The disposal of solid wastes

In the discussion of atmospheric and aqueous discharges, the underlying principles of waste minimization, in terms of volume reduction, includes recycling, and treatment. This leads to the removal or minimization of hazards from effluents and results in the production of a solid residue. This must be disposed of along with any other solid material produced on site. 

Biological treatment has been reviewed in section 9.3.2 and depends on the organic content of the waste. It can include aerobic or anaerobic processes. The anaerobic system supplying potentially useful methane is the most difficult to control efficiently, with operational problems that relate to the handling of solids and leachate, and the harnessing of gas yields. 

Unless alternative uses can be found (for example as road/construction fill or soil amendment) the solid waste residues require a final disposal route. Ultimately this is through landfilling. The pretreatment methods above serve an important role in stabilizing and reducing the volumes required for landfill. Currently, landfilling is the most economic (and consequently most used) form of disposal in the U.K., U.S.A. and Europe. In the U.S.A. and U.K. this route takes approximately 90% of controlled and 80% of hazardous wastes .  

A landfill site should be on inexpensive ground, within economical transport distance from the main waste producers, have year-round access and be a suitable distance from neighbours. The area should be clear, level and well drained, with adequate capacity for the intended use. The surrounding soil should be of low permeability and the site should be isolated from the water table, either through distance and/or design characteristics. 

The landfill can be operated in a number of ways to receive both 

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The RCRA controls the disposal of solid waste and requires that all wastes destined for land disposal be evaluated for their potential hazard to the environment. Solid waste includes liquids, solids, and containerized gases and is divided into nonhazardous waste and hazardous waste. The various amendments are aimed at preventing the disposal problems that lead to a need for the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund, as it is known. 

Two important sources of elemental phosphorus in soil are the creation of slag piles during the production of white phosphorus, and the disposal of solid wastes containing elemental phosphorus in hazardous waste landfills (Berkowitz et al. 1981 Idler et al. 1981). The field use of WP/F and red phosphorus/butyl rubber smoke/obscurant releases elemental phosphorus into soil primarily as unburnt phosphorus in munitions (Berkowitz et al. 1981 ... 

Control of Outputs. The objective is to control risks to people outside from activities within the laboratory or products and services generated by the laboratory. For example, the quality of analytical tests or synthesised products, control of the emissions of gases and liquids and the disposal of solid wastes. 

In the Navy, as everywhere else, the disposal of solid waste is becoming more and more costly as environmental regulations become more restrictive. This paper will examine some of the economic and technical aspects of a new concept for reducing the overall cost for solid waste management. 

The disposal of solid waste is a critical problem faced by most communities. It is also costly in terms of capital and energy resources. In 1971, 109 million metric tons of solid waste were collected in the United States at a total cost of 2.64 billion for collection and disposal. By 1985, this quantity is expected to increase to between 150 and 200 metric tons per year with an annual cost between 4,02 to 5,06 billion.O). 

Chapter 8 will show how the by-product oxygen can be used to reducing or eliminating other sources of pollution not related to the use of fossil fuels. These sources will include pollution from the disposal of solid waste and treatment of sewage. In addition, it will show a possible method of cleaning lakes and rivers of the current pollution and regenerating and maintaining their natural purity. 

Considerable interest has arisen in the environmental problems associated with the disposal of solid waste again this interfaces closely with the aquatic environment through leaching of organic compounds from landfills — both as solutes and as particulate material — into watercourses, rivers, and lakes. There has been considerable interest in the bioremediation of sites that have been contaminated with both municipal and industrial solid waste. A chapter on bioremediation is therefore provided for two additional reasons (1) in important respects, bioremediation involves an extension of the principles outlined in Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6, and (2) it illustrates that many of the principles developed within the aquatic environment that were the subject of previous chapters can be applied with suitable and relatively minor modification to the terrestrial environment. 

In connection with the problems arising from the disposal of solid wastes, particularly of dredged materials, extraction sequences have been applied which are designed to differentiate between the exchangeable, carbonatic, reducible (hydrous Fe/Mn oxides), oxidizable (sulfides and organic phases) and residual fractions (Engler et al., 1977). One of the more widely applied extraction sequences of Tessier and coworkers (1979) has been modified by various authors a version of Ker-sten Forstner (1986) differentiates easily and moderately reducible components (Table 3-4). 

The contamination of land is mostly caused by the disposal of solid wastes by manufacturing industries. With the introduction in the UK of the land fill tax the disposal of solid wastes by incineration will be more cost effective and environmentally friendly in the future. 

The disposal of solid wastes produces problems of a very different kind and these now affect every industrialised country. In the USA alone, over... 

Problems relating to the disposal of solid wastes are quite well documented through the numerous publications sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. The volume edited by Wilson [97] provides a useful introduction to these problems. 

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