Shortcomings of Current Waste Classification Systems

Given that waste classification systems presently exist, it is reasonable to ask whether an effort to develop the foundations of a new system would be beneficial. The short answer (expanded in Sections 4 and 5) is yes for the following reasons  

The best example of this is wastes that are classified based solely on the nature of the generating process or facility e.g., high-level radioactive waste, chemical wastes from certain industries), irrespective of the content and concentration of hazardous substances. This results in resources being used unnecessarily on lower-risk situations when they could be better applied to higher-risk situations (hazardous waste disposal or otherwise). For example, billions of dollars have been spent in managing 

DOE s high-level wastes as if they were among the most hazardous of all radioactive wastes. However, the concentrations of hazardous substances in some of these wastes are similar to those in low-level radioactive waste that is normally intended for disposal in near-surface facilities. In contrast, some chemical wastes that are highly hazardous, compared with other wastes, and nondegradable are being sent to near-surface disposal facilities. Both of these situations occur largely because of the source-based aspects of existing waste classification systems. 

To the extent that risk is used as a basis for waste classification, it is not used consistently. Different values for acceptable risk are assumed for different hazardous waste disposal situations. In addition, a variety of surrogate measures (e.g., ingestion toxicity, total radioactivity) having varying relationships to risk have been used to classify wastes. 

The requirements for managing hazardous chemical waste are sufficiently different from those for radioactive waste that treatment and disposal of waste that contains both types of substances is greatly impeded. Large volumes of waste that contains hazardous chemicals and radionuclides (referred to as mixed waste ) are presently being stored because the inconsistency in regulations has resulted in inadequate treatment and disposal capacity. 

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