Hazardous wastes effect

An important newer use of fluorine is in the preparation of a polymer surface for adhesives (qv) or coatings (qv). In this apphcation the surfaces of a variety of polymers, eg, EPDM mbber, polyethylene—vinyl acetate foams, and mbber tine scrap, that are difficult or impossible to prepare by other methods are easily and quickly treated. Fluorine surface preparation, unlike wet-chemical surface treatment, does not generate large amounts of hazardous wastes and has been demonstrated to be much more effective than plasma or corona surface treatments. Figure 5 details the commercially available equipment for surface treating plastic components. Equipment to continuously treat fabrics, films, sheet foams, and other web materials is also available. 

Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and LiabiHty Act (CERCLA)/RCRA regulations in effect at the end of 1986 bromine is regulated as a hazardous waste or material. Therefore, it must be disposed of in an approved hazardous waste faciHty in compliance with EPA and/or other appHcable local, state, and federal regulations and should be handled in a manner acceptable to good waste management practice. The reportable quantity is 45.4 kg for corrosivity (62). 

Promote the protection of human health and the environment from potential adverse effects of improper solid and hazardous waste management... 

Many but not all hazardous wastes can be disposed of on land in properly designed landfills. To minimize potentially adverse environmental effects from wastes deposited at hazardous-waste landfill sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed specific regulations regarding the characteristics of wastes suitable for landfilling. These regulations (40 CFR 265) include a prohibition on the placement of ... 

Now you can reconsider the material balance equations by adding those additional factors identified in the previous step. If necessary, estimates of unaccountable losses will have to be calculated. Note that, in the case of a relatively simple manufacturing plant, preparation of a preliminary material-balance system and its refinement (Steps 14 and 15) can usefully be combined. For more-complex P2 assessments, however, two separate steps are likely to be more appropriate. An important rule to remember is that the inputs should ideally equal the outputs - but in practice this will rarely be the case. Some judgment will be required to determine what level of accuracy is acceptable, and we should have an idea as to what the unlikely sources of errors are (e.g., evaporative losses from outside holding ponds may be a materials loss we cannot accurately account for). In the case of high concentrations of hazardous wastes, accurate measurements are needed to develop cost-effective waste-reduction options. It is possible that the material balance for a number of unit operations will need to be repeated. Again, continue to review, refine, and, where necessary, expand your database. The compilation of accurate and comprehensive data is essential for a successful P2 audit and subsequent waste-reduction action plan. Remember - you can t reduce what you don t know is therel... 

Hazardous waste means any waste or combination of wastes which pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or living organisms because such wastes are nondegradable or persistent in nature or because they can biologically magnify or because they can be lethal or because they may otherwise cause or tend to cause detrimental cumulative effects. 

Applicability Most hazardous waste slurried in water can be mixed directly with cement, and the suspended solids will be incorporated into the rigid matrices of the hardened concrete. This process is especially effective for waste with high levels of toxic metals since at the pH of the cement mixture, most multivalent cations are converted into insoluble hydroxides or carbonates. Metal ions also may be incorporated into the crystalline structure of the cement minerals that form. Materials in the waste (such as sulfides, asbestos, latex and solid plastic wastes) may actually increase the strength and stability of the waste concrete. It is also effective for high-volume, low-toxic, radioactive wastes. 

The hazard-based approach allows key operational hazardous waste activities to proceed in a safe and cost-effective manner. These activities may include ... 

Lessons learned provide valuable information for managing health and safety programs. This information addresses conditions to be avoided or recommended practices. Lessons learned typically have the potential for wide-ranging application. Effective identification of lessons learned requires an awareness of emerging practices, programs, and technologies related to hazardous waste activities [3]. 

Nonemergency medical care should be arranged for hazardous waste site personnel who are experiencing health effects resulting from an exposure to hazardous substances. Off-site medical care should make sure that any potential job-related symptoms or illnesses are evaluated in the context of the employee s exposure. Off-site medical personnel should investigate and treat non-job-related illnesses that may put the employee at risk because of task requirements [1]. 

