Waste management multimedia approach

Carrying out research to facilitate multimedia, multispecies approaches to waste management. Acid rain and the leaching of hazardous chemicals from landfills demonstrate the mobility of chemicals from one medium (e.g., air, water, or soil) to another. 

Multimedia Analysis In order to properly design and then implement a pollution prevention program, sources of all wastes must be fully understood and evaluated. A multimedia analysis involves a multifaceted approach. It must not only consider one waste stream but all potentially contaminated media (e.g., air, water, land). Past waste-management practices have been concerned primarily with treatment. All too often, such methods solve one waste problem by transferring a contaminant from one medium to another (e.g., air stripping) such waste shifting is not pollution prevention or waste reduction. 

Pollution prevention offers industry an opportunity, but its exact cost, benefits, and risks are difficult to fully identify or quantify. Pollution prevention represents a significant change in the scope and methodology usually used in waste management. It is a multimedia approach that concentrates on preventing the production of waste in any form in all parts of the plant. 

As air pollution management moves forward, economics has a major role in reducing pollution. Multimedia considerations are forcing a blend of traditional emission reduction approaches and innovative methods for waste minimization. These efforts are directed toward full cost accounting of the life cycle of products and residuals from the manufacturing, use, and ultimate disposal of materials. 

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