1.

INTRODUCTION
1.1 General introduction:

Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance which is discarded after
primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use.

Examples include municipal solid waste (household trash/refuse), hazardous waste, wastewater (such
as sewage, which contains bodily wastes (feces and urine) and surface runoff), radioactive waste, and
others1

Waste is anything your business intends to discard, or handles or produces and is not wanted or required.

Disposing of waste can have a significant impact on the environment in Northern Ireland.
Producing excessive amounts of waste is often a sign that your business processes may be inefficient. It
is in your interests to identify ways of reducing the amount of waste your business generates.

The amount and type of waste you produce will depend largely on the type of business you operate. For
example, manufacturing businesses tend to produce more waste than those in service industries2.

waste management means The collection, transportation, and disposal of garbage, sewage, and other
waste products. Waste management encompasses management of all processes and resources for proper
handling of waste materials, from maintenance of waste transport trucks and dumping facilities to
compliance with health codes and environmental regulations3.

the processes also involved in dealing with the waste of humans and organisms, including minimization,
handling, processing, storage, recycling, transport, and final disposal.

Into the bargain, The concept of waste management involves the collection, removal, processing, and
disposal of materials considered waste. Waste materials can be solid, gaseous, liquid, or even hazardous
and are generally generated through human activity. Historically, developed nations have dealt with
their waste by sending it to landfills or burning it in incinerators. Both of these options come with some
significant environmental problems.

 Leachate which is the liquid that passes through landfills‟ garbage, absorbing poisons and other
harmful substances that negatively impact underground waterways and fresh water systems
 Wind can scatter trash from a landfill into local ecosystems and waterways, creating hazards for
wildlife and people, as well as visual pollution of local environments
 As organic waste rots it creates methane gas, a greenhouse gas that is 20+ times more potent in
terms of climate change than carbon dioxide
 Incineration, both in backyards and on a commercial scale, emits air pollutants, including things
like dioxins, furans, and particulate matter

1
Of course, one of the problems with this way of viewing waste management is that it assumes the stuff
we throw in the trash has no value – that it is indeed “waste.” However, if we were to turn our thinking
around and think of leftover materials as resources for making new products, the problem of “waste
management” would become an opportunity for resource extraction – a new way of “mining” the earth
for materials to use in the manufacturing stream..

An integrated waste management approach attempts to solve this problem by considering the entire life
cycle of a product and determining the best processing method for it in order to extract as much useful
material while saving energy, water, and other resources4.

A rising quality of life, and high rates of resource consumption patterns have had a unintended and
negative impact on the urban environment - generation of wastes far beyond the handling capacities of
urban governments and agencies. Cities are now grappling with the problems of high volumes of waste,
the costs involved, the disposal technologies and methodologies, and the impact of wastes on the local
and global environment.

But these problems have also provided a window of opportunity for cities to find solutions - involving
the community and the private sector; involving innovative technologies and disposal methods; and
involving behaviour changes and awareness raising. These issues have been amply demonstrated by
good practices from many cities around the world.

There is a need for a complete rethinking of "waste" - to analyse if waste is indeed waste. A rethinking
that calls for

WASTE to become WEALTH

REFUSE to become RESOURCE
TRASH to become CASH *

There is a clear need for the current approach of waste disposal that is focussed on municipalities and
uses high energy/high technology, to move more towards waste processing and waste recycling(that
involves public-private partnerships, aiming for eventual waste minimization - driven at the community
level, and using low energy/low technology resources. Some of the defining criteria for future waste
minimization programmes will include deeper community participation, understanding economic
benefits/recovery of waste, focusing on life cycles (rather than end-of-pipe solutions), decentralized
administration of waste, minimizing environmental impacts, reconciling investment costs with long-term
goals.

2
1.2 Background

Most people rarely give a second thought to garbage. We throw away what we don't need, and it is "out
of sight, out of mind." But were the waste-management industry to grind to a halt, Americans would
quickly discover how much our way of life has come to depend on someone swiftly and safely removing
the waste we produce.

Centuries ago, waste management wasn't much of an issue. Relatively few people inhabited the earth.
Trees were cut for fuel and burned without too much adverse effect, and smoke from widely scattered
fires dissipated in the atmosphere. Sewage and garbage could be disposed of by individuals on their own
property. City efforts to deal with residents' waste go back to at least 500 B.C., when the first known
dump was created outside of Athens. The ancient Romans created basic sewer systems. They also had
trenches outside of cities where people threw trash, a practice that periodically led to epidemic diseases.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in England in the mid-1700s, the problems of managing
wastes grew far more serious. City populations swelled as people were drawn from rural areas to work
in factories. This generated unprecedented quantities of concentrated garbage, sewage, and other wastes.
By the 1800s, smog engulfed London and all manner of wastes were dumped into the Thames River.
Thousands of people became ill with typhoid fever when the drinking-water supply became
contaminated.

The United States experienced the same types of problems as industrialization grew in the 1800s and
early 1900s. By the early 1900s, there were about 300 incinerators in North America. Municipalities also
created landfills, basically dumping the week's trash in a mound, compressing it, covering it with dirt,
and repeating the process with the next week's load of trash. Early landfills were havens for rats and
often leaked wastes into surrounding land and water, including groundwater used for drinking.

Alarm about municipal and industrial waste-handling practices climbed steadily in the early part of the
20th century. Scientists and other experts tried to warn others that poor waste management was a threat
to human health and safety. It also was destroying the environment. Not until after World War II,
however, did the general public begin to see the air, water, and land as deteriorating because of
pollutants. Lakes, streams, and rivers were becoming choked with chemicals that were killing off fish
and other wildlife. Burning of wastes containing toxic chemicals, such as mercury, was seriously
contaminating the air, leading to an increase in respiratory problems and other ailments. Insecticides,
toxic chemicals, and other lethal substances were finding their way into soil used for agriculture and
water used for drinking.

Finally, in the mid-1960s, the federal government took action. Studies about industrial and municipal
waste handling were conducted. Funds were made available to states to develop waste-handling
strategies for their municipalities and industries. The first waste-management legislation was passed in
1965. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970 to implement waste handling
and other environmental regulations. Laws, such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of

3
1970 and its 1976 amendments, defined different types of wastes and described minimum actions for
waste handling.

Today, waste management is a major U.S. industry, as well as the largest and fastest-growing part of the
environmental industry. Waste primarily falls into two categories: hazardous and nonhazardous. Both
include a wide variety of materials, but generally, hazardous waste falls under stricter regulations and
covers a range of chemical and other wastes. Nonhazardous waste is known as municipal solid waste
(MSW) and is what we think of as garbage, including household waste. A $55 billion dollar industry,
waste management companies process more than 600 million tons of waste each year, about a third of
which winds up recycled, according to Waste Business [Link].

Great strides have been made in waste management over the years. But hundreds of millions of tons of
municipal and industrial solid and hazardous wastes continue to be generated every year. Properly
handling all the waste is the job of the waste management industry5.

4
1.3 History
Early history

Throughout history, waste has been generated by [Link] areas with low population density waste
generationmay have been negligible6. In higher population areas even largely biodegradable waste had
to be dealt with. Sometimes this was released back into the ground water with environmental
impact like Nor Loch. The Maya of Central Americahad a fixed monthly ritual, in which the people of
the village would gather together and burn their garbage in large dumps7.

Modern era

Following the onset of industrialization and the sustained urban growth of large population centres
in England, the buildup of waste in the cities caused a rapid deterioration in levels of sanitation and the
general quality of urban life. The streets became choked with filth due to the lack of waste clearance
regulations. Calls for the establishment of a municipal authority with waste removal powers were
mooted as early as 1751 by Corbyn Morris in London, who proposed that "...as the preservation of the
health of the people is of great importance, it is proposed that the cleaning of this city, should be put
under one uniform public management, and all the filth beconveyed by the Thames to proper distance in
the country"8.

The first occurrence of organised solid waste management system appeared in London in the late 18th
century9. A waste collection and resource recovery system was established around the 'dust-yards'. Main
constituent of municipal waste was the coal ash („dust‟) which had a market value for brick-making and
as a soil improver. Such profitability encouraged dust-contractors to recover effectively 100% of the
residual wastes remaining after readily saleable items and materials had been removed by the informal
sector in the streets ('rag-and-bone men'). Therefore, this was an early example of organised, municipal-
wide solid waste management. The dust-yard system had been working successfully up to middle 1850s,
when the market value of „dust‟ collapsed. It was important in facilitating a relatively smooth transition
to an institutionalised, municipally-run solid waste management system in England9.
In the mid-19th century, spurred by increasingly devastating cholera outbreaks and the emergence of a
public health debate that the first consolidated legislation on the issue emerged. Highly influential in this
new focus was the report The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population in 184210 of the social
reformer, Edwin Chadwick, in which he argued for the importance of adequate waste removal and
management facilities to improve the health and wellbeing of the city's population. Chadwick's
proposals were based on the miasmatic theory of disease transmission, which was proven to be false
following the turn of the 1900s.
The Nuisance Removal and Disease Prevention Act of 1846 began what was to be a steadily evolving
process of the provision of regulated waste management in London. The Metropolitan Board of
Works was the first citywide authority that centralized sanitation regulation for the rapidly expanding

5
city and the Public Health Act 1875 made it compulsory for every household to deposit their weekly
waste in 'moveable receptacles' for disposal - the first concept for a dust-bin11.

Figure:1 Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. 1894 destructor furnace11.

The dramatic increase in waste for disposal led to the creation of the first incineration plants, or, as they
were then called, 'destructors'. In 1874, the first incinerator was built in Nottingham by Manlove, Alliott
& Co. Ltd. to the design of Albert Fryer. However, these were met with opposition on account of the
large amounts of ash they produced and which wafted over the neighbouring areas12.
Similar municipal systems of waste disposal sprung up at the turn of the 20th century in other large
cities of Europe and North America. In 1895, New York City became the first U.S. city with public-
sector garbage management.
Early garbage removal trucks were simply open bodied dump trucks pulled by a team of horses. They
became motorized in the early part of the 20th century and the first close body trucks to eliminate odours
with a dumping lever mechanism were introduced in the 1920s in Britain. These were soon equipped
with 'hopper mechanisms' where the scooper was loaded at floor level and then hoisted mechanically to
deposit the waste in the truck. The Garwood Load Packer was the first truck in 1938, to incorporate a
hydraulic compactor.
In the 19th century, in the United States, cities often became choked with horse manure. While the odor
was tolerable to 19th century sensitivities, walking through the streets without boots, resulted in
deplorable appearing footwear. In many cities, lacking trash collection, pigs and dogs ran loose,

6
consuming the trash, but excreting dung, which smelled offensively. Dead animals, particularly horses,
were left lying in the streets, facilitating disease13.

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1.4 OBJECTIVE
General objectives of waste management

The central objective of waste policy is to reduce the harmful health and environmental

impacts of waste. In order to meet this objective, it is particularly important to:

• prevent the generation of waste

• promote reuse of waste

• promote biological recovery of waste and recycling of materials

• promote energy use of waste not suited for recycling

• ensure that the treatment and disposal of waste does not cause any harmful impacts

The main climate-related objective of waste management is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions
generated by waste, particularly by reducing the methane emissions resulting from treatment at landfills.
In order to reach the objective, the amount of landfilled biodegradable waste will be substantially
reduced, while at the same time measures will be taken to increase the recovery rates of methane
generated at landfills.

The overall objectives of the waste management assessment are summarised below:

(i) to assess the activities involved for the proposed and determine the type, nature and estimated
volumes of waste to be generated;
(ii) to identify any potential environmental impacts from the generation of waste at the site;
(iii) to recommend appropriate waste handling and disposal measures / routings in accordance with the
current legislative and administrative requirements; and
(iv) to categorise waste material where practicable (inert material / waste fractions) for disposal
considerations i.e. public filling areas / landfill.

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 1.5 Problem statement

Waste management in South Africa faces numerous challenges and the NWMS sets out plans, targets
and measures to address them. The main challenges are:

1. A growing population and economy, which means increased volumes of waste generated. This puts
pressure on waste management facilities, which are already in short supply.
2. Increased complexity of the waste stream because of urbanisation and industrialisation. The complexity
of the waste stream directly affects the complexity of its management, which is compounded when
hazardous waste mixes with general waste.
3. A historical backlog of waste services for, especially, urban informal areas, tribal areas and rural formal
areas. Although 61%10 of all South African households had access to kerbside domestic waste collection
services in 2007, this access remains highly skewed in favour of more affluent and urban communities.
Inadequate waste services lead to unpleasant living conditions and a polluted, unhealthy environment.
4. Limited understanding of the main waste flows and national waste balance because the submission of
waste data is not obligatory, and where data is available, it is often unreliable and contradictory.
5. A policy and regulatory environment that does not actively promote the waste management hierarchy.
This has limited the economic potential of the waste management sector, which has an estimated
turnover of approximately R10 billion per annul14. Both waste collection and the recycling industry
make meaningful contributions to job creation and GDP, and they can expand further.
6. Absence of a recycling infrastructure which will enable separation of waste at source and diversion of
waste streams to material recovery and buy back facilities.
7. Growing pressure on outdated waste management infrastructure, with declining levels of capital
investment and maintenance.
8. Waste management suffers from a pervasive under-pricing, which means that the costs of waste
management are not fully appreciated by consumers and industry, and waste disposal is preferred over
other options.
9. Few waste treatment options are available to manage waste and so they are more expensive than landfill
costs.
10. Too few adequate, compliant landfills and hazardous waste management facilities, which hinders the
safe disposal of all waste streams. Although estimates put the number of waste handling facilities at
more than 200015, significant numbers of these are unpermitted.