Hazardous wastes are legally defined as tliose tliat may cause adverse or clironic effects on hmnan liealUi or tlie enviromiient when not properly controlled. Hazardous wastes are generated eitlier because processes liave converted liamiless materials into hazardous substances or because natural materials tliat are... 

Directing research at cost-effective management of hazardous waste, as well as improved technologies (e.g., combustion) or new technologies for destroying hazardous waste. 

Air, soil, and water are vital to life on this planet. We mnst protect these resonrces and nse them wisely— onr snrvival as a species depends on them. Despite recent impressive strides in improving the environment, evidence is overwhelming that more effective action mnst be taken to address snch critical issnes as acid rain, hazardons waste disposal, hazardous waste landfills, and groundwater contamination. It is also vital that we assess realistically the potential health and enviromnental impacts of emerging chemical products and technologies. The problems are clearly complex and demand a broad array of new research initiatives. 

Mere destruction of the original hazardous material is not, however, an adequate measure of the performance of an incinerator. Products of incomplete combustion can be as toxic as, or even more toxic than, the materials from which they evolve. Indeed, highly mutagenic PAHs are readily generated along with soot in fuel-rich regions of most hydrocarbon flames. Formation of dioxins in the combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons has also been reported. We need to understand the entire sequence of reactions involved in incineration in order to assess the effectiveness and risks of hazardous waste incineration. 

The effectiveness of incineration has most commonly been estimated from the heating value of the fuel, a parameter that has little to do with the rate or mechanism of destraction. Alternative ways to assess the effectiveness of incineration destraction of various constituents of a hazardous waste stream have been proposed, such as assessment methods based on the kinetics of thermal decomposition of the constituents or on the susceptibility of individual constituents to free-radical attack. Laboratory studies of waste incineration have demonstrated that no single ranking procedure is appropriate for all incinerator conditions. For example, acceptably low levels of some test compounds, such as methylene chloride, have proved difficult to achieve because these compounds are formed in the flame from other chemical species. 

To help public health professionals and others address the needs of persons living or working near hazardous waste sites, the information in this section is organized first by route of exposure (inhalation, oral, and dermal) and then by health effect (death, systemic, immunological, neurological, reproductive, developmental, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects). These data are discussed in terms of three exposure periods acute (14 days or less), intermediate (15-364 days), and chronic (365 days or more). 

The significance of the exposure levels shown in the Levels of Significant Exposure (LSE) tables and figures may differ depending on the user s perspective. Public health officials and others concerned with appropriate actions to take at hazardous waste sites may want information on levels of exposure associated with more subtle effects in humans or animals (LOAELs) or exposure levels below which no adverse effects (NOAELs) have been observed. Estimates of levels posing minimal risk to humans (minimal risk levels or MRLs) may be of interest to health professionals and citizens alike. 

This chapter of the profile is a health effects summary written in non-technical language. Its intended audience is the general public especially people living in the vicinity of a hazardous waste site or chemical release. If the Public Health Statement were removed from the rest of the document, it would still communicate to the lay public essential information about the chemical. 

However, a sample taken in the doctor s office can be properly packed and shipped to a special laboratory, if necessary. Because endosulfan leaves the body fairly quickly, these methods are useful only for finding exposures that have occurred within the last few days. At this time, these methods can only be used to prove that a person has been exposed to endosulfan. The test results cannot be used to predict if you wiU have any adverse health effects. Exposure to other chemicals at the same time at hazardous waste sites could cause some confusion in understanding these results. More information about tests to find endosulfan in the body is presented in Chapters 2 and 6. 

Anand et al. 1987). The authors hypothesized that the ocular effects associated with endosulfan may be a result of prolonged hypertension (although no data on blood pressure were presented, and there is no other information to indicate that chronically administered endosulfan induces hypertension) or an endosulfan-induced vitamin A deficiency (which was observed in this study). Although the rabbit may represent a uniquely sensitive species, the possibility that long-term exposure of persons at hazardous waste sites to endosulfan may result in adverse effects on ocular tissues cannot be eliminated. 

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