Disposal Bans

One of the main components of the HSWA is the land disposal ban for hazardous wastes. This land ban states that no hazardous waste can be disposed of on land until it has been treated to have concentrations of chemicals under a certain level. The USEPA was given the responsibility to create these levels and provide a proper treatment method for each waste. The universe of hazardous waste was broken down into three categories these groups of waste were evaluated, and specific treatment methods and standards were developed. The treatment standards have been based primarily on available technology rather than on potential risks (Hendrichs, 1991). If, after treatment, the waste no longer meets any of the criteria under which the waste was listed, it can be unlisted. This process requires an extensive petition to be filed with the USEPA and can take several years to be approved. 

Among the polypropylene products, the most recycled are the battery cases. Almost all automotive and truck battery cases are made of PP, and there is a well-established industry to recycle batteries in the United States, due to its lead contamination. Because of the combination of land disposal ban, and mandated delivery/take-back provisions, automotive batteries are recycled at a very high level. About 40 percent of the recovered PP is used again in battery production and the rest is used for making other injection-molded products. Some of the cleaner recycled PP can be used in libers, such as spunbond or meltblown nonwovens for geotextiles or filter applications. ... 

Many states have imposed disposal bans on selected waste materials. Motor vehicle batteries and tires are examples of such bans. One state bans non-degradable grocery bags from its landfills and one other state bans single polymer plastics . 

Regulations. In order to decrease the amount of anthropogenic release of mercury in the United States, the EPA has limited both use and disposal of mercury. In 1992, the EPA banned land disposal of high mercury content wastes generated from the electrolytic production of chlorine—caustic soda (14), accompanied by a one-year variance owing to a lack of available waste treatment faciUties in the United States. A thermal treatment process meeting EPA standards for these wastes was developed by 1993. The use of mercury and mercury compounds as biocides in agricultural products and paints has also been banned by the EPA. 

The State of New Jersey has passed a law restricting the sale and disposal of batteries (qv) containing mercury, requiring manufacturers to reduce the mercury content of each battery to 1 ppm by weight by 1995, and to estabhsh a collection program for spent batteries (14). Another New Jersey law bans the sale of products having cadmium, mercury, or other toxic materials in the packaging (14) (see Cadmiumand cadmium alloys Cadmium compounds Mercury compounds). 

TSCA also addresses the problem of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated fluorocarbons (CECs). EPA has developed regulations on the cleanup, handling, and disposal of PCBs. The manufacture and use of CECs has been banned for all but essential uses, in accordance with the Montreal Agreement, an international treaty on worldwide use of CECs. 

Misleading also is the idea that vinyl should be harmed from incinerators because it contains heavy-metal additives. This is an evolving issue. Most vinyl products do not contain heavy metals and vinyl is a small fraction in feed to incinerators. Reformulation to replace heavy metals is in progress but some use is likely to continue. Banning vinyl from incinerators does not eliminate this problem. Rather, regulations should specify that incinerator residues (ash) be disposed of appropriately. 

Under TSCA, the EPA has issued a ban on the manufacture, processing, and distribution of produces containing PCBs. Exporting of PCB has also been banned. TSCA also required that PCB mixtures containing more than 50 ppm PCBs must be disposed of in an acceptable incinerator or chemical waste landfill. AU PCB containers or produces containing PCBs had to be clearly marked and records maintained by the operator of each facility handhng at least 45 kilograms of... 

Seventy million vehicle batteries are produced each year in the United States. About 80% of discarded lead-acid batteries are being collected and recycled. Lead-acid batteries contain about 15-20 lb of lead per battery and about 1-2 gallons of sulfuric acid. Vehicle batteries are banned from disposal in Nebraska landfills as of September 1, 1994. 

Batteries may be taken to a household-hazardous-waste collection or a local battery collection program. One can also contact the battery manufacturer for other disposal options or for information on collection programs. If disposal is the only option, and the household batteries are not banned from the permitted landfill in the area, one should protect the batteries for disposal by placing them in a sturdy plastic bag in a sturdy container to help guard against leakage. Waste batteries should not be burned because of the metals that could explode. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.12... 

The usual method for disposing of pesticides in the USSR was walling them into spent quarries and mine shafts. For example, more than 3000 tons of pesticides were walled into unfitted vertical boreholes in the Krasnodar Krai. The complete destruction of pesticides has become a large environmental problem, comparable in scale to the problem of destroying chemical weapons stocks. About 40,000 tons of unused pesticides (banned or too old to be used) had accumulated in the countries of the former Soviet Union, about half of which are located in Russia. 

