Solid wastes marine environment

Solid waste disposal environments for plastic materials can include industrial compost, home compost, anaerobic digestion, landfill, litter, and ocean water. Only two disposal environments have both biodegradation standards for test methods and biodegradation performance standards, for example, industrial compost and marine biodegradation environments. Test method standards are available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, and landfill environments. The second necessary performance specification standard for biodegradation performance is not available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, or landfill... 

One major environmental problem is associated with the Bayer process for alumina production from bauxite. The residue (called red mud ) which is obtained in the process contains unextracted oxides (e.g., alumina, ferric oxide, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, calcium oxide) and various insoluble materials. This solid waste is washed and discharged into impoundment ponds or into the marine environment. 

The Environmental Protection Law is a comprehensive law on environmental protection. Article 33, which is directly related to management of POPs, states, The production, storage, transportation, sale and use of toxic chemicals and materials containing radioactive substances must comply with the relevant state provisions so as to prevent environmental pollution. In addition, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, the Marine Environment Protection Law, the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes have all put forward pollution prevention requirements. Previous experience can also be used in the management of POP-like materials. Presently, China has no laws that specifically address management of POPs. 

The D20.96 Committee of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) worked intensively on test methods for water-insoluble polymers and plastic materials [38,39]. Since 1993, five standards for biodegradation of plastic materials in various conditions have been published (Table 2), and other test methods with different environments are nearing completion [39], i.e., anaerobic high-solid digestor and anaerobic accelerated landfill to simulate the fate of a material during solid waste management. Other experimental methods need to be developed for freshwater and simulated marine conditions. 

Marine debris is generally defined as any manufactured or processed solid waste material (typically inert) that enters the marine environment from any source. Marine litter and floatables are considered equivalent terms [1], Marine pollution is defined as the introduction by man, directly or indirectly, of substances into the marine environment (including estuaries) resulting in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources, hindrance to marine activities including fishing, impairment of quality for use of sea water and reduction of amenities [2], Marine debris is dominated by persistent synthetic materials, most of which are plastics. 

The Iraqi invasion, occupation and the liberation warfare seriously disrupted many aspects of terrestrial and marine environment in Kuwait and made it one of humankind s worst environmental disasters (Table 1). The personnel carriers moved uncontrolled across the desert, hundreds of km of ditches were dug, thousands of makeshift shelters were erected and vast quantities of solid, semisolid and liquid wastes were left behind. Beginning February 17, 1991, Iraqi troops detonated 798 oil wells [1, 2,15]. The oil wells with nearly 1,100 kg pressure per cm discharged... 

Bis(2-chloroethyl)ether s former production and use in the textile industry and as solvent in natural and synthetic resins may result in its release to the environment through various waste streams. If released to air, a vapor pressure of 1.55 mm Hg at 25°C indicates that bis(2-chloroethyl)ether will exist solely as vapor in the ambient atmosphere. Vapor-phase bis(2-chloroethyl)ether will be degraded in the atmosphere by reaction with photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals the half-life for this reaction in air is estimated to be 5 days. If released into soil, bis(2-chloroethyl) ether has a high mobility. Many ethers are known to be resistant to biodegradation. Volatilization from moist soil surfaces is an important fate process. If released into water, bis(2-chloroethyl)ether is not adsorbed by suspended solids and sediment in water. Volatilization from water surfaces is an important fate process. The volatilization half-life from a model river and a model lake is estimated as approximately 40 h and 16 days. Bis(2-chloroethyl) ether is a marine pollutant and its release to the sea is prohibited by the International Convention since 1973. ... 

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