9
 1.6 scope of the study

The Waste Act introduced a definition of waste, which has major implications for those activities that
were traditionally not treated or regarded as waste. The Waste Act defines waste as follows:

"waste" means any substance, whether or not that substance can be reduced,
reused, recycled and recovered -

a. that is surplus, unwanted, rejected, discarded, abandoned or disposed of;

b. which the generator has no further use of for the purposes of production;
c. that must be treated or disposed of; or
d. that is identified as a waste by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, and includes waste generated by the
mining, medical or other sector; but -
i. a by-product is not considered waste; and
ii. any portion of waste, once re-used, recycled and recovered, ceases to be waste;

Given the exclusion of by-products, their definition in terms of the Waste Act is important:

"by-product" means a substance that is produced as part of a process that is primarily

intended to produce another substance or product and that has the characteristics of an
equivalent virgin product or material;

To clarify some of these definitions, DEA has published its intended interpretation of the definition of
waste and by-product as used in the Waste Act to help stakeholders understand the Department‟s
intentions16.

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 [Link] SURVEY

2.1 Current state of waste management

The state of waste management in Finland has improved considerably during the last ten years. This has
been primarily due to changes in the EU waste legislation, which sets strict environmental and health
requirements for waste management. In fact, the requirements will become even stricter in the future.
There have also been substantial changes in the operating environment of waste management. The
number of plants recovering and treating municipal waste has multiplied during the last fifteen years. At
the moment, a substantial number of waste incineration plants and other treatment facilities are at the
planning stage in Finland. Cooperation between municipalities in waste management in built-up areas
has expanded considerably during the past decade. Most Finnish municipalities have given the task of
carrying out waste management to waste treatment plants jointly owned by municipalities, which in turn
purchase their services by subjecting private service providers to competitive tendering. Private
companies are responsible for such matters as waste transport. Companies offering a broad range of
environmental services and plants recovering and treating waste have also been set up in the private
sector.

The new requirements concerning landfill structures and the ensuing rise in cost have also had an impact
on the development of waste management and have put more pressure on different players to make
better use of waste generated as part of their production processes. Technological advances have also
made it easier to recover waste and in many cases, the treatment and recovery of waste has become a
profitable business. Despite tighter requirements and technological improvements, the use of waste as a
substance or for energy generation has not progressed in accordance with the objectives of the revised
National Waste Plan for 2005. The introduction of producer responsibility systems for certain discarded
products has also changed the operating environment of waste management. Nowadays, producer
responsibility applies to discarded tyres, vehicles, electronic and electrical appliances, recycled paper,
and partially also to packaging and packaging waste. A change in the Waste Act under which the waste
management of used batteries would be made the responsibility of manufacturers is also under
preparation. In autumn 2007, working groups were appointed to prepare an overall revision of the waste
legislation and to consider waste taxation and improvements in it.

11
2.2 The importance of Waste Management and Recycling.

Planning the waste management and recycling for all of the rubbish produced in this country is an
enormous task which involves both logistical planning and scientific knowledge and understanding in
order to balance the impact on the environment and the cost effectiveness of the process.

Waste management and recycling companies are also feeling an extra pressure to perform their role in
the greenest ways possible. It is important to remember that the UK‟s resources and landfill sites are
limited and this has a major bearing on the kind of activities that are carried out.

Waste collection and rubbish disposal play an extremely important role in the global cleanliness and
sustainability drive, with people‟s health and the conservation of resources being the responsibility of
every government. To ease the pressure on government agencies, numerous privately-managed
organisations also play a part in these waste management and recycling programs. In many cities it
means that local government agencies have been left with the responsibility of overseeing the work done
by these privately held organisations.

Figure:2 Waste Transportation Vehicle

[Link]

Thousands of years ago humans simply dug a hole and buried their refuse and waste. This was an
effective technique for these early people because their population was relatively small and they did not

12
produce waste on the same scale or with the levels of complexity that modern humans do. Burying the
rubbish helped to prevent bugs and rodents from becoming a nuisance and spreading diseases.

In the modern world burying all of our rubbish is not a sustainable solution. While primitive humans
produced very little waste, and that which was produced would biodegrade quickly, modern humans
produce much larger amounts of waste, much of which is not biodegradable. Additionally, many types
of waste may be damaging to the soil, ground water and surrounding habitat.

The most important reason for waste collection is the protection of the environment and the health of the
population.

Rubbish and waste can cause air and water pollution. Rotting garbage is also known to produce harmful
gases that mix with the air and can cause breathing problems in people. By inspecting the vegetation
around landfill sites carefully you can determine the damage that can be caused by garbage and waste if
left untreated in the open. To address this problem modern waste management professionals place
garbage in lined holes and use bacteria to help facilitate its rapid decomposition. Rotting garbage and
waste emanates a foul smell that can cause nausea among people who come into contact with it. It can
also be a source for waterborne diseases such as cholera and abdominal conditions and discomfort. Since
water sources need to be protected the role of waste disposal companies is very important. These
organisations should make it a priority to secure their landfill sites so that water bodies are not affected
by the garbage and waste collected from homes and commercial establishments.

Waste collection companies also sort the garbage into recyclable columns, as recycling the products that
leave our homes is of utmost importance. Recycling not only helps in conserving our natural resources
but also reduces the cost of production of many products. Products such as glass, oil, plastic, paper can
all be recycled which will ultimately put less pressure on the natural resources used to manufacture these
products.

waste management and recycling collection can help conserve our planet‟s natural beauty which can be

flawed by thoughtless disposal of waste, fly-tipping and senseless littering. Landscapes can be ruined

through littering and places of tourist interest can lose their attraction; it is also a blight for those who

live in areas where waste collection and recycling is not managed effectively and responsibly. Natural

beauty is a legacy and a right for future generations and conserving it, as well as our natural resources,
for their benefit is our responsibility today.

13
 Figure 3: Waste recycle System [[Link]

There are many challenges facing the waste management and recycling industry but there is also a lot of

excellent work going on to ensure that this is an industry to be proud of and one that will continue to

secure effective, sustainable and ecologically sound waste management and recycling for many years to
come.

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2.3 Types of waste:

Common types of waste with examples. Generally, waste could be liquid or solid waste. Both of them
could be hazardous. Liquid and solid waste types can also be grouped into organic, re-usable and
recyclable waste.

Let us see some details below:

2.3.1 Liquid type:

Waste can come in non-solid form. Some solid waste can also be converted to a liquid waste form for
disposal. It includes point source and non-point source discharges such as storm water and wastewater.
Examples of liquid waste include wash water from homes, liquids used for cleaning in industries and
waste detergents.

2.3.2 Solid type:

Solid waste predominantly, is any garbage, refuse or rubbish that we make in our homes and other
places. These include old car tires, old newspapers, broken furniture and even food waste. They may
include any waste that is non-liquid.

2.3.3 Hazardous type:

Hazardous or harmful waste are those that potentially threaten public health or the environment. Such
waste could be inflammable (can easily catch fire), reactive (can easily explode), corrosive (can easily
eat through metal) or toxic (poisonous to human and animals). In many countries, it is required by law to
involve the appropriate authority to supervise the disposal of such hazardous waste. Examples include
fire extinguishers, old propane tanks, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment (e.g, thermostats) and
lamps (e.g. fluorescent bulbs) and batteries.

2.3.4 Recyclable type:

Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new, useful products. This is done to reduce the use
of raw materials that would have been used. Waste that can be potentially recycled is termed
"Recyclable waste". Aluminum products (like soda, milk and tomato cans), Plastics (grocery shopping
bags, plastic bottles), Glass products (like wine and beer bottles, broken glass), Paper products (used
envelopes, newspapers and magazines, cardboard boxes) can be recycled and fall into this category.

15
2.3.5 Organic type:

Figure 4: Organic Type Waste

Organic waste comes from plants or animals sources. Commonly, they include food waste, fruit and
vegetable peels, flower trimmings and even dog poop can be classified as organic waste. They are
biodegradable (this means they are easily broken down by other organisms over time and turned into
manure). Many people turn their organic waste into compost and use them in their gardens19.

2.4 Specific Waste Types

2.4.1 Aerosol Cans:

Empty aerosol cans can be recycled, contact Physical Plant for the location of recycling containers for
the collection of empty aerosol cans. Aerosol cans that are not empty must be disposed of as hazardous
waste.

2.4.2 Compressed Gas Cylinders and Tanks:

Containers under pressure must be secured in laboratories and workshops and not left unattended in
public access areas. Departments heads are responsible for establishing specific procedures for the
control, handling, storage and disposal of compressed gas cylinders, tanks and aerosols.
Empty compressed gas cylinders and tanks are not permitted in the regular garbage. Disposal procedures
should be checked with the supplier as the supplier may refill or recycle these containers. If not, these
containers must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

2.4.3 Pathological Waste and Sharps:

Department heads are responsible for establishing specific procedures for the control, handling, storage
and disposal of pathological waste or sharps used in the department. This type of waste is not permitted
in regular garbage containers and custodial staff are not permitted to handle them.

16
2.4.4 Radioactive Waste:
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regulates the use and disposal of radioisotopes. The
university disposes of radioactive waste to Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) according to their
procedures. Any questions regarding the disposal of radioactive waste should be directed to the
Radiation Safety Officer or to the Manager, Environmental Health and Safety20.

Moreover many waste comes in many different forms and may be categorized in a variety of ways. The
types listed here are not necessarily exclusive and there may be considerable overlap so that one waste
entity may fall into one to many types.
2.4.5 Biodegradable waste:

Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon
dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things
using composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. In waste management, it
also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials
include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple organic sulfates which can be
decomposed to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions21.
In domestic waste collection, the scope of biodegradable waste may be narrowed to include only those
degradable wastes capable of being handled in the local waste handling facilities.
Sources:

Biodegradable waste can be commonly found in municipal solid waste (sometimes called biodegradable
municipal waste, or BMW) as green waste, food waste, paper waste, and biodegradable plastics.
Other biodegradable wastes include human waste, manure, sewage, sewage sludge and slaughterhouse
waste. In the absence of oxygen, much of this waste will decay to methane by anaerobic digestion.[4]
In many parts of the developed world, biodegradable waste is separated from the rest of the waste
stream, either by separate kerb-side collection or by waste sorting after collection. At the point of
collection such waste is often referred to as Green [Link] such waste from the rest of the waste
stream substantially reduces waste volumes for disposal and also allows biodegradable waste to
be composted where composting facilities exist22.
Uses of biodegradable waste:

Biodegradable waste can be used for composting or a resource for heat, electricity and fuel by means
of incineration or anaerobic digestion. Swiss Kompogas and the Danish AIKAN process are examples of
anaerobic digestion of biodegradable waste. While incineration can recover the most energy, anaerobic
digestion plants retain the nutrients and compost for the soil and still recover some of the contained
energy in the form of biogas. Kompogas produced 27 million Kwh of electricity and biogas in 2009. The
oldest of the company's own lorries has achieved 1,000,000 kilometers driven with biogas from
household waste in the last 15 years23.

