that it gets hot and must be actively cooled or diluted to prevent meltdown. Safe storage and disposal methods are very difficult to design. 

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which contains information for 1994, became available in May of 1996. This database will be updated yearly and should provide a list of industrial production facilities and emissions. Currently, no information is available in the TRI database for 2-butoxyethanol because the database contains such information only for the general toxic chemical category of glycol ethers and not for specific glycol ethers (EPA 1995). No information is available in the TRI database for 2-butoxy-ethanol acetate because this chemical is not included under SARA, Title III, and therefore is not among the chemicals that facilities are required to report (EPA 1995). There is a need for such information in order to assess the potential for human exposure to these chemicals from their release from industrial production facilities. Limited or no information was found in the available literature on current disposal methods (including efficiencies, the need for improvement, and the amount disposed of) for 2-butoxyethanol no information in these areas was found for 2-butoxyethanol acetate. Additional information on disposal methods and the amounts of 2-butoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol acetate disposed of by each method is needed. 

According to the TCLP Method 1311 (EPA SW 846) (40), for a liquid waste containing less than 0.5% solids, the liquid portion of the waste after filtration is defined as the TCLP extract. For a microfiltration system operated at a 2.5 mg Fe(III)/L dose, 2.8 gpm flow rate (1.4 gpm/m ), and 29-min backwash interval, and assuming that all the solids are removed from the filter upon backwash, the backwash water (assuming a backwash volume of 1.8 gal/m ) will have a solids content (calculated) of 0.01% (by wt). Arsenic concentration in such a filtered backwash water (average of 20 filtered samples) was determined to be 2.6 2.4 ug/L. The backwash water can thus be directly disposed as a nonhazardous waste assuming that the arsenic TCLP limit stays at its current value of 5000 fig/L. 

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