Waste minimization source reduction

Waste Minimization source reduction, certain types of recycling and reclamation. Waste minimization does not include recycling activities whose uses constitute disposal and burning for energy recovery. 

All point source and nonpoint source wastewaters at an industrial site must be properly managed for source separation, waste minimization, volume reduction, collection, pretreatment, and/or complete end-of-pipe treatment [39,47]. When industrial waste is not disposed of properly, hazardous substances may contaminate a nearby surface water (river, lake, sea, or ocean) and/or groundwater. Any hazardous substance release, either intentionally or unintentionally, increases the risk of water supply contamination and human disease. Major waterborne contaminants and their health effects are listed below. 

Eliminate or minimize the generation of waste through source reduction... 

The Pollution Prevention Act was passed to encourage waste minimization and reduction of pollution at the source, through more efficient processing and raw materials use. The EPA was authorized to promote source reduction and recycling through grants, technical assistance, and dissemination of information. 

The American Petroleum Institute Publication 302 (1991) discusses source reduction, recycle, treatment, and disposal of wastes. Other source reduction techniques are given by Smith and Petela (1991). The U.K. Institution of Chemical Engineers has published a guide to waste minimization, IChemE (1997). 

Many hazardous waste problems can be avoided at early stages by waste reduction (cutting down quantities of wastes from their sources) and waste minimization (utilization of treatment processes that reduce the quantities of wastes requiring ultimate disposal). This section outlines some basic approaches to waste minimization and reduction. 

Waste minimization. The reduction of hazardous waste generated or subsequently treated, stored, or disposed of. This includes source reduction undertaken by a generator to reduce the total volume or quantity of hazardous waste and/or on-site and off-site recycling. 

Many of these techniques involve source reduction— the preferred option on the EPA s hierarchy of waste management (24). Others deal with on-and off-site recycling. The best way to determine how these general approaches can fit a particular company s needs is to conduct a waste minimization... 

Waste minimization generally considers all of the methods in the EPA hierarchy (except for disposal) appropriate to reduce the volume or quantity of waste requiring dispos (i.e., source reduction). The definition oi source reduction as applied in the Pollution Prevention Act, however, is any practice that reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream... 

It would obviously be desirable to eliminate the generation of waste. Practical alternatives are to minimize it by reduction at source or to recycle it. Table 16.7 illustrates the hierarchy of waste minimization practices. Source reduction includes increased process efficiency economies in the use of energy are also relevant, e.g. it may result in a decrease in the consumption of fossil fuels ... 

Waste Reduction The term has been used by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and INFORM to mean source reduction. On the other hand, many different groups have used the term to refer to waste minimization. Therefore, care must be employed in determining which of these different concepts is implied when the term "waste reduction" is encountered. 

Virginia WMP, Fact Sheet, Waste Minimization Program on Source Reduction Techniques for Local Governments, Virginia Waste Minimization Program, Richmond, VA, available at http //www.p2pays. org/ref/ll/10314.htm, 2007. 

Source reduction is usually the least expensive approach to minimizing waste. Many of these techniques involve housekeeping changes or minor inplant process modifications. 

Refineries generate a large amount of hazardous wastes. As a result, they have been hit hard by environmental regulations and unfavorable public opinion, and Congress mandated in 1984 that refineries minimize waste [79]. In California, refiners turned to waste minimization, or pollution prevention, en masse in 1991 when the state s Source Reduction and Hazardous Waste... 

Treatment of waste should be considered only after source reduction and recycling options are fully addressed. Treatment includes methods for separation of the metals fraction from the wastes stream. This typically involves neutralization, precipitation, filtration and drying operations. Waste treatment, although often desirable and necessary, is not considered to be a waste minimization option by the USEPA... 

Waste minimization Cleaner production Waste reduction Clean technology Source reduction... 

Figure 2 indicates that the top three sections of the pyramid include source reduction at the top, onsite recycling next and offsite recycling in third order of preference. Source reduction and recycling taken together represent two approaches to waste minimization. 

Another term, waste reduction , is sometimes used interchangeably with waste minimization . However, as generally used, waste reduction includes treatment along with source reduction and recycling. Waste minimization effectively reduces the amount of hazardous material that permanently leaves the production process as waste. It was the intention of the EPA that industry implements source reduction and recycling before resorting to treatment and/or disposal [20,21 ]. However, until recently, this intent has not been widely implemented. 

Source reduction is pollution prevention, which reduces the toxicity and/ or quantity of hazardous material at the source. Therefore, it is fundamentally different from the pollution management practices of recycling, treatment and disposal. Because waste minimization and source reduction have been defined in various ways, the following are considered not to be source reduction [16,17, 20-23,26,36,44] ... 

Recycling is the use, reuse, or reclamation of all or part of a waste. It is the most preferable waste minimization method following source reduction [16, 17, 20-23]. The most preferable form of recycling is that which requires the least... 

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