17
2.4.6 Biomedical waste:

Biomedical waste is any kind of waste containing infectious (or potentially infectious) materials. It may
also include waste associated with the generation of biomedical waste that visually appears to be of
medical or laboratory origin (e.g., packaging, unused bandages, infusion kits, etc.), as well research
laboratory waste containing biomolecules or organisms that are restricted from environmental release.
As detailed below, discarded sharps are considered biomedical waste whether they are contaminated or
not, due to the possibility of being contaminated with blood and their propensity to cause injury when
not properly contained and disposed of. Biomedical waste is a type of biowaste.
Biomedical waste may be solid or liquid. Examples of infectious waste include discarded blood, sharps,
unwanted microbiological cultures and stocks, identifiable body parts (including those as a result
of amputation), other human or animal tissue, used bandages and dressings, discarded gloves, other
medical supplies that may have been in contact with blood and body fluids, and laboratory waste that
exhibits the characteristics described above. Waste sharps include potentially contaminated used (and
unused discarded) needles, scalpels, lancets and other devices capable of penetrating skin.
Biomedical waste is generated from biological and medical sources and activities, such as the diagnosis,
prevention, or treatment of diseases. Common generators (or producers) of biomedical waste
include hospitals, health clinics, nursing homes, emergency medical services, medical
research laboratories, offices of physicians, dentists, and veterinarians, home health care,
and morgues or funeral homes. In healthcare facilities (i.e., hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, veterinary
hospitals and clinical laboratories), waste with these characteristics may alternatively be called medical
or clinical waste.
Biomedical waste is distinct from normal trash or general waste, and differs from other types
of hazardous waste, such as chemical, radioactive, universal or industrial waste. Medical facilities
generate waste hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials. While such wastes are normally not
infectious, they require proper disposal. Some wastes are considered multihazardous, such as tissue
samples preserved in formalities24.
Risk to human health:

Disposal of this waste is an environmental concern, as many medical wastes are classified
as infectious or biohazardous and could potentially lead to the spread of infectious disease. The most
common danger for humans is the infection which also affects other living organisms in the region.
Daily exposure to the waste (landfill) leads to accumulation of harmful substances or microbes in the
person's body.
A 1990 report by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded that the general
public is not likely to be adversely affected by biomedical waste generated in the traditional healthcare
setting. They found, however, that biomedical waste from those settings may pose an injury and
exposure risks via occupational contact with medical waste for doctors, nurses, and janitorial, laundry

18
and refuse workers. Further, there are opportunities for the general public to come into contact medical
waste, such as needles used illicitly outside healthcare settings, or biomedical waste generated via home
health care.
2.4.7 Chemical waste:

Chemical waste is a waste that is made from harmful chemicals (mostly produced by large factories).
Chemical waste may fall under regulations such as COSHH in the United Kingdom, or the Clean Water
Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in the United States. In the U.S., the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as well as
state and local regulations also regulate chemical use and [Link] waste may or may not be
classed as hazardous waste. A chemical hazardous waste is a solid, liquid, or gaseous material that
displays either a “Hazardous Characteristic” or is specifically “listed” by name as a hazardous waste.
There are four characteristics chemical wastes may have to be considered as hazardous. These are
Ignitability, Corrosivity, Reactivity, and Toxicity. This type of hazardous waste must be categorized as
to its identity, constituents, and hazards so that it may be safely handled and managed. Chemical waste
is a broad term and encompasses many types of materials. Consult the Material Safety Data Sheet
(MSDS), Product Data Sheet or Label for a list of constituents. These sources should state whether this
chemical waste is a waste that needs special disposal25.

2.4.8 Commercial waste:

Commercial waste consists of waste from premises used mainly for the purposes of
a trade or business or for the purpose of sport, recreation, education or entertainment, but
excluding household, agricultural or industrial waste26.
2.4.9 Municipal solid waste:

Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United Statesand
as refuse or rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the
public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in a garbage disposal; the two are
sometimes collected separately.
In the European Union, the semantic definition is 'mixed municipal waste,' given waste code 20 03 01 in
the European Waste Catalog. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has
nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these
kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology 'municipal.'
Composition:

The composition of municipal solid waste varies greatly from municipality to municipality,27 and it
changes significantly with time. In municipalities which have a well developed waste recycling system,
the waste stream mainly consists of intractable wastes such as plastic film and non-recyclable packaging
materials. At the start of the 20th century, the majority of domestic waste (53%) in the UK consisted
of coal ash from open [Link] developed areas without significant recycling activity it predominantly

19
includes food wastes, market wastes, yard wastes, plastic containers and product packaging materials,
and other miscellaneous solid wastes from residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial
[Link] definitions of municipal solid waste do not include industrial wastes, agricultural
wastes, medical waste, radioactive waste or sewage [Link] collection is performed by
the municipality within a given area. The term residual waste relates to waste left from household
sources containing materials that have not been separated out or sent for [Link] can be
classified in several ways but the following list represents a typical classification:

 Biodegradable waste: food and kitchen waste, green waste, paper (most can be recycled although
some difficult to compost plant material may be excluded
 Recyclable materials: paper, cardboard, glass, bottles, jars, tin cans, aluminum cans, aluminum
foil, metals, certain plastics, fabrics, clothes, tires, batteries, etc.
 Inert waste: construction and demolition waste, dirt, rocks, debris
 Electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) - electrical appliances, light bulbs, washing
machines, TVs, computers, screens, mobile phones, alarm clocks, watches, etc.
 Composite wastes: waste clothing, Tetra Packs, waste plastics such as toys
 Hazardous waste including most paints, chemicals, tires, batteries, light bulbs, electrical
appliances, fluorescent lamps, aerosol spray cans, and fertilizers
 Toxic waste including pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides
 Biomedical waste, expired pharmaceutical drugs, etc

2.4.10 Green waste:

Green waste also called agricultural waste is supposed to be biodegradable waste that can be composed
of garden or park waste, such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings, as well as domestic and
commercial food [Link] the reality is, it contains large amounts of metal alloys ranging from broken
circuit-boards-lead etc, batteries , hospital waste its anything but green! The
differentiation green identifies it as high in nitrogen, as opposed to brown waste, which is
primarily carbonaceous.
Green waste is often collected in municipal curbside collection schemes or through private waste
management contractor businesses and subject to independent audit.

Biogas captured from biodegradable green waste can be used as biofuel. Green waste can be used
as non-food crop to produce cellulosic ethanol. It can also help us reduce the usage of petroleum gases
which produce harmful gases on burning.

20
2.4.11 Industrial waste:

Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is
rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, industries, mills, and mining
operations. It has existed since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Some examples of industrial wastes
are chemical solvents, pigments, sludge, metals, ash, paints, sandpaper, paper products, industrial by-
products, metals, and radioactive wastes.
Toxic waste, chemical waste, industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste are designations of
industrial wastes. Sewage treatment plants can treat some industrial wastes, i.e. those consisting
of conventional pollutants such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Industrial wastes
containing toxicpollutants require specialized treatment systems. (See Industrial wastewater treatment)28.
2.4.12 Slag:

Slag is the glass-like by-product left over after a desired metal has been separated (i.e., smelted) from its
raw ore. Slag is usually a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain
metal sulfides and elemental metals. While slags are generally used to remove waste in metal smelting,
they can also serve other purposes, such as assisting in the temperature control of the smelting, and
minimizing any re-oxidation of the final liquid metal product before the molten metal is removed from
the furnace and used to make solid metal29.

2.4.13 Fly ash:

Fly ash, also known as "pulverised fuel ash" in the United Kingdom, is a coal combustion product that
is composed of the particulates (fine particles of fuel) that are driven out of coal-fired boilers together
with the flue gases. Ash that falls to the bottom of the boiler is called bottom ash. In modern coal-fired
power plants, fly ash is generally captured by electrostatic precipitators or other particle filtration
equipment before the flue gases reach the chimneys. Together with bottom ash removed from the bottom
of the boiler, it is known as coal ash. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned,
the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon
dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and calcium oxide(CaO), the
main mineral compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.
The constituents of fly ash depend upon the specific coal bed makeup but may include one or more of
the following elements or substances found in trace concentrations (up to hundreds
ppm): arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent
chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium,
and vanadium, along with very small concentrations of dioxins and PAH compounds.30 It also has
unburnt carbon.

21
In the past, fly ash was generally released into the atmosphere, but air pollution control standards now
require that it be captured prior to release by fitting pollution control equipment. In the US, fly ash is
generally stored at coal power plants or placed in landfills. About 43% is recycled,often used as
a pozzolan to produce hydraulic cement or hydraulic plaster and a replacement or partial replacement
for Portland cement in concrete production. Pozzolans ensure the setting of concrete and plaster and
provide concrete with more protection from wet conditions and chemical attack.
After a long regulatory process, the EPA published a final ruling in December 2014, which establishes
that coal fly ash is regulated on the federal level as "non-hazardous" waste according to the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR's) are listed in the subtitle
D (rather than under subtitle C dealing for hazardous waste, which was also considered).31
In the case that fly or bottom ash is not produced from coal, for example when solid waste is used to
produce electricity in an incinerator (see waste-to-energy facilities), this kind of ash may contain higher
levels of contaminants than coal ash. In that case the ash produced is often classified as hazardous waste.
2.4.14 Sludge:

Sludge is a semi-solid slurry and can be produced as sewage sludge from wastewater treatment
processes or as a settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatmentand numerous
other industrial processes. The term is also sometimes used as a generic term for solids separated from
suspension in a liquid; this 'soupy' material usually contains significant quantities of 'interstitial' water
(between the solid particles).
Industrial wastewater treatment plants produce solids that are also referred to as sludge, whether
generated from biological or physical-chemical processes.
2.4.15 Construction waste:

Construction waste consists of unwanted material produced directly or incidentally by

the construction or [Link] includes building materials such as insulation, nails, electrical
wiring, shingle, and roofing as well as waste originating from site preparation such
as dredging materials, tree stumps, and rubble. Construction waste may contain lead, asbestos, or
other hazardous substances32.
Much building waste is made up of materials such as bricks, concrete and wood damaged or unused for
various reasons during construction. Observational research has shown that this can be as high as 10 to
15% of the materials that go into a building, a much higher percentage than the 2.5-5% usually assumed
by quantity surveyors and the construction industry. Since considerable variability exists between
construction sites, there is much opportunity for reducing this waste33.
Some certain components of construction waste such as plasterboard are hazardous once landfilled.
Plasterboard is broken down in landfill conditions releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas.

22
There is the potential to recycle many elements of construction waste. Often roll-off containers are used
to transport the waste. Rubble can be crushed and reused in construction projects. Waste wood can also
be recovered and recycled.
In England, all personnel performing builders or construction waste clearance are required by law to be
working for a CIS registered business34.
2.4.16 Electronic waste:
e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for
reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste
in developing countriescan lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution35.
Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful components such
as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Recycling and disposal of e-wastemay
involve significant risk to health of workers and communities in developed countries and great care must
be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaking of materials such as heavy metals
from landfills and incinerator ashes36.
[Link] Environmental impact:

The processes of dismantling and disposing of electronic waste in developing countries led to a number
of environmental impacts as illustrated in the graphic. Liquid and atmospheric releases end up in bodies
of water, groundwater, soil, and air and therefore in land and sea animals – both domesticated and wild,
in crops eaten by both animals and human, and in drinking water37.
One study of environmental effects in Guiyu, China found the following38.

 Airborne dioxins – one type found at 100 times levels previously measured
 Levels of carcinogens in duck ponds and rice paddies exceeded international standards for
agricultural areas and cadmium, copper, nickel, and lead levels in rice paddies were above
international standards
 Heavy metals found in road dust – lead over 300 times that of a control village's road dust and
copper over 100 times.

23
 Table 1: The environmental impact of the processing of different electronic waste components39.

E-Waste Component Process Used Potential Environmental Hazard

Cathode ray tubes (used in

Lead, barium and other heavy metals
TVs, computer monitors, Breaking and removal of
leaching into the ground water and release of
ATM, video cameras, and yoke, then dumping
toxic phosphor
more)

Printed circuit board De-soldering and removal

(image behind table – a of computer chips; open Air emissions and discharge into rivers of
thin plate on which chips burning and acid baths to glass dust, tin, lead, brominated dioxin,
and other electronic remove metals after chips beryllium cadmium, and mercury
components are placed) are removed.

PAHs, heavy metals, brominated flame

retardants discharged directly into rivers
Chemical stripping using
Chips and other gold acidifying fish and flora. Tin and lead
nitric and hydrochloric acid
plated components contamination of surface and groundwater.
and burning of chips
Air emissions of brominated dioxins, heavy
metals, and PAHs

Plastics from printers, Shredding and low temp Emissions of brominated dioxins, heavy
keyboards, monitors, etc. melting to be reused metals, and hydrocarbons

Open burning and stripping

Computer wires PAHs released into air, water, and soil.
to remove copper

24
[Link] Electronic waste substances:

Some computer components can be reused in assembling new computer products, while others are
reduced to metals that can be reused in applications as varied as construction, flatware, and jewelry.
Substances found in large quantities include epoxy resins, fiberglass, PCBs, PVC (polyvinyl
chlorides), thermosetting plastics, lead, tin, copper, silicon, beryllium, carbon, iron, and aluminium.
Elements found in small amounts include cadmium, mercury, and thallium40. Elements found in trace
amounts include americium, antimony, arsenic, barium, bismuth, boron, cobalt, europium, gallium,
germanium, gold, indium, lithium, manganese, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, rhodium,
ruthenium, selenium,41 silver, tantalum, terbium, thorium, titanium, vanadium, and yttrium. Almost all
electronics contain lead and tin (as solder) and copper (as wire and printed circuit board tracks), though
the use of lead-free solder is now spreading rapidly. The following are ordinary applications:
Table 2: Hazardous41

E-Waste
Electric Appliances in which they are found Adverse Health Effects
Component

It is known to
Americium The radioactive source in smoke alarms.
be carcinogenic.42

Adverse effects of lead

exposure include impaired
cognitive function,
behavioral disturbances,
attention deficits,
Solder, CRT monitor glass, lead-acid batteries, some hyperactivity, conduct
formulations of PVC. A typical 15-inch cathode ray problems, and lower IQ43.
Lead
tube may contain 1.5 pounds of lead,[5] but other CRTs These effects are most
have been estimated as having up to 8 pounds of lead. damaging to children
whose developing nervous
systems are very
susceptible to damage
caused by lead, cadmium,
and mercury44.

Found in fluorescent tubes (numerous applications), tilt Health effects include

Mercury switches (mechanical doorbells, thermostats),[93] and sensory impairment,
ccfl backlights in flat screen monitors. dermatitis, memory loss,
and muscle weakness.

