Releases to land

Environmental Fate. A portion of releases to land and water will quickly evaporate, although some degradation by microorganisms will occur. Xylene are moderately mobile in soils and may leach into groundwater, where they may persist for many years. Xylenes are VOCs. As such, xylene will react with other atmospheric components, contributing to the formation of ground-level ozone and other air pollutants. 

In Section 5, you must account forthe total aggregate releases of the toxic chemical to the environment from your facility for the calendar year. Releases to the environment include emissions to the air, discharges to surface waters, and on-site releases to land and underground injection wells. If you have no releases to a particular media (e.g., stack air), enter not applicable, NA do not leave any part of Section 5 blank. Check the box on the last line of this section if you use Part IV, the supplemental information sheet. 

Four predefined subcategories for reporting quantities released to land within the boundaries of the facility are provided. Do not report land disposal at off-site locations in this section. 

Land treatmant/appllcatlon farming - Another disposal method is land treatment in which a waste containing a listed chemical is applied onto or incorporated into soil. While this disposal method is considered a release to land, any volatilization of listed chemicals into the air occurring during the disposal operation must be reported as a fugitive air release in Section 5.1 of Form R. 

The facility wastewater monitoring program does not determine the concentration of lead and lead compounds in the scrubber discharge water, and releases to the surface impoundment (releases to land) must be calculated using mate-riai balance information. These releases to land are determined from the amount of lead removed by the scrubber (using the efficiency data provided by the scrubber manufacturer). The volume of the scrubber blowdown Is found to be 1,500 pounds per year. Enter the estimate of the amount of lead and lead compounds released to surface Impoundments in the space provided in Part III, Section 5.5.3 of the form. Because releases of lead to the surface Impoundment are greater than 999 pounds per year, you must enter the actual calculated amount in column A.2 of Section 5.5.1. The basis for the estimate of releases to the surface impoundment, entered in column B of Section 5, is mass balance calculations (code C). 

According to TRI, an estimated total of at least 21,190 pounds of trichloroethylene was released to land from manufacturing and processing facilities in the United States in 1988 (TR188 1990). The level reported in 1993 was 8,213 pounds (TRI93 1995). The number of reporting facilities in each state and the ranges within which individual facilities reported their releases are shown in Table 5-1. The TRI data listed in this table should be used with caution since only certain types of facilities are required to report. This is not an exhaustive list. 

According to the Toxics Release Inventory, in 1996, the estimated releases of lead of 15,147,385 pounds (6,870,738 kg) to land from 1,454 large processing facilities accounted for about 89.4% of total environmental releases (TRI96 1998). An additional 794 pounds (360 kg), constituting less than 0.005% of the total environmental releases, were released via underground injection (TRI96 1998). Also, some of the estimated 370,905,354 pounds (168,239,838 kg) of lead transferred off-site may be ultimately disposed of on land. It should be noted that TRI-reported releases to land include, but are not limited to, releases to soil. Table 5-1 lists amounts released from these facilities. The TRI data should be used with caution, however, since only certain types of facilities are required to report. This is not an exhaustive list. 

Table 3. PCDD/Fs release to land resulting from sludge application...

Country Sludge production Sludge used in agriculture PCDD/Fs (g TEQ) release to land ... 

Overall, the chemical industry ranked third among sectors that must report to TRI. Metal mining was first, accounting for more than half of all total TRI releases of 7.5 billion lb, with nearly 4 billion lb, released to land. Electric utilities were second. Half of their emissions were hydrochloric acid aerosols from fossil fuel combustion. Percentages of TRI releases are given in Table 25.3. Overall, we should feel good, since the chemical... 

In 2000, 0 pounds of chlorine dioxide were released to land from one manufacturing facility reporting releases of the compound to the environment (TRIOO 2002). Releases to the environment from facilities that produce, process, or use chlorine dioxide are summarized in Table 6-1. The data from the TRI should be used with caution since only certain types of facilities are required to report (EPA 1995). This is not a comprehensive list. 

Although pyridine releases to land from industrial sources in the United States totalled an estimated 510 kg in 1988 as reported in the Toxics Release Inventory (Environmental Protection Agency, 1996c), release of only 2 kg to land was reported in 1997 (Environmental Protection Agency, 1999). 

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. PBDEs are released to land during their manufacture and disposal. In 1999, 746,169 pounds (338,456 kg) of DeBDE were released to land from 10 domestic manufacturing, processing, and waste disposal facilities reporting releases of the compound to the environment (TRI99... 

PBDEs are release to land as municipal wastes with the disposal of consumer products containing PBDEs. The disposal of consumer products containing PBDEs is likely to increase worldwide due to rapid obsolescence of plastic products. For example, between 1997 and 2004, the number of obsolete computers containing flame retardants is projected to be 315 million (NSC 1999). Based on a monitor weight of 30 pounds, an estimated 350 million pounds of brominated flame retardants will be released to landfills (NSC 1999). Although PBDEs will only be a fraction of this total, the amount of PBDEs released to the environment by disposal will still be significant. 

The principal sources of dichloromethane releases to land are disposal of dichloromethane products and containers to landfills. Industrial releases of dichloromethane to land and off-site transfers to landfills reported to the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory in 1988 totalled about 71 tonnes. It is estimated that about 12% of dichloromethane releases to the environment are to land (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1993). 

For release to land , the only category with an EF available was Uncontrolled Combustion Processes . Burning of biomass in forest/ grassland fires contributed to the total annual land dioxin/furan release of 0.05 g TEQ. There was a general lack of information on other potential local land sources of dioxin/furan release. 

Other disposal - Includes any amount of a listed toxic chemical released to land that does not fit the categories of landfills, land treatment, or surface impoundment. This other disposal would include any spills or leaks of listed toxic chemicals to land. For example, 2,000 pounds benzene leaks from a underground pipeline into the land at a facility. Because the pipe was only a few feet from the surface at the erupt point, 30 percent ol the benzene evaporates into the air. The 600... 

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