Monitoring solid waste

Monitor environmental conditions and test for contanimants Encourage recycling, recovery, and reuse of all solid waste to conserve resources and reduce waste... 

US Environmental Protection Agency, RCRA Ground-Water Monitoring Draft Technical Guidance, Office of Solid Waste, Washington, DC (1992). 

Information on occupational exposure to lead is obtained primarily from the National Occupational Exposure Survey (NOES) and industry surveys of workers. While occupational exposure is widespread, environmental monitoring data on levels of exposure in many occupations are not available. OSHA has established a permissible exposure limit (PEL) for lead of 50 pg/m3 for workplace air (OSHA 1991). NIOSH has estimated that more than 1 million American workers were occupationally exposed to inorganic lead in more than 100 occupations (NIOSH 1977a, 1978a). According to NOES, conducted by NIOSH between 1980 and 1983, an estimated 25,169 employees were exposed to tetraethyl lead (not used in gasoline since December 31, 1995) approximately 57,000 employees were exposed to various lead oxides mostly in non-ferrous foundries, lead smelters, and battery plants 3,902 employees were exposed to lead chloride and 576,579 employees were exposed to some other form of lead in the workplace in 1980 (NIOSH 1990). Workers who operate and maintain solid waste incinerators are also exposed to air lead levels as high as 2,500 pg/m3 (Malkin 1992). 

De Macario, E. C. Macario, A. J. L. Rivard, C. J. Grohmann, K. Use of Antibody Probes to Monitor Hydrolytic Microbes in Municipal Solid Waste Anaerobic Digesters SERI-SP-231-3520 Solar Energy Research Institute Golden, CO, 1989 pp 47-58. 

Dichlorobenzene (unspecifred isomers) has been reported in the leachate from industrial and municipal landfills at concentrations from 0.007 to 0.52 ppm (7-520 ppb) (Brown and Donnelly 1988). 1,4-Dichlorobenzene has also been monitored in wetland-treated leachate water at a municipal solid waste landfdl in central Florida (Chen and Zoltech 1995). Groundwater samples contained concentrations of 0.08-10.71 ppb. Hallbourg et al. (1992) detected dichlorobenzene (unspecified... 

In the past few years the use of rotifers in ecotoxicological studies has substantially increased. The main endpoints used are mortality, reproduction, behavior, cellular biomarkers, mesocosms, and species diversity in natural populations [126]. Several workers have used Brachionus calyciflorus for various types of toxicity assessments. Thus, comprehensive evaluation of approximately 400 environmental samples for the toxicity assessment of solid waste elutriates, monitoring wells, effluents, sediment pore water, and sewage sludge was carried out by Persoone and Janssen [127]. The mortality of rotifers hatched from cysts is evaluated after 24 hours exposure. This microbiotest has been commercialized in a Rotoxkit F [128,129]. 

PlANTONE, P., BODENAN, F., DERIE, R. Depelsenaire, G. 2003. Monitoring the stabilization of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash by phosphatation mineralogical and balance approach. Waste Management, 23, 225-243. 

Subtitle D of RCRA covers nonhazardous solid waste generators, transporters, treatment facilities, storage facilities, and disposal sites. Extensive rules governing municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLs) have been developed, including how to design, construct, operate, monitor, and close a landfill, as well as leachate systems and caps. The nonhazardous waste regulation is left for the states. 

Monitoring is generally required both for disposal processes and for maintenance activities when workers can potentially be exposed, as well as for emissions and wastes transported off site. SOPCs may be agents or nonagents they may be found in the plant, in outdoor air, in liquid process or effluent streams, on surfaces in the plant, or in solid waste materials. Table 2-1 shows a number of examples of media that may require monitoring. 

The release of PCDD/PCDF from transport activities was estimated to be very minimal and not reported for uncontrolled combustion processes (Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2004). In the Department of Environment Malaysia 1997 report, the major sources of air pollution in 1996 were motor vehicles, 82%, power stations, 9%, industrial fuel burning, 5%, industrial production processes, 3%, domestic and commercial furnaces, 0.2%, and open burning at solid waste disposal sites, 0.8% (Afroz et al., 2003). Leaded gasoline has been phased out since 1998 and most cars have been fitted with catalytic converters since then. Consequently, a minimal release of PCDD/PCDF is expected from motor vehicles that are mainly from diesel-powered vehicles. The released air pollutions monitored were CO, N02, S02, 03, and suspended particulate matters. 

Air monitoring at Windsor, Ontario, downwind of a proposed municipal solid-waste incinerator in Detroit, Michigan, between 1987 and 1988 found a mean total CDD concentration of 2.12 pg/m3. A sampling station located in a rural area 30 miles away provided background total CDD concentrations of 0.51 mg/m3. At both stations, the primary congeners were HpCDD and OCDD in the particulate phase, whereas TCDD and PeCDD were not detected in the vapor or particulate phases above the detection limit (Bobetetal. 1990). 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) (1999) Use of monitored natural attenuation at superfund, RCRA corrective action, and underground storage tank sites. Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Directive 9200.4-17P... 

Under the modified ANCDF waste analysis plan, specific waste streams will be screened based on the STL values for chemical agent (ADEM, 2006). These wastes may be shipped to an off-site TSDF if the concentrations are <1 VSL.5 Wastes shown by monitoring to contain < 1 STL of GB and/or VX may be disposed of at an off-site thermal treatment facility. Only nonporous solid wastes that are combustible in nature or objects that do not possess internal cavities will be evaluated for off-site disposal using chemical agent vapor monitoring (ADEM, 2006). 

Waste disposal is a serious problem for many chemical plants. The EPA initiative that has greatly curtailed land disposal has had a great effect on waste disposal. The 1984 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) amendments have also made it more difficult to dispose of solid wastes. In addition, RCRA required all interim status hazardous-waste facilities to meet ground-water monitoring and insurance requirements by late 1985. This included hazardous-waste surface impoundments. Since 1988, a double liner and leachate collection system have also been required. 

EPA. 1991f. Constituents for Detection Monitoring. Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Code of Federal Regulations. 40 CFR 258, Appendix I. 

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