25
 Exposure in-utero causes
fetal deficits in motor
function, attention, and
verbal
domains.44 Environmental
effects in animals include
death, reduced fertility,
and slower growth and
development.

Found in light-sensitive resistors, corrosion-resistant

The inhalation of
alloys for marine and aviation environments,
cadmium can cause severe
and nickel-cadmium batteries. The most common form
damage to the lungs and is
of cadmium is found in Nickel-cadmium rechargeable
also known to cause
batteries. These batteries tend to contain between 6 and
kidney
18% cadmium. The sale of Nickel-Cadmium batteries
Cadmium damage45. Cadmium is
has been banned in the European Union except for
also associated with
medical use. When not properly recycled it can leach
deficits in cognition,
into the soil, harming microorganisms and disrupting
learning, behavior, and
the soil ecosystem. Exposure is caused by proximity to
neuromotor skills in
hazardous waste sites and factories and workers in the
children.
metal refining industry.

A known carcinogen after

occupational inhalation
exposure.

There is also evidence of

cytotoxic and genotoxic
Hexavalent
Used in metal coatings to protect from corrosion. effects of some chemicals,
chromium which have been shown to
inhibit cell proliferation,
cause cell membrane
lesion, cause DNA single-
strand breaks, and elevate
Reactive Oxygen Species
(ROS) level46.

Sulphur Found in lead-acid batteries. Health effects include

liver damage, kidney

26
 damage, heart damage,
eye and throat irritation.
When released into the
environment, it can
create sulphuric
acid through sulphur
dioxide.

Health effects include

impaired development of
the nervous system,
thyroid problems, liver
Brominated Used as flame retardants in plastics in most electronics. problems.[96]Environmenta
Flame Retardants Includes PBBs, PBDE, DecaBDE, OctaBDE, PentaBD l effects: similar effects as
(BFRs) E. in animals as humans.
PBBs were banned from
1973 to 1977 on. PCBs
were banned during the
1980s.

Studies in mice have

found the following health
effects: Hepatotoxicity,
developmental toxicity,
immunotoxicity, hormonal
effects and carcinogenic
effects. Studies have found
increased maternal PFOA
Used as an antistatic additive in industrial applications levels to be associated
Perfluorooctanoi and found in electronics, also found in non-stick with an increased risk of
c acid (PFOA) cookware (PTFE). PFOAs are formed synthetically spontaneous abortion
through environmental degradation. (miscarriage) and
stillbirth. Increased
maternal levels of PFOA
are also associated with
decreases in mean
gestational age (preterm
birth), mean birth weight
(low birth weight), mean
birth length (small for

27
 gestational age), and mean
APGAR score.

Occupational exposures
Filler in some thermal interface materials such associated with lung
as thermal grease used cancer, other common
on heatsinks for CPUs and power adverse health effects are
Beryllium oxide
transistors,[98]magnetrons, X-ray-transparent ceramic beryllium sensitization,
windows, heat transfer fins in vacuum tubes, and gas chronic beryllium disease,
lasers. and acute beryllium
disease.

[Link] Other health effects

 DNA breaks can increase the likelihood of developing cancer (if the damage is to a tumor
suppressor gene)
 DNA damages are a special problem in non-dividing or slowly dividing cells, where unrepaired
damages will tend to accumulate over time. On the other hand, in rapidly dividing cells, unrepaired
DNA damages that do not kill the cell by blocking replication will tend to cause replication errors
and thus mutation
 Elevated Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) levels can cause damage to cell structures (oxidative
stress)47.

2.4.17 Food waste:

Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or lost uneaten. The causes of food waste or loss are
numerous and occur at the stages of production, processing, retailing and consumption.
Global food loss and waste amount to between one-third48and one-half49 of all food [Link] and
wastage occur at all stages of the food supply chain or value chain. In low-income countries, most loss
occurs during production, while in developed countries much food – about 100 kilograms (220 lb) per
person per year – is wasted at the consumption stage 50.
[Link] Global extent:
The 2011 SIK study estimated the total of global food loss and waste to around one third of the edible
parts of food produced for human consumption, amounting to about 1.3 billion tonnes (1.28×109 long
tons; 1.43×109 short tons) per year.51 As the following table shows, industrialized and developing
countries differ substantially. In developing countries, it is estimated that 400–500 calories per day per
person are going to waste, while in developed countries 1,500 calories per day per person are
wasted52 In the former, more than 40% of losses occur at the postharvest and processing stages, while in
the latter, more than 40% of losses occur at the retail and consumer levels. 56The total food waste by
consumers in industrialized countries (222 million tonnes or 218,000,000 long tons or 245,000,000 short

28
tons)57 is almost equal to the entire food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes or
226,000,000 long tons or 254,000,000 short tons).53

Table 3: Food loss and waste per person per year54

At the production
Food loss and waste per person per year54 Total By consumers
and retail stages

Europe 280 kg (617 lb) 190 kg (419 lb) 90 kg (198 lb)

North America and Oceania 295 kg (650 lb) 185 kg (408 lb) 110 kg (243 lb)

Industrialized Asia 240 kg (529 lb) 160 kg (353 lb) 80 kg (176 lb)

sub-Saharan Africa 160 kg (353 lb) 155 kg (342 lb) 5 kg (11 lb)

North Africa, West and Central Asia 215 kg (474 lb) 180 kg (397 lb) 35 kg (77 lb)

South and Southeast Asia 125 kg (276 lb) 110 kg (243 lb) 15 kg (33 lb)

Latin America 225 kg (496 lb) 200 kg (441 lb) 25 kg (55 lb)

A 2013 report from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME)59 likewise estimated that 30–
50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes or 1.18×109–1.97×109 long tons or 1.32×109–2.20×109 short tons )60 of all
food produced remains uneaten.64

2.4.18 Human waste:

Human waste (or human excreta) is a waste type usually used to refer to byproducts of digestion, such
as feces and urine. Human waste can be collected, treated and disposed of or reused in many different
ways, depending on the sanitation system that is in place and the type of toilet being used.

29
The situation differs vastly across the world, with many people in developing countries having to resort
to open defecation where human waste is deposited in the environment, for lack of other options. Others
can use flush toilets where the human waste is mixed with water and stored in septic tanks or sent
through sewer pipes to be transported to sewage treatment plants.
Children's excreta can be disposed of in diapers and mixed with municipal solid waste. Diapers are also
sometimes dumped directly into the environment, leading to public healthrisks.
2.4.19 Inert waste:

Inert waste is waste which is neither chemically nor biologically reactive and will not decompose.
Examples of this are sand and concrete. This has particular relevance to landfills as inert waste typically
requires lower disposal fees than biodegradable waste or hazardous waste.
2.4.20 Mining:

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually from
an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposit. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of
economic interest to the miner65.
Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension
stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown
through agricultural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense
includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water66.
Mining of stones and metal has been a human activity since pre-historic times. Modern mining processes
involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the
desired materials, and final reclamation of the land after the mine is closed67.
Mining operations usually create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and
after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the world's nations have passed regulations to decrease the
impact. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and modern practices have significantly improved
safety in mines68.
Levels of metals recycling are generally low. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are stepped up,
some rare metals may become unavailable for use in a variety of consumer products. Due to the low
recycling rates, some landfills now contain higher concentrations of metal than mines themselves.
2.4.21 Marine debris:

"Ocean dumping" redirects here. For shipping of waste across international borders, see Environmental
dumping.

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or
accidentally been released in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway. Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate
at the center of gyresand on coastlines69 frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter or

30
tidewrack. Deliberate disposal of wastes at sea is called ocean dumping. Naturally occurring debris, such
as driftwood, are also present.
With the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as many types of plastics do
not biodegrade. Waterborne plastic poses a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine
mammals, as well as to boats and coasts70. Dumping, container spillages, litter washed into storm drains
and waterways and wind-blown landfill waste all contribute to this problem71.
In efforts to prevent and mediate marine debris and pollutants, laws and policies have been adopted
internationally. Depending on relevance to the issues and various levels of contribution, some countries
have introduced more specified protection policies72.
2.4.22 Biodegradable waste:

Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon
dioxide, water, methane or simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things
using composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. In waste management, it
also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials
include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple organic sulfates which can be
decomposed to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions73.
In domestic waste collection, the scope of biodegradable waste may be narrowed to include only those
degradable wastes capable of being handled in the local waste handling facilities.
[Link] Sources:

Biodegradable waste can be commonly found in municipal solid waste (sometimes called biodegradable
municipal waste, or BMW) as green waste, food waste, paper waste, and biodegradable plastics.
Other biodegradable wastes include human waste, manure, sewage, sewage sludge and slaughterhouse
waste. In the absence of oxygen, much of this waste will decay to methane by anaerobic digestion74.
In many parts of the developed world, biodegradable waste is separated from the rest of the waste
stream, either by separate kerb-side collection or by waste sorting after collection. At the point of
collection such waste is often referred to as Green waste. Removing such waste from the rest of the
waste stream substantially reduces waste volumes for disposal and also allows biodegradable waste to
be composted where composting facilities exist.
[Link] Uses of biodegradable waste:

Biodegradable waste can be used for composting or a resource for heat, electricity and fuel by means
of incineration or anaerobic [Link] Kompogas and the Danish AIKAN process are examples of
anaerobic digestion of biodegradable [Link] incineration can recover the most energy, anaerobic
digestion plants retain the nutrients and compost for the soil and still recover some of the contained
energy in the form of biogas. Kompogas produced 27 million Kwh of electricity and biogas in 2009. The
oldest of the company's own lorries has achieved 1,000,000 kilometers driven with biogas from
household waste in the last 15 years.75

31
2.4.23 Radioactive waste:

Radioactive waste is waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is usually a by-
product of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology,
such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to all forms of life and the environment,
and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment76.
Radioactivity naturally decays over time, so radioactive waste has to be isolated and confined in
appropriate disposal facilities for a sufficient period until it no longer poses a threat. The time
radioactive waste must be stored for depends on the type of waste and radioactive isotopes. Current
approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived waste, near-
surface disposal for low and some intermediate level waste, and deep burial or partitioning /
transmutation for the high-level waste.
A summary of the amounts of radioactive waste and management approaches for most developed
countries are presented and reviewed periodically as part of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of
Radioactive Waste Management78.
[Link] Low-level waste:

Low-level waste (LLW) is nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions
for intermediate-level waste (ILW), high-level waste (HLW), spent nuclear fuel (SNF), transuranic
waste (TRU), or certain byproduct materials known as 11e(2) wastes, such as uranium mill tailings. In
essence, it is a definition by exclusion, and LLW is that category of radioactive wastes that do not fit
into the other categories. If LLW is mixed with hazardous wastes, then it has a special status as mixed
low-level waste (MLLW) and must satisfy treatment, storage, and disposal regulations both as LLW and
as hazardous waste. While the bulk of LLW is not highly radioactive, the definition of LLW does not
include references to its activity, and some LLW may be quite radioactive, as in the case of radioactive
sources used in industry and medicine79.
LLW includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become
radioactive through exposure to neutron radiation. This waste typically consists of contaminated
protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues,
equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory
animal carcasses and tissues. The radioactivity can range from just above background levels found in
nature to very highly radioactive in certain cases such as parts from inside the reactor vessel in a nuclear
power plant.
The definition of low-level waste is set by the nuclear regulators of individual countries, though
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides recommendations. Some countries, such as
France, specify categories for long-lived low- and intermediate-level waste. U.S. regulations do not
define the category of intermediate-level waste80.

32
[Link] High-level waste:

High-level waste (HLW) is a type of nuclear waste created by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. It
exists in two main forms:

 First and second cycle raffinate and other waste streams created by nuclear reprocessing.
 Waste formed by vitrification of liquid high-level waste.
Liquid high-level waste is typically held temporarily in underground tanks pending vitrification. Most of
the high-level waste created by the Manhattan project and the weapons programs of the cold war exists
in this form because funding for further processing was typically not part of the original weapons
programs. Both spent nuclear fuel and vitrified waste are considered as suitable forms for long term
disposal, after a period of temporary storage in the case of spent nuclear fuel81.
HLW contains many of the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core and is
the type of nuclear waste with the highest activity. HLW accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity
produced in the nuclear power process. In other words, while most nuclear waste is low-level and
intermediate-level waste, such as protective clothing and equipment that have been contaminated with
radiation, the majority of the radioactivity produced from the nuclear power generation process comes
from high-level waste.
In the US, HLW from reprocessing of spent fuel from electrical power stations amounts to less than 1%
of the total volume of US HLW; the rest is defense related. Some other countries, particularly France,
reprocess commercial spent fuel.
High-level waste is very radioactive and, therefore, requires special shielding during handling and
transport. Initially it also needs cooling, because it generates a great deal of heat. Most of the heat, at
least after short-lived nuclides have decayed, is from the medium-lived fission products cesium-
137 and strontium-90, which have half-lives on the order of 30 years.
A typical large 1000 MWe nuclear reactor produces 25–30 tons of spent fuel per year.[4] If the fuel
were reprocessed and vitrified, the waste volume would be only about three cubic meters per year, but
the decay heat would be almost the same.
It is generally accepted that the final waste will be disposed of in a deep geological repository, and many
countries have developed plans for such a site, including France, Japan, and the United States82.
2.4.24 Mixed waste (radioactive/hazardous):

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, mixed waste (MW) is a waste
type defined as follows; "MW contains both hazardous waste (as defined by RCRA and its amendments)
and radioactive waste (as defined by AEA and its amendments). It is jointly regulated by NRC or NRC's
Agreement States and EPA or EPA's RCRA Authorized States. The fundamental and most

33
comprehensive statutory definition is found in the Federal Facilities Compliance Act (FFCA) where
Section 1004(41) was added to RCRA: "The term 'mixed waste' means waste that contains both
hazardous waste and source, special nuclear, or byproduct material subject to the Atomic Energy Act of
1954."
Mixed waste is much more expensive to manage and dispose of than waste that is solely radioactive.
Waste generators can avoid higher charge back costs by eliminating or minimizing the volume of mixed
waste generated.
2.4.25 Spent nuclear fuel:

Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear
reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an
ordinary thermal reactor and depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it may have considerably
different isotopic constituents.

