Toxic waste disposal design

Table 13.16 sets out the major waste disposal methods, and potential hazards from toxic waste deposition are indicated in Table 13.17. The range of precautions required at land tips depends upon the risk, e.g. the nature and degree of contamination and the work to be undertaken. It will, however, encompass personal protective equipment a high standard of personal hygiene enclosure, possibly pressurization, and regular cleaning of vehicle cabs vehicle washing facilities site security, and control of designated dirty areas. Air monitoring and medical surveillance may be required.

Those elements of conventional laboratory design that must be refined for facilities in which toxic chemicals will be handled are presented. Alarms, communications, construction materials, containment cabinets, filter systems, floor plans, security, compressed gases, and waste disposal are discussed. Emphasis is given to design considerations dictated by the use of large numbers of fume hoods. 

In many states, regulations only require that hospital incinerators not create a public nuisance usually recognized as odors and smoke opacity. Disposal costs for these medical wastes are becoming stiffer, just as surely as they are for infectious and other hazardous/toxic wastes. This adds another incentive to incinerate. It may be possible that a good deal of hospital waste could be separated, reduced, and recycled. While infectious waste is obviously not recyclable, the amount of waste designated infectious can be greatly reduced by separating materials to avoid excess contamination [74]. 

All wastes classified as hazardous under RCRA, including properly treated toxic waste that is still considered hazardous, are intended for disposal in near-surface facilities regulated under Subtitle C of RCRA. EPA has developed detailed technical requirements on waste treatment and the siting, design, operation, and closure of disposal facilities. Thus, when viewed in relation to intended disposal technologies, there is basically only one class of hazardous chemical waste, regardless of the amounts of hazardous substances present i.e., a waste either is hazardous or it is not. 

Of the various ways of designating a solid waste as hazardous described above, only the toxicity characteristic is based on a quantitative assessment of potential risks resulting from waste disposal. The specifications of ignitable, corrosive, and reactive waste are based on qualitative considerations of risk, in that the presence of materials with these characteristics in a disposal facility clearly constitutes a hazard that could compromise the ability of the facility to protect public health. The specifications of listed hazardous wastes are based on risk in the sense that the listed substances have been identified as potentially hazardous to human health. However, requirements for treatment and disposal of listed waste discussed in Section 4.2.2 do not distinguish between different wastes based on considerations of risk from disposal. 

A) any substance designated pursuant to Section 311(b)(2)(A) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, (B) any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to section 102 of this Act, (C) any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (but not including any waste the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act has been suspended by Act of Congress), (D) any toxic pollutant listed under section 307(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, (E) any hazardous air pollutant listed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, and (F) any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the Administrator has taken action pursuant to section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act. 

PPA (Pollution Prevention Act), 881-882. 883 RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), 883 TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act), 883 releasing waste to the environment, 882 secure waste disposal, 882 source reduction, 882 waste management hierarchy, 881-882 waste treatment, 882 Green engineering, pollution prevention designing for... 

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