E-waste disposal

Solidification (Cementation) Technology for Hazardous E-Waste Disposal... 

The e-waste issue can be discussed from multiple angles, e.g., international trade, management, and recycling techniques. This chapter is intended to address the environmental consequences of e-waste disposal if not conducted properly. 

There are many e-waste disposal sites in China, among which Guiyu of Guangdong Province (Fig. 1) is a focal point of international attention as it is... 

The current volume of E-waste disposed of in China is unknown. Martin et al. (2004) estimated that up to 261,0001 of PBDEs were imported into Guangdong province in 2002 in scrap electronic devices. The Chinese government is unable to provide details of the E-waste disposal practices but now has its own ban on such imports of E-waste. 

Estimates of annual e-waste disposal include more than 100 million phones in European nations and 30 million computers in the United States. These wastes contain hazardous materials such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and chromium. Computer monitors contain about four to five pounds of lead. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that about 1.6 million tons of household hazardous wastes are generated in America annually, and include paints, pesticides, cleaning products, and used motor oil. 

This Act was gradually introduced over a 14-year period using 19 commencement orders. The Act was the first attempt to deal with the various aspects of pollution, i.e. waste disposal on land, litter, water pollution, noise and atmospheric pollution. For the first time, waste disposal authorities were required to provide waste disposal plans for their area. These plans were envisaged to be far-reaching and very detailed but the response by waste disposal authorities has been very mixed. Under the Act, licences are issued for the disposal of waste having regard for the prevention of water pollution or danger to public health. 

Lead solder was used in electronic equipment, but that practice ended with a European Union ban in 2006. Black (2005) reported that when older electronic devices that were disposed of in landfills break down, lead could leach from those landfills and contaminate drinking water. Electronic waste, or e-waste, consists of unwanted electronic devices or Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT). These devices frequently contain hazardous materials, including lead. To prevent groundwater contamination from e-waste, these materials should be properly recycled. E-waste disposal in landfills is illegal in some states (Jamot 2013). 

E.-S. Lau, Raidioactivity andNuc/ear Waste Disposal, Research Studies Press, Letchsworth, Hertsfordshire, U.K., 1987. 

Environmental Factors These inchrde (I) eqrripment location, (2) available space, (3) ambient conditions, (4) availabuity of adeqrrate rrtilities (i.e., power, water, etc.) and ancillary-system facilities (i.e., waste treatment and disposal, etc.), (5) maximrrm aUowable emission (air polhrtion codes), (6) aesthetic considerations (i.e., visible steam or water-vapor phrme, etc.), (7) contribrrtions of the air-poUrrtion-control system to wastewater and land poUrrtion, and (8) contribrrtion of the air-poUrrtion-control system to plant noise levels. 

LEACHATE Liquid that leaks from waste disposal sites. (In a broader sense liquid, e.g. solution, removed from a solid by a solvent, sueh as water.)... 

Under Part 1 of EPA 90, an IPC system eontrols emissions to air, land and water for the most polluting industrial and similar proeesses. All operators of preseribed proeesses, e.g. fuel and power, minerals, waste disposal and ehemieal, require prior authorization. They are required to use BATNEEC, the Best Available Teehnology Not Entailing Exeessive Cost ... 

Listing of solid wastes, quantities, analyses and physical form (e.g. solid, slurry, suspension, sludge) toxicity and flammability. Checking the reliability and legality of waste disposal options, including any transportation offsite. Record keeping. 

Ethyl aluminum dichloride (EADC) is used in the rnanufacmre of certain catalysts for making LDPE. Occasionally, the batch operation involving the catalyst production results in an off-spec lot. This off-spec lot is washed from the reactor (impregantor) with water and hexane, and must be sent to a waste disposal facility. The facility treats this waste in a hydrolysis reaction (i.e., with water and mild agitation). If the reaction is exothermic, what are the potential air pollution and fire problems associated with the waste treatment ... 

Hatch, J. and E. Hayes. "State-of-the-Art Remedial Action Technologies Used for the Sydney Mine Waste Disposal Site Cleanups," In Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites Proceedings, Washington, D.C., 1985, pp. 285. 

J. E. McCartliy and M. Tiemann, Sunmiaries of Environmental Laws Administered by the EPA Solid Waste Disposal Act/ Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, July 15, 2000. 

