Environment, recycling/disposal

In aqueous waste-removal operations, the solute is often an undesirable species to be removed from wastewater. After solute recovery, the rich streams, with solute in low concentrations, are disposed of, returned to the environment, recycled, or reused. Clearly, when returned to the environment, these streams must meet the latest federal, state, or local regida-tions. When recycled or reused, solute concentrations must be sufficiently low to meet the requirements of sinks elsewhere in the process. 

Lead is in some types of batteries automobiles and other vehicles use lead-acid batteries, as do some alarm and emergency lighting systems (Wieman 2013). These batteries do not threaten human health when they are used. Problems occur when they are disposed of improperly. If they are landfilled or incinerated, lead can be released into the environment. Recycling is the best option for disposal of lead-acid batteries. 

The economic balance must be considered between recovery, reuse, and modification of a waste material or by-product and its disposal. The future is expected to bring iacreases ia the practice of recycle, recovery, modification, and upgrading of wastes of all sorts, and a reduction ia disposal by iaciaeration (qv), biochemical oxidation, or discharge to the environment (see Recycling). 

For those waste streams that can impact public health or the environment (if mismanaged), provide a summary of the treatment and disposal methods (for example, solvents are incinerated or recycled, lab wastes are incinerated) used to manage them and identify the on-site or off-site facilities used. Is the disposal of the waste adequately documented (for example, retention of manifests, bills of lading or transfer notes) ... 

Besides all the gaseous and liquid wastes of transportation that result from energy use, and the loss of natural environment to roadv ays, there is also the solid-waste problem of disposal— vehicles and components such as tires and batteries. Responding to the growing disposal problem, many manufacturers are building automobiles that contain far more recyclable parts. 

Polymer disposal in an inappropriate manner creates environmental problems such as dioxin formation, catastrophic fires, breeding of rats, and mosquitoes. Several methods have been explored to utilize plastics and mbber waste in an environment-friendly manner. Some of the recent advances in mbber recycling are reviewed in this chapter with special emphasis to waste mbber reutilization in plastics and mbbers. The utilization of waster mbber powder in polymer matrices provides an attractive strategy for polymer waste disposal. 

SafeChem, a subsidiary of Dow, has developed a handling system for chlorinated solvents that allows them to be used in closed-loop degreasing systems. The Safe-Tainer system uses two dedicated double wall containers one to hold fresh solvent and the other used solvent. The containers are connected to the cleaning equipment with zero dead volume, leak-free connections that prevent spills, leaks or vapour emissions during use. Used solvent is collected for recycling and professional disposal of any residues. The system minimises solvent use and release to the environment. A study carried out by Dow during a trial in... 

U.S. EPA endorses pollution prevention as one of the best means of pollution control. In 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act6 was enacted and set forth a national policy that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible and disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner. ... 

Through the late 1980s, spent pickle liquor was traditionally land disposed by steel manufacturers after lime neutralization. The lime neutralization process raises the pH of the spent acid and makes heavy metals in the sludge less likely to leach into the environment. Today, however, some of the spent pickle liquor can be recycled or regenerated on-site by steel manufacturers.5... 

Research near Bangalore [35] into the effects of crude disposal processes on the environment and workers found elevated levels of trace elements Cu, Zn, In, Sn, Pb, and Bi in soil near informal recycling shops. Among the workers, hair samples held high levels of Cu, Sb, Bi, Cd, and Ag. 

Improper disposal of e-waste has been regarded as the major source of PCDD/ Fs occurring in China s environment [46]. Consequently, e-waste recycling should be somewhat responsible for human exposure to dioxins in China. A comparison of dioxins in human samples from e-waste recycling and reference sites would either confirm or disapprove the notion. The levels of PCDD/Fs (List 4 of Appendix) in human milk samples from a group of pregnant women... 

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. 

To minimise hazardous additives in used goods and to improve their recyclability, it is, for example, required to strictly label appliances containing hazardous substances and to improve safe handling of those goods. For persistent hazardous substances like fluorinated compounds, inventories covering production, trade, transportation, applications and disposal are extremely helpful to identify sources and sinks in the technosphere and in the environment and their impact. 

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