2.4.26 Spent fuel decay heat:

When a nuclear reactor has been shut down and the nuclear fission chain reaction has ceased, a
significant amount of heat will still be produced in the fuel due to the beta decay of fission products. For
this reason, at the moment of reactor shutdown, decay heat will be about 7% of the previous core power
if the reactor has had a long and steady power history. About 1 hour after shutdown, the decay heat will
be about 1.5% of the previous core power. After a day, the decay heat falls to 0.4%, and after a week it
will be 0.2%. The decay heat production rate will continue to slowly decrease over time.

Spent fuel that has been removed from a reactor is ordinarily stored in a water-filled spent fuel pool for a
year or more (in some sites 10 to 20 years) in order to cool it and provide shielding from its
radioactivity. Practical spent fuel pool designs generally do not rely on passive cooling but rather require
that the water be actively pumped through heat exchangers.

Decay heat as fraction of full power for a reactor SCRAMed from full power at time 0, using two
different correlations.

34
2.5 ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES83 :

SGS environmental waste management services can help you to recycle, treat and dispose of your waste
to ensure you meet your own ethical standards as well as governing regulatory requirements.

We advise you on methods to manage your waste more cost effectively and efficiently. Our
comprehensive waste services include the pre-treatment, intermediate storage and reconditioning of
dangerous industrial waste products. To reduce waste disposal, we are constantly investigating ways to
recycle and reuse materials to avoid contributing to landfill.

Our waste management services include:

 Repack of dangerous waste and products

 Waste reconditioning
 Waste care

Processing is carried out at our licensed treatment plants by our accredited technicians. All our work
complies with the latest national and international environmental principles. We provide you with
certification as proof that your waste has been processed in a manner compliant with the regulations for
your industry. This can be used for other administrative requirements such as supply permits, transport
and safety documents.
35
Contribute to a cleaner environment and call our teams today for an environmental waste management
plan to suit your business.

Our waste management services include:

 Repack of dangerous waste and products

 Waste reconditioning
 Waste care
 Waste management systems audit and certification

36
 [Link]
Industrialized nations are grappling with the problem of expeditious and safe waste disposal. Non-
biodegradable and toxic wastes like radioactive remnants can potentially cause irreparable damage to the
environment and human health if not strategically disposed of84.

Though waste disposal has been a matter of concern for several decades, the main problem has been
taking massive proportions due to growth in population and industrialization, the two major factors that
contribute to waste generation.

Moreover Waste disposal is a collection of actions and activities required to handle wastes right from its
inception to the final disposal. This includes collection, processing and disposing them using appropriate
practices85. Basically, the disposal methods are meant to reduce the impact of wastes on environment
and health. However, when it comes to dealing with your household‟s wastes in an eco-friendly manner
what are the best steps that must be taken?

If you are struggling with the same question then worry no more, as this article reveals the top seven
environmentally friendly methods that can be utilized to dispose wastes in a hassle free manner.

3.1 Recycling:

There are innumerable wastes that can be reshaped into essential products through the process of
recycling. Plastics, aluminum, paper and glass are the common materials that can be recycled again and
again. Now, when you recycle the materials then you save the environment in not just one but two
important ways and they are:

 Reduces the need of raw materials: Since the items are recycled, the need of raw materials decreases
significantly too. For instance, when paper is recycled then you are able to save trees from deforestation.
This maintains the equilibrium of the ecosystem and at the same time provides you the product that you
require without affecting the environment.
 Lowers carbon footprint: The recycled materials that are used for making brand new products use 20%
less energy when compared to the usual materials. This in turn lowers the emission of hazardous
chemicals during the processing which reduces the carbon footprint of the recycled product.

37
3.2 Garbage Disposers:

For those materials that cannot be recycled, especially the common kitchen wastes- garbage disposal
units can turn out to be the ultimate solution. This machine shreds large wastes into fine particles that
not only pass through the plumbing system easily but at the same time decompose at a much faster pace
compared to the garbage that you send to the landfill.

In addition to that, the disposer are able to handle specific kitchen wastes such as vegetable peels, small
bones, fruit peels and food scrapes, allowing you to segregate wet wastes and dry wastes, some top end
disposers like InSinkErator evolution excel can even handle small bones. With this you can dispose the
wet wastes in the disposer unit while the dry wastes can be sent to a recycling plant.

3.3 Composting:

One of the oldest methods of managing organic wastes is composting. In this, you can accumulate the
waste in a pit for days so that microbes and bacteria act on them and aid in remediation. The final
product results into a nutrient rich compost that can be used as a form of fertilizer for your organic
garden. Without a doubt, biological reprocessing enhances the quality of the soil, but the problem is: this
process is quite slow and demands a large area of land so as to handle the wastes effectively.

3.4 Incineration:

Incineration involves combustion of the different wastes so as to extract their base components, while
the generated heat is trapped to derive energy. The ash and assorted gases are the main byproducts of
this method. A major drawback is that the chances of pollution increases due to the nature of waste that
is being incinerated, filters can be used to overcome this problem. With this 90% volume of the wastes is

38
reduced and like compost, the nutrient rich ash is great for enriching plants and soil.

Besides that the harmful pigments present in the wastes can be removed, while the energy extracted can
be utilized for heating, supplying power to the turbines or cooking as well. Proper vigilance and
diligence is a must in order to prevent the accidental leakage of the micro-contaminants from the lines of
the incinerator.
3.5 Characterization of Wastes:
An important method that is often overlooked by many people is distinguishing various types of wastes
and their adverse effects on the environment. For instance, the soda cans and other aluminum cans must
be characterized as metal wastes that can either be recycled or reused, similarly other forms of PVC
materials must be termed as plastic wastes, while glass and paper are simple wastes. The
characterization of wastes not only saves your time and efforts, rather it even helps you to manage them
efficiently without contributing to the rising level of greenhouse gases.
3.6 Eco Landfills:
Landfills are form of dumping grounds where wastes are thrown. The base of this area is covered with a
protective lining and this acts like a barrier between the ground water and wastes, preventing separation
of toxic materials into the water level. The eco-friendly landfills are often created on soil that is non-
porous so that it does not support in the transfer of waste particles and retains the quality of the water
zone.
In addition to that, environmentalists advice to create the landfills only in those areas with low ground
water level, as this again decreases the vulnerability of water. At the end of the day, skilled manpower
and specialized machineries are essential for maintaining such areas.
3.7 Reducing Waste Generation:
The last and perhaps the most important method is to decrease the amount of waste that you generate
and this will simultaneously lead to sustainable development. Make your choices wisely, understand the
consequences of the materials that you use and the wastes that come out, implement various steps to
minimize them and finally you will realize that the average volume of waste that is produced by you has
reducdextensively.

Waste disposal emerges to be a global concern, as over 1/4th of the earth's land today is filled with
harmful and toxic wastes that disrupt the balance of environment and alter the life of organisms.
A simple change that you take now while managing the households wastes is a major step that will
transform the future. Therefore, as stated think twice when you produce waste and adapt yourself with
the best disposal methods that will keep the land, water and air healthy and safe for years to come.
Disposal in ocean/sea: Wastes generally of radioactive nature are dumped in the oceans far from active
human habitats. However, environmentalists are challenging this method, as such an action is believed
to spell doom for aquatic life by depriving the ocean waters of its inherent nutrients.

39
Effective waste disposal calls for concerted efforts from all, no matter how anxious or worried they may
be about our environment.
3.8 Sanitary Landfill:
This involves the dumping of wastes into a landfill. The base is prepared of a protective lining, which
serves as a barrier between wastes and ground water, and prevents the separation of toxic chemicals into
the water zone. Waste layers are subjected to compaction and subsequently coated with an earth layer.
Soil that is non-porous is preferred to mitigate the vulnerability of accidental leakage of toxic
chemicals. Landfills should be created in places with low groundwater level and far from sources of
flooding. However, a sufficient number of skilled manpower is required to maintain sanitary landfills.

[Link] of Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

In addition to the increasing volumes of WEEE generated, also the list of WEEE-associated toxicants
has expanded86. WEEE includes a large number of hazardous substances including lead-containing
glass, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)87. Environmental risks include the leaching of
heavy metals88 and organic micro-pollutants89 into the groundwater from the landfill and stockpiles, and
dioxin release from thermal processing of the waste material90.

Handling and sustainable recycling of WEEE require the develop-ment of state-of-the-art collection,
and treatment strategies as well as novel metal recovery technologies, given its peculiar material compo-
sition. Incineration of WEEE is dangerous due to the emission of po-tential airborne pollutants 91. There
are concerns regarding the end-products of WEEE thermal treatment, e.g. heavy metal vapors, dioxins,
furans, PBB, PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hy-drocarbons (PAHs)92. Moreover, highly toxic poly-
brominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) can be generated not only during
incineration, but also through thermal treatment below 300 °C or even by natural light93.

Handling of WEEE in developing countries encompasses repair, reuse and substandard processing
within a largely informal recycling sector 94. Solely in China, 690,000 people are es-timated to be
involved in informal collection and recycling . Informal substandard WEEE processing activities include
acid stripping and open burning, heating circuit boards for dismantling, melting of plastics which release
the hazardous chemicals contained in WEEE as secondary pollutants . Substandard techni-ques are
carried out in locations such as Guiyu in Guangdong Province of China, Taizhou in Zhejiang Province
of China, Bangalore in India and Agbogbloshie in Ghana which are the major recipients of global
WEEE95 .

Landfilling is the most common disposal method for WEEE, not only in developing countries but also
in many developed countries, and approximately 40% of the WEEE goes often to uncontrolled
landfills96. WEEE sites are 100 times more contaminated by PBDE, heavy metals, and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than residential areas . They can impact the local environmental quality.

40
High concentrations of heavy metals (e.g. Pb, Zn and Ni) in freshwaters and groundwater and high
dioxin concentrations in the air are prevalent in the vicinity of the recycling areas 97.

4.1 Transboundary movement of WEEE:

A decade ago, the WEEE traffic routes were towards Asia, particularly China. The introduction of a
more stringent legislation urged the emergence of new WEEE transport destinations, such as Ghana,
Nigeria, South Africa, Vietnam, India and the Philippines98. An overview of suspected and known routes
of WEEE trade is given in Table 2. Between 16–38% of the WEEE collected in the EU 99and 80% in the
US are sent to developing countries, mostly in the form of used or discarded devices, and eventually
undergoing substandard re-cycling practices. When exported to the developing economies, the costs of
WEEE treatment are externalized causing serious damage to public health, ecosystem functions and
primary resources 100
Table 4:Global suspected and proven WEEE import and export per region101.

Count Domestic WEEE WEEE import

ry/ generation export
Regio (106 tons) (106 (106 tons)
n tons)

Expor
ters
USA 6.6–9.4 3.3–5.6 –
EU-28 9.8 1.9–3.9 –
Japan 3.1 0.62 –
Impor
ters
China 3.1 – 2.0–6.0
India 0.36 – 0.85–4.2
West 0.5 – 1.5–3.5
Africa

.Despite the deterring legislation, its imperfect enforcement gives space for so-called waste crime102 .
The legal treatment of waste is more expensive than illegal operations, particularly in the developed
existing enforcement of the law, and heterogeneities of the regulations across countries that do not
regard waste a commodity. Vulnerabilities exist throughout the entire WEEE supply chain, including
collection, consolidation, transport, and treatment103 . Theft, lack of required permits, smuggling, and
false load declarations are reported.

4.2 Physical pretreatment of electronic waste:

Mechanical processes are typically the first step in metal recovery from WEEE, and aim to liberate and
separate the encapsulated metallic elements leading to their liberation. Several physical treatment
methods were developed, based on the physical and chemical differ-ences of the materials embedded in
WEEE. Current state-of-the-art re-garding physical pretreatment of WEEE comprises technologies such

41
(a)manual and semi-automatic disassembly units, (b) comminution and size reduction, (c) gravity
separators, (d) magnetic sorting and Eddy-Current and (e) optical separation.

