Waste materials, disposal

According to the vendor, the full-scale remediation of contaminated soil at the McKin Superfund site in Gray, Maine, was 2,900,000. This figure included the costs for salaries and wages, rental, supplies, subcontractors, fuel, and other professional services. It did not include the expenses associated with mobilization, site characterization, pilot-scale treatability testing, waste material disposal, site closure, or demobilization (D14110W, p. 64). 

About 70% of materials that are routinely disposed of in landfills could be recycled instead. More than 30% of bulk municipal garbage collections consist of paper that could be remanufactured into other paper products. Other materials like plastic, metal, and glass can also be reused in manufacturing, which can greatly reduce the amount of waste materials disposed in landfills, as well as preserving sources of nonrenewable raw materials. 

Mercury spiU kits available commercially usually include a small pump, sponges impregnated with a material to absorb mercury and which can be used to wipe up the area of a small spill, and a quantity of an absorbent powder that reacts with mercury to form a harmless amalgam. The latter can be spread on cracks and seams in the floor and furniture and is effective in collecting mercury from otherwise irraccessible places. After leavirrg the material on the floor or contaminated surfaces for several hours in order to allow the amalgam to form, the powder can be swept or brushed up and the waste material disposed of as a hazardous waste. 

Reverse osmosis is a high-pressure membrane separation process (20 to 100 bar) which can be used to reject dissolved inorganic salt or heavy metals. The concentrated waste material produced by membrane process should be recycled if possible but might require further treatment or disposal. 

Z. Evaporation. If the wastewater is in low volume and the waste material involatile, then evaporation can be used to concentrate the waste. The relatively pure evaporated water might still require biological treatment after condensation. The concentrated waste can then be recycled or sent for further treatment or disposal. The cost of such operations can be prohibitively expensive unless the heat available in the evaporated water can be recovered. 

When viewing effluent treatment methods, it is clear that the basic problem of disposing of waste material safety is, in many cases, not so much solved but moved from one place to another. The fundamental problem is that once waste has been created, it cannot be destroyed. The waste can be concentrated or diluted, its physical or chemical form can be changed, but it cannot be destroyed. 

The extract is vacuum-distilled ia the solvent recovery column, which is operated at low bottom temperatures to minimise the formation of polymer and dimer and is designed to provide acryUc acid-free overheads for recycle as the extraction solvent. A small aqueous phase in the overheads is mixed with the raffinate from the extraction step. This aqueous material is stripped before disposal both to recover extraction solvent values and minimise waste organic disposal loads. 

Due to environmental considerations, many phenol plants are equipped with a special water treatment faciUty where acetone and phenol are recovered from the wastewater stream. Also, recovered heavy residue is considered a K-022 waste material by the U.S. EPA and must be properly disposed of by incineration or other means (12). 

Contract disposal agencies offer their services to reheve the chemical industry of unwanted materials however, the cost of such disposal (primarily incineration) is high. The manufacturer should ascertain that the disposal agency employees are adequately aware of chemical ha2ards and can responsibly handle and dispose of the waste materials (see Wastes, industrial). 

Sewer Disposal. Photoprocessing and printing wastes tend to be aqueous solutions that ate combined with other plant effluents and sent to the local sewer plant for treatment. The parameters of concern include silver, pH, and biological oxygen demand (BOD). BOD is a measure of how well a waste material degrades in the environment. Lower values ate preferred. Silver-bearing waste streams ate typically treated on-site, and the treated effluent is released to the drain. The printer usually receives a small cash credit for silver recovered. 

Thermal degradation of isocyanates occurs on heating above 100—120°C. This reaction is exothermic, and a mnaway reaction can occur at temperatures >175° C. In view of the heat sensitivity of isocyanates, it is necessary to melt MDl with caution and to foUow suppHers recommendation. Disposal of empty containers, isocyanate waste materials, and decontamination of spilled isocyanates are best conducted using water or alcohols containing small amounts of ammonia or detergent. Eor example, a mixture of 50% ethanol, 2-propanol, or butanol 45% water, and 5% ammonia can be used to neutrali2e isocyanate waste and spills. Spills and leaks of isocyanates should be contained immediately, ie, by dyking with an absorbent material, such as saw dust. 

The economic balance must be considered between recovery, reuse, and modification of a waste material or by-product and its disposal. The future is expected to bring iacreases ia the practice of recycle, recovery, modification, and upgrading of wastes of all sorts, and a reduction ia disposal by iaciaeration (qv), biochemical oxidation, or discharge to the environment (see Recycling). 

Waste Generation Waste generation encompasses those ac tivi-ties in which materials are identified as no longer being of value and are either thrown away or gathered together for disposal. From the standpoint of economics, the best place to sort waste materials for recoveiy is at the source of generation. 

Processing and Recovery The functional element of processing and recoveiy includes all the techniques, equipment, and facilities used both to improve the efficiency of the other functional elements and to recover usable materials, conversion products, or energy from solid wastes. Materials that can be recycled are exported to facilities equipped to do so. Residues go to disposal. 

Has any waste material been buried or disposed of on-site (at any time) ... 

The atmospheric movement of pollutants from sources to receptors is only one form of translocation. A second one involves our attempt to control air pollutants at the source. The control of parhculate matter by wet or dry scrubbing techniques 3delds large quantities of waste materials—often toxic—which are subsequently taken to landfills. If these wastes are not properly stored, they can be released to soil or water systems. The prime examples involve the disposal of toxic materials in dump sites or landfills. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 and subsequent revisions are examples of legislation to ensure proper management of solid waste disposal and to minimize damage to areas near landfills (4). 

Any waste material (and contaminated cloths, tissues, clothing etc.) must be rendered safe by chemical means or by controlled incineration of dilute solution where practical prior to disposal. 

Produces internal control documentation and wemmentally required reports. Manifest printing from files containing information on approved transporters and disposers, waste materials, and historical data. 

The waste material will be exhumed and placed in permanent disposal sites. Or... 

An Ecoprofile is an assessment of the environmental and resource impacts of a waste disposal process. This paper describes ecoprofiles for six different ways of disposing the plastic fraction in municipal solid waste -two material recycling processes that include separation of the plastic waste, material recycling without separation of the plastic waste, pyrolysis, incineration with heat recovery, and landfill. 17 refs. 

In the manufacture of Portland cement, many otherwise-waste materials can be used either as a substitute for the traditional raw material, or as a secondary fuel (e.g., used tires) [334,1577]. In particular, drilling wastes can be introduced in the clinker burning process [878]. For both waste disposal and cement manufacturers, a mutual benefit will emerge. The cement manufacturing companies reduce their demand for traditional raw materials and save the limited capacity of landfills and other waste-treatment industries. 

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