Waste, amount exports

Cassava is one of an important economic plants of Thailand. Thailand exported cassava products eg. cassava chip, peUet, flour and starch, etc. which are low value. The amount of the products was approx. 20 milhon metrictons a year in 1993. However, by the process, some carbohydrates in cassava tuber still waste and further cause pollution. 

Exports of lead metal increased from 55,500 metric tons in 1990 to 94,400 metric tons in 1991, then fell to 44,000 metric tons in 1996 and 37,400 metric tons in 1997. In 1997, the U.S. exported lead metal primarily to South Korea, Canada, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Belgium, and Taiwan. Lead waste and scrap exports, which amounted to 71,900 metric tons in 1990, rose to 104,300 metric tons in 1995, dropped to 85,300 metric tons in 1996, and rose to 88,400 metric tons in 1997. The lead content of exported scrap lead-acid batteries went from 4,800 metric tons in 1990 to 1,400 metric tons in 1995. No later export tonnage figures for scrap lead-acid batteries are available for 1996 because the data were collected by dollar value only. Most exports are in the form of lead-acid batteries or products containing either lead-acid batteries or other applications of lead (Larrabee 1998 Smith 1998). 

Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and 69 ratified the ban on all kinds of hazardous waste export from wealthy OECD-countries to non-OECD countries, large amounts of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are shipped overseas for recycling, the majority to China as reported by Brigden et al. [2] and Puckett et al. [3], lesser quantities to India and Western Africa reported by Kuper and Hojsik [4]. WEEE contains a variety of harmful substances like endocrine disruptors and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Additionally, hazardous substances may be formed during informal recycling. This often practised informal treatment without proper equipment for metal extraction and labour safety heavily affects the environment and human health of workers and the inhabitants of whole stretches of land. 

The results based on EUROSTAT cannot be compared directly to the data from Zoeteman et al. [1] or Lepwasky and McNabb [16]. They present the amount of e-waste generated but do not report export destinations. What can be compared is the structure of e-waste. Comparing Tables 4 and 5 it can be established that while Zoeteman et al. [1] point out household appliances as important trade fraction, data from EUROSTAT [14] allow the conclusion that IT and consumer equipment is of special importance in e-waste trade. 

Production, Import/Export, Use, Release, and Disposal. Hexachloroethane is not manufactured for commercial distribution in the United States (Gordon et al. 1991 IARC 1979 Santodonato et al. 1985). However, current production as a by-product and import information are not available. Current uses of this chemical and the amounts consumed by each use, including militaiy uses, were not located. This information would be helpful in assessing potential exposure to workers and the general population. The amount of the chemical disposed of by industrial facilities was reported to EPA (TRI93 1995), but information on quantities of hexachloroethane-containing wastes disposed of by military facilities was not located. Rotary kiln or fluidized bed incineration are acceptable methods for disposal of waste containing hexachloroethane (HSDB 1995). 

Production, Import/Export, Use, Release, and Disposal. Hexachlorobutadiene is not produced for commercial purposes in the United States, however small amounts are imported from Germany. Hexachlorobutadiene is mainly produced as a by-product of chlorinated hydrocarbon synthesis and is a primary component of "hex-wastes" (EPA 1982b). Its uses as a pesticide and fumigant have been discontinued. Hexachlorobutadiene is disposed chiefly by incineration, and to a lesser extent by deep well injection and landfill operations (EPA 1982b). More recent production and release data would be helpful in estimating human exposure to hexachlorobutadiene. 

Production, import/Export, Use, Reiease, and Disposai. Although the production of carbon tetrachloride has been declining, humans are at risk of exposure to the compound at specific industrial locations where the compound is used or near chemical waste sites where emission to the environment may occur. Available data indicate that most carbon tetrachloride manufactured in this country is consumed in the synthesis of chlorofluorocarbons, but current quantitative data on the amounts of carbon tetrachloride imported and exported into and from the United States are sparse (CEH 1985 HSDB 1992). According the the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to Know Act of 1986, 43 U.S.C. Section 11023, Industries are required to submit substance release and off-site transfer information to the ERA. The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), which contains this information for 1990, became available in May of 1992. This database is updated yearly and should provide a list of industrial production facilities and emissions. 

A large amount of e-waste is flowing into Asian countries mainly from developed countries and a substantial part of the e-waste is not appropriately treated. There is no reliable statistics available on how much e-waste is flowing into Asia or circulating within Asia for inappropriate recycling operations however, it seems that at least a part of exported electric appliances are coming back to their birth places after their product lives end. 

Since significant amounts of depleted uranium are used on modern battlefields, it would be useful to have more information on the export of depleted uranium to other nations, the disposal of related wastes in the United States, and the mass of depleted uranium released to long-distance air transport when projectiles are used against different target types. 

Production, Import/Export, Use, Release, and Disposal. Asbestos is widely used by humans in a variety of products, and exposures are likely from a number of sources. Extensive data are available on current production, import, and use of asbestos (U.S. Bureau of Mines 1992). Releases to the environment may occur either to air or to soil and water, with releases to air being of greatest health concern. Waste friable asbestos is regulated as a hazardous substance, so disposal is permitted only in authorized waste sites. Methods of handling friable asbestos are prescribed to minimize dust release. However, data are lacking on the amount of asbestos disposed in waste sites, and on the location and status of these sites. 

Huge amounts of PVC waste produced in the Netherlands are regularly shipped to Pakistan and the Philippines. Since 1990, more than 100,000 tons have been exported for local recycling into various products of poor quality, which end up in burning... 

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