The high complexity of WEEE components necessitates a meticulous approach to liberate the metals of
interest from separate components. Physical pretreatment also includes the removal of hazardous
materials, such as Hg from the backlight of LCD and Be from PCB . However, loss and contamination
of critical platinum group metals (PGM) and rare earth elements (REE)104 can occur with the existing
mechanical processes. Moreover, conventional comminution and physical crushing units are not yet
designed and optimized for the processing of WEEE, and loss of critical metals during crushing and
contamination with other metals or non-metallic fractions of the WEEE is inevitable105 .

4.3 Magnetic separation:

While separating metals according to their magnetic properties, Fe and Ni accumulate in the magnetic
fraction106. Cu, on the other hand, is accumulated in the conductive fraction. Similar as with electrostatic
separation, this process is typically applied after comminution. Thus, the particle size plays an important
role. A minor fraction could be left in the non-magnetic fraction, probably due to their presence in
paramagnetic or diamagnetic particles as alloying [Link] magnetic fraction of crushed PCB
ranges between 4.5% and 11% of the total weight107. Magnetic separators are inefficient for crushed
PCB 108and LCD due to agglomeration and subsequent loss of non-magnetic materials. Moreover, this
method is poorly selective towards metals and unable to separate individual metals from their alloys.

4.4 Gravity separation:

Gravity separation depends on the density and the size of the par-ticles: their movement in a fluid, e.g.
air, allows the separation of dif-ferent particles. One of the major disadvantages of this method is the
simultaneous difference of the particle size and density. When the particle size of the crushed material is
smaller than 0.45 mm, the grade of the copper is drastically decreased 109. This is, however, due to the
issues associated with particle size distribution (comminu-tion), as discussed in 110 applied gravity
separation using a zig-zag classifier to separate the metallic and non-metallic components of ground
PCB. The separation of the metallic components into the heavy fractions increased with increasing
particle size. About 95% of the metallic components were separated into the heavy fractions from the
milled PCB of a size smaller than 0.6 mm, but this was remarkably reduced to 60% as the particle size
of the milled PCB became smaller than 0.6 mm. A smaller particle size may promote a higher metal
leaching efficiency in the following step, however, an over-crushing might end up a high loss of
materials, particularly the critical metals during comminution.

42
 5. Solid-Waste Management
5.1 Selection of Treatment and Disposal Methods:

Sludges are usually dewatered and/or deoiled (e.g., by centrifugation) prior to final disposal. The choice
of treatment and disposal methods depends largely on the physical and chemical proper-ties of the waste
or the waste characteristics111,regulatory requirements and the availability of facilities to process these
wastes 112.

5.2 Solvent Extraction:

Solvent extraction is a simple process in which oily waste and solvent are mixed in an appropriate
proportion to ensure adequate miscibility of oil in solvent, while most water and solids are rejected as
unwanted impurities that may be removed by gravita-tional settling or centrifugation. The oil and
solvent mixture can then be separated by distillation113. A simplified flow diagram of a solvent-
extraction process

Figure 5: Simplified flow diagram of a solvent-extraction process114.

is shown in Figure 6: Oily-sludge waste is first mixed in the reactor column with a sol-vent, which
selectively dissolves the oil fraction of sludge and leaves the less-soluble impurities at the column
bottom. The oil and solvent mixture is then transferred to a solvent distillation system where the solvent
is separated from oil. The separated oil is considered as oil recovery, while the separated solvent vapor
can be liquefied through a compressor and cooling system and sent to a solvent recycling tank. The
solvent can be used for repeating the extraction cycle. The bottom impurities from the reactor column
are pumped to a second distillation system, and the solvent contained in the impurities is separated and
then sent to the solvent-recycling tank, while the waste residue after separation may need further
treatment115 .

43
5.3 Centrifugation:

Centrifugation provides a basic mechanical separation approach for the treatment of oily sludge 116 . In
this process, special high-speed rotation equipment is used to generate strong centrifugal force, which
can separate components with different densities (such as water, solids, oil, and pasty mix-tures in oily
sludge) within a short time. For reduction of energy consumption and enhancement of centrifugation
performance, sludge pretreatment, such as the addition of organic solvents, demulsifying agents, and
tensioactive chemicals, the injection of steam, and direct heating are sometimes used to reduce the
viscosity of oily sludge. Potential advantages and disadvantages of centrifugation in oily-sludge
treatment are as follows:

Advantages:

• It is generally a relatively clean and mature technology for oily-sludge treatment.

• Oil separation from sludge by centrifugation is effective.
• Centrifugation equipment typically does not occupy much space.

Disadvantages:

• Centrifugation process needs high-energy consumption to generate strong enough centrifu-gation

force to separate oil from oily sludge.
• The application of centrifugation has been limited to small scales due to the high equipment
investment and limitations.
• Centrifugation can bring noise problems.
• The use of demulsifying agents and tensioactive chemicals for sludge pretreatment not only enhances
the processing cost, but also creates environmental concerns115 .

Figure 6: Simplified flow diagram of a process of using centrifugation for oily-sludge treatment117.

44
5.4 Distillation:

Distillation may be used to remove light- and intermediate-weight hydrocarbon com-pounds from the
solidehydrocarbon mixture in a retort furnace 118,or using steam or superheated steam 119. In this process,
the oily sludge as received or in diluted form is pumped by means of a slurry pump into the central or
upper part of a heating zone, i.e., a steam distillation tower. The hydrocarbons and water are vapor-ized
by heating the solidehydrocarbon mixture, and the gases may be removed from the chamber by inert gas,
such as nitrogen, or carbon dioxide, but steam is the most economical of the available gases. When the
hydrocarbons and water are removed from the sludge, the solids become dry, granular, and noncohesive
and fall to the bottom of the tower through a series of grates. A mechanical device, such as a screw
conveyor, is then used to remove the solids from the bottom of the tower. The steam and hydrocarbon
vapors are withdrawn from the top of the tower to a condenser/heat exchanger in which the vapors are
condensed to yield a mixture of oil and water. These are separated gravimetrically in an oilewater
separator by centrifugation or any other suitable means. Product oil is drawn off at this point and is
suitable for use as a cracking feedstock. In some instances, a portion of the oil may be used as fuel for
strip-ping the steam boiler. A portion of the water from the oilewater separator can be pumped back
through the heat exchanger to the stripping steam boiler or freshwater can also be used as makeup for
the boiler. Note that the superheated steam can be advantageously utilized. The temperature of the steam
used in this process typically varies from about 250 to 700 F and, preferably, will be from about 300 to
600 F .

In this process, the solids may be transformed into a more readily disposable form. Some fractions
may be vaporized at relatively low temperatures, whereas the heavy oil fractions need very high
temperatures before vaporization takes place. Coking or destructive distillation of the hydrocarbons can
result from these high temperatures under other heating conditions .If the distillation temperatures are
high enough, pyrolysis will break the hydrocarbon molecules and form coke. The remaining
hydrocarbons are solidified by this process and their migration on disposal of the waste can be prevented
. recovered oil from refinery sludges by steam distillation. The oil recovered from this mixture was
suitable for a variety of purposes such as for cracking stock, etc., and the water recovered exhibited a
reduced COD. They noted that the dry, free-flowing solids recovered from the heating zone were useful
for a wide variety of applications, such as for landfills. proposed an application of oily sludge via a
distillation modification treatment. They showed that the separated light oil was higher than 29.2% of
the original dewatered oily sludge, such as 33.4% at 493K and 39.2% at 573K for 180 min. In an
appropriate range of thermal treatment parameters (distillation temperature 493e533K and time 2e3 h),
more desirable results were reported for the residual emulsion. For example, the content of resin and
asphaltene in the residual emulsion increased from 29.1% to 47.5% at 493K for 180 min. In addition, the
values of penetration and softening point of the residual emulsion were reported as 88 and 48.5 C,
respectively. This modification also enhanced its bond capacity. When this asphalt-like emulsion was
used as a solidifying or embedding material, an ideal ratio was achieved at 0.5 (m/m) for controlling the
release of heavy metals.

45
Several commercial thermal distillation systems are available, but fire hazard due to hydrocarbon vapors
at high temperatures, corrosion problems at high temperatures, emission of air pollution, chemical
structure alteration of some hydrocarbons at high temperatures, which makes their reuse in some
applica-tions impossible, possible formation of a heavy residual tar on the solids due to the distillation
lack of heavy hydrocarbon compounds, the high-energy costs of heating, are some of operational
limitations of these systems .

5.5 Pyrolysis:

Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures (500e1000 C) and

theoretically in an inert atmosphere. Depending on the operational conditions, it can produce char,
liquid, or gas. It is necessary to note that pyrolysis is different from gasification, which converts organic
materials to combustible gas or syngas with the existence of 20e40% of the oxygen. Fast pyrolysis is
generally a pyrolysis reaction, which is carried out at high heating rates, moderate temperatures 500 C),
short gas residence times (<2 s), and rapid quenching of the vapors. The main product of this process is
the pyrolysis liquid, also called biooil or pyrolysis oil, which can be used as a fuel and also as a source
of valuable chemical products120 .

Ablative pyrolysis, fluid bed and circulating fluid-bed pyrolysis, and vacuum pyrol-ysis are three types
of pyrolysis configurations121. Fluid beds are the most popular configurations because of their ease of
operation and ready scale-up. The commercial-scale oil-recovery pyrolysis systems are mainly based on
fluid beds and circulating fluid beds, which may consist of oily-sludge pretreatment, fluidized bed
reactor, char collector, cyclone and fly ash collector, and liquid-condensing system (Figure 8)

Temperature, heating rate, characteristic of oily sludge chemical additives122. cexistence of catalyst,
residence time, feeding rate, and reaction atmosphere are various factors that can affect the pyrolysis
performance.

Different studies have been carried out to apply pyrolysis for fuel recovery from oily sludge.123
investigated the pyrolysis of the oil sludge from the oil-storage tank of a typical petroleum refinery plant
located in northern Taiwan by using nitrogen as carrier gas in the temperature range 378 873K. Its
heating value of dry basis and low heating value of wet basis were about 10,681 and 5870 kcal/kg,
respectively. The main gaseous products (noncondensable gases at 298K) excluding N2 were CO2
(50.88 wt%), HCs (hydrocarbons, 25.23 wt%), H2O (17.78 wt%), and CO (6.11 wt%). The HCs mainly
consist of low molecular weight paraffins and ole-fins (C1eC2, 51.61 wt% of HCs). The temperature
corresponding to the maximum production rate of HCs was 713K. The distillation characteristics of the
liquid product (condensate of gas at 298K) from the pyrolysis of oil sludge was close to diesel oil.
However, it contained a significant amount of vacuum residue of about 9.57 wt%. The heating value of
the liquid product was reported to be about 10,840 kcal/kg 124 .studied the pyrolysis of the oil sludge of
tanker cleaned in fluidized-bed reactor and investigated the separation of oil from the solids at
temperatures from 460 to 650 C. As reported, 70e84% of the oil separated from the solids. 125
investigated the influence of different heat-ing rates of 5, 10, and 20 C/min on the pyrolysis of API

46
separator sludge obtained from an oil company in Thailand. Hydrogen and acetylene were reported to be
the main species in the pyrolysis products. Only a high heating rate of 20 C/min caused significant
differences in the thermal-conversion behavior compared to the low heat-ing rates, which, as noted, may
be due to the high amount of ash in the sludge.

Figure 7: Schematic diagram of fluidized bed systems used in sludge pyrolysis treatment168.

For the reuse, conservation, and recycling of solid wastes,126 investigated the effects of using fly ash, oil
sludge ash, waste DAY-zeolite, and waste polymer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as additives on the
possible improvement of the pyrolysis of oil sludge. For the increase of conversion, two weight ratios of
10 wt% and 5 wt% additives provided the offers in the order of fly ash of 10 wt% > PVA of 10 wt% >
oil sludge ash of 10 wt% > DAY-zeolite of 10 wt% > fly ash of 5 wt% > DAY-zeolite of 5 wt% > no
additives. The addition of additives reportedly improved the quality of pyrolysis oil (as sum of light and
heavy naphtha and light gas oil) in the order of fly ash of 10 wt% > oil sludge ash of 10 wt% > PVA of
10 wt% > DAY-zeolite of 10 wt% > fly ash of 5 wt% > DAY-zeolite of 5 wt% > no [Link]
the pyrolysis of waste sludges (oil sludge and mixed sludge) using a fixed-bed reactor. They reported
that pyrolysis of oil sludge produced a larger amount of oil-containing more aliphatic compounds and a
high calorific value. On the other hand, pyrolysis of mixed sludge gave a smaller amount of oil rich in
polar compounds. The gaseous products from pyrolysis were reported to consist of a high amount of
combustable gases. Landfilling was reported to be the best alternative to dispose of the pyrolytic char
obtained from pyrolysis. 128carried out pyrolysis of oil sludge first by thermogravimetry/mass spectros-
copy (TG/MS) and then in a horizontal quartz reactor with an electrical laboratory furnace under
different pyrolysis conditions (heating rate from 5 to 20 C/min, final pyrolysis temperature from 400 to
700 C, various interval holding stage, and catalyst addition). They proved by TG/MS results that
pyrolysis reaction of oil sludge started at a low temperature of about 200 C, and the maximum evolution

47
rate was reported to be between the temperatures of 350 500 C. They noted that a higher final pyrolysis
temperature, an interval holding stage, and adding catalyst could promote the pyrolysis conversion (in
terms of less solid residue production). In all parameters, an inter-val holding stage for 20 min near the
peak temperature of 400 C could increase the yield of oil and improve its quality. Three additives used
as catalysts did not improve oil-product quality markedly in spite of enhancing pyrolysis conversion
greatly.129 investigated the pyrolysis of tank-bottom oil sludge and found that the pyrolysis reaction was
significant in the range of 473e773K. Higher heating rate enhanced the carbon (C) and sulfur (S) content
but reduced hydrogen (H) content in solid residues. The main gaseous products excluding N2 were HCs,
CO2, H2, and CO. The yield of HCs was reported to be significant in the range of 600e723K. Around
80% of total organic carbon (TOC) in oil sludge could be transformed into HCs in the pyrolysis process.

