Waste Generation and Disposal

Municipal Solid Waste in the United States 2000 Facts and Figures. The EPA s annual report on municipal solid waste generation and disposal in the United States. A hard copy of this report can be obtained by calling the EPA s National Service Center for Environmental Publications at 1-800-490-9198 and asking for publication EPA530-R-02-001. http //www.epa. gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/report-OO/report-OO.pdf. Accessed on September 1, 2006. 

Yong, R. N. (1989), Waste Generation and Disposal, Proc 2nd International Symposium on Environmental Geotechnology, Vol. 1, Envo Publishing Co., Bethlehem, PA, pp. 1-24. 

Selected Data on Waste Generation and Disposal (Millions of Tons)... 

The reform of waste disposal aims to minimize waste generation and maximize reeyeling. 

Maintains information about hazardous waste generators, transporters, disposal facilities, materials shipped, and how they have been shipped. Assists with Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest document required by RCRA. Generates records and letters. Requires 200K memory plus IK memory for each record and a printer that can penetrate a six-part form. 

The National Survey of Hazardous Waste Generators and Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities Regulated Under RCRA in 1981. WEST AC, Inc., 1984. 

Catalytic processes (finid catalytic cracking, catalytic hydrocracking, hydro-treating, isomerization, ether manufacture) also create some residuals in the form of spent catalysts and catalyst fines or particulates. The latter are sometimes separated from exiting gases by electrostatic precipitators or filters. These are collected and disposed of in landfills or may be recovered by off-site facilities. The potential for waste generation and hence leakage of emissions is discussed below for individual processes. 

A Life Cycle Inventory/Assessment (LCI/A) is used to determine the overall amounts of materials used, waste generated, and energy used during the manufacture of solvents, their use in pharmaceutical processes, and their eventual disposal. Many processes today are designed with an emphasis on solvent recovery to help reduce the costs associated with purchasing fresh solvent and waste... 

Waste is any material that has insufficient value to justify further beneficial use, and thus must be managed at a cost. Wastes that contain hazardous substances, either radionuclides or toxic chemicals, are generated by many human activities. Management and disposal of these wastes must be conducted in ways that protect human health. Because hazardous wastes vary widely in their compositions and concentrations of hazardous substances and in their potential impacts on human health, the need to protect human health is met most efficiently by use of a variety of technological approaches to waste management and disposal, rather than a single approach for all wastes. 

In summary, a hazardous waste classification system is needed because (1) disposal of the composite unclassified waste would be prohibitively expensive and (2) the differences in timing between waste generation (now) and the development of treatment and disposal facilities (the future) require that wastes be segregated in anticipation of cost-effective means of waste management and disposal. Waste classification also allows consistent communication of the information needed to develop adequate treatment and disposal capacity and to develop appropriate regulations. 

In essence, the approach to protecting public health and the environment under AEA has been based on numerical standards that specify acceptable overall performance of a radioactive waste management or disposal system. The standards for acceptable system performance are in the form of limits on radiation dose to members of the public or other related criteria. Radioactive waste generators and radioactive waste management and disposal facilities are afforded considerable flexibility in meeting these standards, and there are few prescriptive technical requirements that apply to all facilities. 

Do not overlook the DQOs for project-generated waste characterization and disposal, as they are different from these for the main set of data. 

Because of the large volume of wastewater generated in hydraulic debarking and the problems associated with recycling it, waste treatment and disposal techniques used by the pulp and paper industry are applicable. This involves the employment of heavy-duty clarifiers to remove suspended solids, followed by biological treatment to remove oxygen-demanding substances. 

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