Waste disposal should be located downwind to minimize e.xposure to plant workers and the community. 

Populations residing near hazardous waste disposal sites may be subject to higher levels of methyl parathion in environmental media (i.e., air, groundwater, soil) than those experienced by the general population. Methyl parathion has been identified in at least 16 of the 1,585 hazardous waste sites that have been proposed for inclusion on the EPA National Priorities List (NPL). However, the number of sites evaluated for methyl parathion is not known. As more sites are evaluated, the number of sites where methyl parathion has been detected may increase. 

Sources of land pollution include direct dumping of domestic and industrial solid waste, excessive application of agrochemicals, and indirect contamination resulting from leaks or from leaching of hazardous components from liquid waste disposal sites or from atmospheric fallout. Land may also become contaminated by chemicals processed, stored or dumped at the site, perhaps in the distant past. Such contamination may pose a health risk to workers on the site, those subsequently involved in building, construction or engineering works, or the public (e.g. arising from trespass), and to animals. 

Table 13.16 sets out the major waste disposal methods, and potential hazards from toxic waste deposition are indicated in Table 13.17. The range of precautions required at land tips depends upon the risk, e.g. the nature and degree of contamination and the work to be undertaken. It will, however, encompass personal protective equipment a high standard of personal hygiene enclosure, possibly pressurization, and regular cleaning of vehicle cabs vehicle washing facilities site security, and control of designated dirty areas. Air monitoring and medical surveillance may be required.

Under Part I of the act an IPC system controls emissions to air, land or water for the most polluting industrial and similar processes. IPC is limited to prescribed processes (e.g. chemical, fuel and power, waste disposal, minerals etc.) by prior authorization. Authorization is based on the requirement for owners/controllers to prevent release of prescribed substances or, where this is not practicable, to reduce the release to a minimum. Any residual release must be rendered harmless. To achieve these aims, operators must use the best practicable means not entailing excessive cost (BATNEEC). 

Production costs include capital-dependent costs, e.g. depreciation, interest, insurance, and taxes and operating costs such as costs of raw materials and auxiliaries, costs of utilities, waste-disposal costs, labour costs, maintenance costs, and overheads. 

In the manufacture of Portland cement, many otherwise-waste materials can be used either as a substitute for the traditional raw material, or as a secondary fuel (e.g., used tires) [334,1577]. In particular, drilling wastes can be introduced in the clinker burning process [878]. For both waste disposal and cement manufacturers, a mutual benefit will emerge. The cement manufacturing companies reduce their demand for traditional raw materials and save the limited capacity of landfills and other waste-treatment industries. 

There are no measurements of the actual concentrations of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in groundwater at the RMA during the years of active production of the nerve gas Sarin (i.e., 1953-1957) (EPA 1989). The first actual measurements of the concentration of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in the groundwater on the arsenal and surrounding property to the north and west were made in 1974 (Robson 1981). The concentrations of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in the groundwater ranged from 0.5 g/L (analytical detection limit) to as much as 44,000 g/L near the abandoned waste disposal ponds. Diisopropyl methylphosphonate was discharged into a lined reservoir at the RMA in 1956 and was still present 20 years later in concentrations of about 400,000 g/L (Robson 1977). 

Wastes must be an RCRA hazardous waste in order to be subject to the LDR program. In other words, unless a waste meets the definition of a solid and hazardous waste, its disposal is not regulated under the LDR program. Once a generator identifies its waste as hazardous (either listed, characteristic, or both), the waste is assigned a waste code. When U.S. EPA establishes a treatment standard for the waste code, the waste will then become restricted (i.e., subject to the LDR requirements). RCRA requires that U.S. EPA establish treatment standards for hazardous wastes within six months of promulgating a new listing or characteristic. Until U.S. EPA establishes a treatment standard for a waste, this newly identified or newly listed waste (i.e., waste for which U.S. EPA is yet to establish a treatment... 

Extraction of pollutants from air emissions using CAA controls (e.g., scrubbers) can create hazardous wastes or sludges containing such wastes. Disposal of these materials must comply with RCRA. 

Collins, A.G. and Crocker, M.E., Laboratory Protocol for Determining Fate of Waste Disposed in Deep Wells, EPA/600/8-88/008, National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research, Bartlesville, OK, 1988. 

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