5.6 Electro-Kinetic Method:

Electro-kinetics (EK) is a developing technology that can be applied for in situ reme-diation of heavy
metals and organic contaminants from saturated or unsaturated media (e.g., soils)130. The first EK
phenomenon was reported at the beginning of the 19th century when Reuss applied a direct current to a
clayewater mixture. However, Helmholtz and Smoluchowski first suggested a theory dealing with the
electro-osmotic velocity of a fluid and the zeta potential under an imposed electric gradient131 .

In the EK process, a low-intensity direct current is used across an electrode pair on each side of a porous
medium, causing electro-osmosis of the liquid phase, migration of ions, and electrophoresis of charged
particles in the colloidal system to the respec-tive electrode132. A combina-tion of phenomena such as
electro-osmosis, electrophoresis, electro-migration, and electrolysis reactions can generally result in EK
remediation133 .

According to 130 and 122 in the EK technique, different phases (water, oil, and solids) can be separated
from oily sludge based on three main mechanisms:

1. An electrical field can break colloidal aggregates in oily sludge, leading to the movement of colloidal
particles of oily sludge and solid phase toward the anode area as a result of electro-phoresis, and the
movement of the separated liquid phase (water and oil) toward the cathode area as a result of electro-
osmosis.

2. Following the electro-demulsification process, the electro-coagulation of the separated solid phase
could take place near the anode area, leading to an increase of solid phase and sediment concentration
(fast coagulation generally generates looser particles, while slow coagulation generates compacted
particles).

48
3. The separated liquid phase (water and oil) can form an unstable secondary oil-in-water emul-sion that
could be gradually electro-coalesced near the cathode area through charging and agglomeration of
droplets where two separated phases of water and oil can be .

5.7 Adsorption:

Materials such as coal or activated carbon may be applied to remove hydrocarbons from contaminated
solids (e.g., soil). A suspension of contaminated soil and the coal in water can be tumbled in a specially
designed drum at elevated temperatures to allow the oil to be absorbed by the coal. The oily coal can
then be separated from the water and the clean sand by flotation. The oily coal can then be used in
conventional coal-fired power plants as fuel and the processed solids can be landfilled either directly or
after some additional treatment (ozone treatment or biotreatment) according to the reg-ulations and laws
regarding the cleanliness of the product. This process is a relatively low-cost technique134. The nature of
both the contaminant and the solids can affect the effectiveness of the process .

5.8 High-Temperature Reprocessing or Heating:

High-temperature reprocessing (HTR) or heating is generally a cost-effective process to recover

hydrocarbon and decrease the residual volume of oily materials in any regulatory environment. In the
HTR process, influent emulsions or sludges are heated above the boiling point of water and allowed to
flash in a separation tower where water and light hydrocarbons are subsequently separated from the
heavier hydrocarbons. Heavier hydrocarbons and inorganic substances in the form of slurry are
discharged from the separation tower. At high temperatures, water is vaporized from the material in the
separation tower, and mass transfer rates of hydrocarbons from the solid inor-ganic phase are also
enhanced due to the reduced viscosities of hydrocarbons. Light hydrocarbons and water can be
recovered by condensation, whereas heavier hydrocar-bons can be recovered after liquidesolids
separation of the slurry phase, and the solid residue needs to be further processed. Note that HTR
process uses a flash tower instead of pressurized separation135 .

According to 135, the potential advantages of the HTR process over con-ventional types of sludge
treatment such as filter pressing and centrifugation are as follows:

• HTR facilities are similar to other types of production facilities, which can be considered part of the
production process and can be incorporated into existing permits to act. In addi-tion, as part of the
production process, the function of HTR facilities is to increase process efficiency through enhanced
oil recovery rather than to treat residuals, resulting in fewer permitting requirements, particularly in
states where treatment of E&P residuals can be regulated.

• HTR process can find utilization in offshore E&P operations due to the relatively low area
requirements.

49
• Operation of HTR process at temperatures above the melting point of paraffins can allow treatment of
materials higher in paraffin content (1%) than those treated in processes that apply pressurized
filtration and centrifugation.

• VOCs can be recovered by condensation or vapor recovery during the HTR process, whereas they
may cause air-permitting issues in conventional methods.

• The risk of off-site contamination can be reduced due to the materials processing in a closed
environment135.

5.9 Filtration:
When the hydrocarbon content of the oily sludge or oil-contaminated solids is high, mechanical
filtration can be used to separate some of the free hydrocarbons from the solids, but this process is not
effective at lowering hydrocarbon concentrations to low levels136 .

The use of sand filtration is not suitable for oily-sludge treatment because the residue resulting from its
filtration adheres strongly to a sand filter and the regeneration is difficult. According to137, there is a
method of oily-sludge treatment that includes filtering the sludge undiluted with recovered oil in a
precoated surface filter, treating the filtration residue with a light hydrocarbon solvent, and/or steam
stripping the extracted residue. Diatomaceous earth, fly ash, and powdered poly-mers (e.g.,
polyurethanes) can be applied as suitable precoat materials. Before filtering sludges with high solids
content, water or a light hydrocarbon solvent may be added as a diluent. The filtration may be performed
at ambient or elevated temperature. When elevated temperature is applied, conventional means (e.g.,
steam coils) may be used to heat the oily sludge. Plate, leaf, and tube or candle filters are suitable
surface filters and are preferably operated under pressure as opposed to vacuum. In such filters, the
precoat is effectively the filter medium and the function of the plate, leaf, and tube or candle, etc., is to
act as a support. Kerosene or other solvents such as naphtha can be applied as the hydrocarbon-washing
solvent.

Filtration aids (chemical and phys-ical conditioners) similar to or identical to the precoat medium may
be added to the sludge prior to filtration to ensure longer and improved filtration by enhancing the
porosity of the filter cake, lowering the differential pressure per unit cake thickness, and preventing the
cake from blinding as follows:

• For a low concentration of up to 1 wt% solids in the feed sludge, the amount of filtration aid applied
is preferably in the range 24 times the weight of solids;
• For a medium concentration of 1e4 wt% solids in the feed sludge, the amount of filtration aid applied
is preferably in the range 12 times the weight of solids; and

50
• For a high concentration (e.g., 4 wt% or higher) solids in the feed sludge, the amount of filtra-tion aid
applied is preferably in the range 0.5-1.5 times the weight of solids.

If the particle size of the solids is fine, more filter aid is required. Note that it is advantageous to apply
the minimum quantity of filtration aid to achieve satisfactory filtration because too much filtration aid
can slow the buildup of filter cake and increase the filtration time. Inserting a drying stage after the
filtration and before the sol-vent extraction may be advantageous and hot or cold air can be used for this
purpose. The filtration flow rate can suitably be in the range 0.05e10 m3/m2/h, but preferably in the
range 0.5e2.5 m3/m2/h. The oil content of the filtered solids can affect solvent consump-tion and flow
rate, and steam consumption and pressure can depend on the boiling point of the solvent. Scraping or
centrifugal action may be applied to remove the filtered solids from the filter. With the removal of solid
particles, the oil and water can subsequently be separated more easily. However, some oil is retained by
the solids and solvent extraction and/or steam stripping can be used to remove it reported that using this
method it was possible to transform an oily sludge into a dry solid contain-ing less than 1 wt% oil,
which was suitable for landfill operations.

Pressure filtration can remove 20e50% of water from oily sludge 138. As noted, chemical and physical
conditioners can be used to improve oily-sludge dewatering properties139 . Application of chemical
conditioners like flocculants and coagulants prior to filtration can improve filterability of oily sludge by
enhancing cake porosity of sludge and lowering compressibility of sludge 140. Physical conditioners are
relatively inert materials that may include min-erals and carbonaceous materials. These materials can act
as skeleton builders and are able to increase oily-sludge dewaterability and cake properties by adding
more incom-pressible and rigid lattice structures to the sludge solids providing water passages 141.

5.10 Percolation Ponds:

A percolation pond is a pond (usually manmade) designed to allow effluent (water) from the wastes to
percolate slowly into the ground. The pond acts as a holding facility while gravity allows the water to
percolate or seep through porous materials such as the soil or other unconsolidated medium into the
local water table (usually the surfacial aquifer)142 .

A percolation pond may be used in arid areas where the water table is very deep and are uncommon in
urban settings143 . These ponds allow dissolved substances in the water (e.g., organic compounds, heavy
metals, etc.) to percolate into the local water table and spread into the surrounding soil, posing a
potential threat to both human health and the environment 144, thus application is highly restricted .

5.11 Evaporation:
Evaporation of water from solid wastes may be the simplest method in arid climates . Evaporation ponds
are artificial ponds with very large surface areas that use sunlight or solar energy to evaporate water at
the ambient temperatures. These ponds are relatively easy to construct and are the least costly means of
dewatering, especially in areas with dry and warm weather, high evaporation rates, and lowland costs,
and require low maintenance and little operator attention compared to mechan-ical systems. The large

51
tracts of land needed when the evaporation rate is low or the disposal rate is high, the need for
impervious liners of clay or synthetic membranes such as PVC or Hypalon, and the potential for
contaminating surrounding land and water sources through seepage from poorly constructed evaporation
ponds are some of disadvantages of these systems145 . The risk of groundwater contamination can be
decreased by sealing these ponds 146. Netting or other deterrents should be used to cover these ponds to
restrict waterfowl, etc., from coming into contact with pollutants in the waste ma-terials. According
to147, when an evaporation pond is applied in the wastewater-treatment system of refineries, it may be
covered with oily water, leading to restricted evaporation, degraded work environment, and fire risk.

Surface area and depth are two components of the evaporation pond size. The open-surface area of the
evaporation pond can be calculated from the following equation:

V f
reject 1
A
open ¼ E

where Aopen is the open-surface area of the evaporation pond (m2), Vreject denotes the volume of
reject water (m3/d), E is the evaporation rate (m/d), and f1 denotes a safety factor to allow for lower
than average evaporation rates. Evaporation rates may be determined using a standard evaporation pan
(class A pan) or water-balance calcula-tions146 .

According to 145 and146, pond depths ranging from 25 to 45 cm are optimal for maximizing the rate of
evaporation. The pond tends to store the reject water during the winter. The following equation can be
applied to calculate the minimum depth needed to store the volume of water:
d E f
min ¼ ave 2

where dmin is the minimum depth (m), Eave denotes the average evaporation rate (m/d), and f2 is a
factor, which incorporates the effect of the length of the winter. A freeboard, which is described as the
depth above the normal reject water surface, must be considered and provided so that reject water does
not spill out of the pond due to rainfall and periods of abnormally low evaporation. A freeboard of 20
cm is recom-mended .

The use of evaporation ponds in the wastewater-treatment system of refineries in Middle East countries
was reported by148. In addition, dewatering of reserve pits following drilling, produced water, oil-based
or salty drilling mud systems, etc., have been reported using evaporation. Note that in dewatering of re-
serves pits by evaporation, three layers including a free oil layer, water layer, and sludge layer may be
formed. A surface crust can be formed by weathering the oil layer, leading to the inhibition of water
evaporation and delaying the natural removal of wa-ter from the pits .

52
5.12 Mechanical Methods:

Evaporation can be too slow for dewatering of solid wastes, but several mechanical methods are available for this
purpose. As noted, mechanical methods such as shale shakers, hydrocyclones, settling ponds , and
thickeners (holding tank for settling solids through, e.g., gravity, may increase solid concentration from
3% to 10e15 wt%)149 for preliminary dewatering, centrifugation, filtration such as high-pressure filter
presses, vacuum filters, belt presses, and screw presses 150 for further reducing of water from oily sludge
or other solid wastes in the petroleum industry have been reported. The effectiveness of these
mechanical methods to remove water from oily sludge or other solid wastes varies . Chemical and
physical conditioning of oily sludge and other solid wastes can improve dewatering properties by
mechanical methods151 .