Worlds apart are the practices, yet the official policies and regulatory guidelines in developing countries show much influence from those of the developed world. While waste import bans are common in the developing world, the topography of recycling and disposal costs seems to assure a flow of e-waste out of the developed world down to the points of lowest-cost disposal. 

This most comprehensive agreement, with 178 nations party to it (signed, though not yet ratified, by the USA), charges countries wherein hazardous waste is produced with responsibility for the safe disposal of such products, while banning... 

China, in addition to ratifying the Basel Convention, has a 2002 law banning hazardous waste imports. In 2005, the Management Measure for the Prevention of Pollution from Electronic Products became effective. It has been referred to as China s RoHS, specifying limits on materials similar to the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive. A new waste disposal law enacted in 2009, Regulations for the Administration of the Recovery and Disposal of Electric and... 

Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and 69 ratified the ban on all kinds of hazardous waste export from wealthy OECD-countries to non-OECD countries, large amounts of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are shipped overseas for recycling, the majority to China as reported by Brigden et al. [2] and Puckett et al. [3], lesser quantities to India and Western Africa reported by Kuper and Hojsik [4]. WEEE contains a variety of harmful substances like endocrine disruptors and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Additionally, hazardous substances may be formed during informal recycling. This often practised informal treatment without proper equipment for metal extraction and labour safety heavily affects the environment and human health of workers and the inhabitants of whole stretches of land. 

TCP), and pentachlorophenol (PCP), in order of abundance. Minor amounts of other trichlorophenols and dichlorophenols may also be present, as well as recalcitrant polychlorinated phenoxyphenols (PCPPs) and PCDD/Fs as impurities [75, 76]. In Finland, approximately 30,000 tons of CP products were used between 1934 and 1988, when they were banned because of their potential toxicity to humans and the environment [77, 78]. The careless manufacturing and application of wood preservatives together with the lack of suitable waste disposal caused massive contamination of river sediments and sawmill sites. For example, the river Kymijoki in southern Finland was identified as the largest source of dioxins accumulating in fish in the entire Baltic area. Similar products were used in other European countries, especially Nordic countries with a large forestry industry, such as Sweden [79]. 

For decades, many countries and intergovernmental organizations have taken measures to prevent the formation and release of PCDD/PCDFs, and have also banned or severely restricted the production, use, handling, transport and disposal of PCBs. As a consequence, release of these substances into the environment has decreased in many developed countries. Nevertheless, analysis of food and breast-milk show that they are still present, although in levels lower than those measured in the 1960s and 1970s. At present, the major source of PCB exposure in the general environment appears to be the redistribution of previously introduced PCBs. 

Worldwide, there are numerous plasma system designs for treatment of all types of wastes. Economical considerations limit their commercial applications to the most profitable actions. Presently they commercially operate in Switzerland and Germany for low level nuclear waste vitrification, in France and the USA for asbestos waste vitrification, in the USA and Australia for hazardous waste treatment, in Japan and France for municipal fly ash vitrification. The most of installations is working in Japan because there 70% of municipal waste is incinerated and the ash can not be used as landfill. EU Regulations banning the disposal to landfill of toxic and hazardous wastes after year 2002 may cause wider use of plasma waste destruction technology in Europe. 

A risk reduction strategy for perfluorooctanyl sulphonate (PFOS) and related compounds commissioned by the Environment Department (DEFRA) recommends a ban on the use of the compounds. Only a handful of sectors would receive derogations, and these would be conditional on the development of alternatives and the disposal of all PFOS-bearing wastes by high temperature incineration. 

The German Environmental Ministry is reported to have attacked European proposals to ban substances such as specific flame retardants in forthcoming regulations for recycling electrical and electronic equipment. Initial proposals from the EU Commission on the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment, include a phaseout of PBDEs, despite preliminary findings under EU risk assessment that there is no need for risk reduction from the two types, decaBDE and octaBDE mainly used in such equipment. The Ministry is said to be concerned at the excessively prescriptive and restrictive system being proposed, and that substance restrictions should not be addressed in waste legislation, but should be based on life cycle risk assessments. 

In addition to these informal means for regulating, 5(f) authorizes EPA to seek restrictions upon the production, distribution, use, and disposal of new substances that "present or will present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. To ban a new chemical outright, the Agency must obtain an injunction from a U.S. district court. Any other restrictions... 

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