Centrifugation and filtration are widely applied mechanical methods in indus-tries to dry oily sludge and
other waste materials152 . Filtration reduces the transport and disposal costs since there is less water
content in sludge. When incineration is selected as the final disposal route of the sludge, leaving more
oil in the cake can decrease fuel costs. Note that oil may blind/smear the filter cloth, and filtration aids
may be needed to lower plugging tendencies. Pressure filtration can manage feeds with concentrations
up to 10% solids and with large proportions of difficult-to handle fines particles 154. This system can
remove 20e50% of water from oily sludge 155and cannot achieve the desired effect without some form of
pretreatment156 . Furthremore, this system can obtain cake solids up to 50% with oil concentrations
between 5% and 20%. The performance of the process can be affected by feed temperature, amount and
nature of any additives such as lime/spent clay addition, cycle time, cake characteristics, and filtrate
characteristics. Effective breaking of solids-stabilized emulsions can be obtained by heating the feed.
The screen-belt press can achieve up to 20% solids in the sludge and may be difficult to clean. In
comparison with the centrifuge and belt press, the vacuum filtration and screw press are not as effective
in solids separation of reserves and production pits due to their low volume reduction of the solid-waste
stream . High content of solids in the feed (up to 25%) can be handled by two-phase scroll-type decanter
centrifuge .

5.13 Surface Discharge (Offshore and Onshore):

Surface discharge (both offshore and onshore) may be one disposal option for aqueous and solid-waste
streams 157as long as their quality meets regulatory standards. Surface discharge is regulated in most
areas, but permits for such discharge are needed . The sensitivity and capacity of the potential receiving
environment, the concentration of potentially contaminants in the waste, and the volume of the discharge
stream are factors that should be considered .

In some areas, offshore discharge may be applied to dispose treated solids such as drill cuttings and
produced solids. For example, in the United States, offshore discharges are forbidden within 3 miles of
shore, and this option cannot be applied to dispose oil-based drilling mud wastes .

53
The treated solid wastes (e.g., drill cuttings and produced solids) which their hydro-carbons, salt, or
heavy metals contents meet regulatory standards, may be permitted for onshore discharge or spreading
over the land surface. The electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), the
exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), the O&G levels, and heavy metal content can be assessed for
the suitability of a solid waste for surface discharge . EC < 4 mmhos/cm, SAR < 12, ESP < 15%, and
O&G < 1% are generally the maximum recommended values158. The maximum recommended
accumulations of heavy metals in soil can be 300 mg/kg for As, 50 mg/kg for Be, 3 mg/kg for Cd, 200
mg/kg for Co, 1000 mg/ kg for Cr, 250 mg/kg for Cu, 10 mg/kg for Hg, 1000 mg/kg for Mn, 5 mg/kg
for Mo, 5 mg/kg for Se, 500 mg/kg for V, 500 mg/kg for Zn, 100 mg/kg for Ni, and 1000 mg/kg for Pb .

5.14 Burial:
In the past, burial of wastes in pits was a common method for disposal due to its simplicity. The
potential for pollutant (hydrocarbons, salts, or heavy metals, chemicals, and other materials) migration
from the pit to usable water resources is one of the major concerns with the burial of solids. Barrier
walls around the pit, liners around the pit contents, or a cap to prevent vertical migration may be
required and applied as a barrier to pollutants migration and leach-ing. The depth to groundwater and the
type of soil surrounding the pit should be considered prior to wastes burial. Surface gradation to prevent
water accumulation and revegetation with native species to decrease the potential for erosion and assist
in the full recovery of the area‟s ecosystem are required after burial and/or pit-closure completion .

Burial of drill cuttings and used mud without hazardous materials has been reported . Burial can be
applied for the disposal of inert unrecyclable materials and stabilized wastes. Dilution burial may be
used for wastes with constituents only slightly elevated above levels regulated for disposal (e.g., water-
based muds and cut-tings). In this method, the pit contents are mixed with soils from the pit and
surround-ing areas until they meet specifications for burial, and the pit is covered and the surface graded

5.15 Secure landfills:

Landfilling of hazardous solid or containerized waste is regulated more stringently than landfilling of
municipal solid waste. Hazardous wastes must be deposited in so-called secure landfills, which provide
at least 3 metres (10 feet) of separation between the bottom of the landfill and the underlying bedrock
or groundwater table. A secure hazardous-waste landfill must have two impermeable liners
and leachate collection systems. The double leachate collection system consists of a network of
perforated pipes placed above each liner. The upper system prevents the accumulation of leachate
trapped in the fill, and the lower serves as a backup. Collected leachate is pumped to a treatment plant.
In order to reduce the amount of leachate in the fill and minimize the potential for environmental
damage, an impermeable cap or cover is placed over a finished landfill.

54
 Figure 8:Schematic diagram of a secure hazardous-waste landfill with a double leachate collection
[Link]ædia Britannica, Inc.

A groundwater monitoring system that includes a series of deep wells drilled in and around the site is
also required. The wells allow a routine program of sampling and testing to detect any leaks or
groundwater contamination. If a leak does occur, the wells can be pumped to intercept the polluted water
and bring it to the surface for treatment.

One option for the disposal of liquid hazardous waste is deep-well injection, a procedure that involves
pumping liquid waste through a steel casing into a porous layer of limestone or sandstone. High
pressures are applied to force the liquid into the pores and fissures of the rock, where it is to be
permanently stored. The injection zone must lie below a layer of impervious rock or clay, and it may
extend more than 0.8 km (0.5 mile) below the surface. Deep-well injection is relatively inexpensive and
requires little or no pretreatment of the waste, but it poses a danger of leaking hazardous waste and
eventually polluting subsurface water supplies.

5.16 Incineration:
Incineration refers to any process that utilizes combustion to convert a waste to a less bulky, less toxic,
or less noxious material . Volume reduction, complete destruction rather than isolation, and possible
resource or energy recovery are some of advantages of the incineration method159 . An incineration
system must generate as complete a com-bustion as practical by applying an optimum selection of
process variables (time, tem-perature, and turbulence) and preparing air-pollution control devices to
reduce and minimize the air-pollutant emission. Many waste materials may be readily combustible and
their combustion products can be ash residue and harmless gases, which can be easily disposed of
through vents or stacks to the atmosphere. In such cases, this method can often be the soundest
technique of waste disposal. Complete combustion, adequate flue-gas treatment, clear stack, low

55
maintenance, minimum materials handling, minimum operating labor, adequate capacity, and adequate
availability are some of the factors that characterize incinerators with good performance. In general, the
types of incinerators include fixed-hearth incinerators, multiple-hearth incinerators, fluidized-bed
incinerators, rotary-kiln incinerators, liquid-fuel incinerators, and gas or fume incinerators .

Complete combustion of oily wastes in the presence of excess air and auxiliary fuels can be possible,
and is widely done in large refineries for sludge treatment . Rotary-kiln and fluidized-bed incinerators
are the most commonly used incinerators. In a rotary-kiln incinerator, the combustion temperature is
from 980 to 1200 C and the residence time is about 30 min, while in fluidized-bed incinera-tors, the
combustion temperature is from 732 to 760 C and the residence time may be in order of days160 . Rotary-
kiln incinerators can generally incinerate almost any waste, regardless of size and composition . The
circulating fluidized-bed technology has been recommended for the inciner-ation of typical low-quality
sludge such as oil shale, petroleum coke, sewage, biomass residues, and so on, due to its fuel flexibility,
high mixing efficiency, high combustion efficiency, and low pollutant emissions 161. This tech-nology
can be adopted to treat oily sludge . The main advantage of fluidized-bed incinerators is its flexibility to
accommodate large variations in sludge composition . Note that the incineration process needs
sophisticated equipment and experienced operators to achieve adequate combustion of oil sludge. The
incineration of oily sludge using fluidized-bed technology usually generates ash scrubber sludge, with
low heavy-metal content162 .

Critical parameters and factors that should be controlled during the incineration process are combustion
condition, oxygen-to-air ratio, residence time, combustion temperature, waste-feed rates, feedstock
quality, presence of auxiliary fuels, and gas emission163 .

Although oily-sludge incineration has been practiced in a few developed countries, there are some
limitations:

• Pretreatment of oily sludge with high moisture is required to improve its fuel efficiency by reducing
the excessive water content.
•
• Auxiliary fuel is typically needed to maintain a constant combustion temperature.

• Low molecular PAHs, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, and carbon monoxide can be fugi-tive
emission of pollutants from incineration and incomplete combustion, which can cause atmospheric
pollution.

• Ash residue, scrubber water, and scrubber sludge generated during the incineration process are
hazardous and may require further treatment prior to disposal164 .

• Oily sludge generally contains high concentration of hazardous constituents that are resistant to
combustion , and the incineration needs high capital and operating costs (more than $800 per ton of
oily-sludge incineration) .

56
 [Link] waste management system
The design goal of LWMS is to minimize the release of radio-active materials from NPP to the
environment, the occupational radiation exposure to workers, and the solid radioactive waste volume
generated from LWMS during NPP operation. The pro-cessing of the waste aims at separating the
radionuclides from the liquid phase and concentrating them in a solid waste form for off-site shipment.

The chemical compositions and radioactivity levels of the generated wastes during nuclear reactor
operations depend on the conducted operation. Liquid wastes that have higher radioactivity content
and/or long lived radionuclides is treated using ion ex-change/sorption, chemical precipitation, and/or
evaporation, re-verses osmosis, filtration and solvent extraction.

The main features and limitations of the liquid waste treatment processes are as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 5: Main features and limitation of some of the treatment processes 165.

Technology feat Limitations

ures

Precipitation Suitable for large volumes and high salt Low DF

content wast
Easy non-expensive operations Efficiency depends on solid-liquid separation
step
Ion eExchange Good chemical, thermal and radiation Affected by high salt content
stability
Large choice of products ensuring high Blockage problems
selectivity
Evaporation > 4 to 6 Regeneration and recycling often difficult
10 employed
D 1 Process limitations (scaling, foaming,
F 0 corrosion, volatility of certain
Well established technology radionuclides)
High volume reduction factor High operation and capital costs
Suitable for a variety of radionuclides
Reverse Removes dissolved salts High pressure system, limited by osmotic
osmoses 2 3 pressure

Non-back washable, subject to fouling

Economical
Established for large scale operations Fouling
Ultra-filtration Separation of dissolved salts from
particulate and colloidal
mate Organic membranes subject to radiation
rials damage
Good chemical and radiation stability for

57
 inorganic membranes
Microfiltration High recovery (99%) Sensitive to impurities in waste stream
Low fouling when air backwash
Solvent Selectivity enables removal, recovery or Generates aqueous and organic secondary
recycle of actinides waste
extraction

6.1 System description of LWMS for APR1400:

The LWMS provides a means to collect, store, process, sample, and monitor radioactive liquid waste
generated during normal plant conditions, including Anticipated Operational Occurrences (AOOs) based
on NRC RG1.143, NUREG-0017, and other applicable codes and regulations. The radionuclide
concentration of liquid effluent releases at the site discharge point during normal opera-tion including
AOOs is below the radionuclide concentration limit in Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC)
Notice 2014-34 Criteria 166.

TheR/O package consists of the pre-treatment module, R/O module, Ion-exchange module, and
concentrate feed module (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Schematic diagram for LWMS.

The pre-treatment module, which consists of an oil removal filter and Membrane Filter (MF), removes
the impurities in the radwaste water to maintain optimal performance of the R/O module. The oil
removal filter is a column holding an oil removal filter cartridge designed to remove organic
contaminants. This serves to protect the downstream ion-exchange media from fouling.

58
The R/O module which utilizes thin film spiral wound mem-branes is used to remove soluble material
passed through the pre-treatment equipment. The membranes will be replaced when dose rates on the
membranes surfaces reach change-out ranges. The used membranes are drained and discarded as Dry
Active Waste (DAW).

The Ion-exchange module is used for final polishing before discharge to monitor tanks for sampling and
release. This allows flexibility for tailoring the process to specific wastes or operating conditions. Then
process vessels with mixed bed resins can also be loaded with zeolite or other sluiceable media which
may enhance process filtration or ion exchange adsorption 167.

59
 CONCLUSIONS
In scientific perspective, successful management of e-waste should closely cover various stages of
material flow in recycling process. In physical world, the four levels of product, component, material,
and substance will locate in macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic scales . Pollution controlling for
air emission and effluent dis-charge has been strengthened for e-waste recycling process owing to
recent improvement of regulation and technology. However, two major gaps can be extracted from
the existed e-waste regulation: lack of adequate concern about the recovered materials and
substances and no control of substances to avoid heavy metals enter into new products.

In detail, material management of e-waste is at least partially cov-ered because formal recycling
process has been regulated in some e-waste legislation. Material management has received some
attention from material science (e.g. green material, eco-design) , rather than e-waste regulation and
policy. But in substance level, currently there is lack of adequate attention in both regulation and
technical system. Consequently, asynchronous and unbalance man-agement for e-waste occur in the
four levels of product, component, ma-terial, and substance.

To systematically solve the e-waste problem, more attention of e-waste management should transfer
from the levels of product and com-ponent, to the two levels of material and substance. Knowledge
base re-lated to environmental risk and ecotoxicology of hazardous substances in new product should
be well distinguished. In addition, e-waste pro-cessing technology should be significantly improved to
diminish and even avoid toxic substance entering downstream of material. Extra reg-ulation or policy
related to new production of hazardous substances in recycled materials should also be carried out on
the agenda. All the find-ings can hopefully improve WEEE legislations for regulated countries and non-
regulated countries.

60
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