Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Innovation
Treatment of hazardous wastes
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 3
2.0 What is hazardous waste?.................................................................................... 5
3.0 Industries generating hazardous waste................................................................6
4.0 Traditional technologies and principles implemented in hazardous waste
management.............................................................................................................. 6
5.0 Failure of traditional waste management techniques...........................................7
5.1 The Case of the ABM-Wade Site........................................................................7
5.2 The Hardeman County Landfill Case.................................................................8
5.3 The case of the LaBounty Dump.......................................................................9
5.4 The Dioxin discovery case of Italy.....................................................................9
6.0 Analysis of the case studies- The need of Clean Tech over Traditional technology
of waste management.............................................................................................. 10
7.0 Drive for clean technology of toxic waste management.....................................11
7.1 Costs............................................................................................................... 11
7.2 Capital............................................................................................................. 11
7.3 Competition..................................................................................................... 12
7.4 China............................................................................................................... 12
7.5 Consumers...................................................................................................... 13
7.6 Climate............................................................................................................ 13
8.0 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 13
9.0 References.......................................................................................................... 15
10.0 Appendix.......................................................................................................... 17
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1.0 Introduction
The current world economy is operational upon a basic linear model of performance. Evidently,
the growth and progress of an economy has been dependent on the availability of natural
resources that are available for transformation into products and services for that economy. These
resources may be in house as obtained from the legal geographical location of a nation or may be
obtained from import from another country or geographical location (Baccarelli, 2006).
Whatever the origin of the resource may be, it is necessary to understand that the availability of
resources all over the world is in a limited quantity. Since this model of operation is in a linear
progressive mode and the progress through this model requires the availability of resources in
large quantities.
With the innovation and advancements in technology all over the world, the industries have seen
and faced a situation of depleted resource origins which are not possible to be restored to their
original state in the lifetime of a human being or even in a generation. Thus an alternative to this
was inevitable to be found out. This is where the concept of waste management came into
existence. As research into the topic diversified, the industries realized that though there is no
scope for replenishment of the natural resources, yet there was a ray of light for sustainable use
of resources if there was less wastage of the resources used and if the wastage generated
howsoever, could be utilized as resources once again (Bennett, 1990). Thus the concept of waste
management and recycling was born and it had the potential to bring about a massive revolution
in bridging the gap between the demand and supply of natural resources.
As the industries proceeded with the waste management and treatment, the results were
affirmative and recycling and reuse of wastage was seen to be a positive answer for the global
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issue of depleted resource origins. Newer, better and efficient methods and technologies came
into existence to put to use the maximum energy that can be obtained from the reuse and
recycling of resources (Bennett, 1984). Technological advancements developed faster and
efficient methods for the same.
In all this commotion for fulfilling the demand for the ever increasing need of energy, one major
point of concern is ignored sometimes if not all the time. The question is not whether the
processes of waste management are able to fulfill the gap in a sustainable method. The question
faced by mankind in the present world situation is if the technology employed and implemented
by industries all over the world is eco friendly. Yes we are using technological advancements to
develop better methods of waste management (Zambon et al., 2007). But in doing so, are we
taking care of the fact that if these technological advancements implemented actually possess a
threat to all mankind by polluting the environment?
In the year 2010, in the EU, about 3 billion tones of waste were generated. The division was the
generation of about 500 million tones of waste per citizen in the EU. Apart from the domestic
human waste generation, the industrial waste generation is also alarming and the division of
waste generation in the EU28 countries being 34% by the construction industry, 27% by the
mining and quarrying industry, 11% by the manufacturing sector, 9% waste generated by basic
household waste generation, 3% by the energy supply industries and 16% by other sources of
industrial and household waste generation (Blackman, 2001). All of these industries and even the
common household employ one or more technologies for efficient waste management. But it is
high time to consider if the technologies employed in waste management are eco friendly
themselves. Or if the situation is such that the purpose of employing technological advancements
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in waste management for lesser pollution is defeated by the lack of drivers of employing cleaner
waste management technologies.
In this research, we shall limit our study to the drivers of clean technology usage in the toxic and
hazardous waste management sector. The research elaborated the history of employment of
cleaner technologies in waste management as well as the present scenario. The significance of
the drivers of employing cleaner technology and the traditional and advanced drivers that lead to
the initiation of employing a cleaner technology has been discussed in this document along with
some recommendations for what better could be done with all the resources we have in our hand
(Dawson and Mercer, 1986).
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evacuation of the locality. The run off toxic wastes from the trenches and the above ground
storage went into the Delaware River completely ruining the ecology of the place and
contaminating the atmosphere with toxic gases and fluids (Herndon and Moerlins, 1988). The
site could only be restored with a super funded project that cost over 3 million dollars taking
over a decade for complete remediation.
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chloracne and adults were sickened. After 7 years of cleanup activity, the dioxin waste was
concentrated into 41 drums. This deadly concentrate passed through the hands of several
handlers and was hauled from one end of France to the other, through Paris, and ultimately to a
barn in Anquilcourt-le-Sart. Throughout this odyssey the drums were identied only as
containing tar.
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The initial step taken was mixing solvents to the waste pits and dumps when they were filled to
the brim so that the wastes could be dumped without contamination but this lead to further
chemical reactions with the waste dumping causing more severe consequences.
7.2 Capital
Any form of technological advancement is possible only if there is a continual inflow of
capital investments in the market in sufficient amounts. Investments in the form of
government subsidies, project financing and support from stock markets for various
organizations have been a critical growth factor for clean technology. Huge amounts of
capital investments are necessary in the toxic waste management process that incorporates
advanced technologies and equipments for safe disposal of wastes and the sector of
implementing clean technology is no exception to this. Both the public and private sectors
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are making calculated investments as human beings understand the need for sustainable use
of resources and technology which is uplifting this capital drive for clean technology.
7.3 Competition
In order to have a dominating control of the clean tech sector the governments of the nations
all around the globe are having a competitive approach towards the adoption of clean
technology in the toxic waste management sector. Not only is this opening up scope for
future job opportunities for the workforce of the nation but also having a positive impact on
the sustainable use of resources and advanced technology. The competition is dominated by
the factor of limitation of global energy resources which is getting depleted day by day and
the need for an alternative solution if not required at present is however imminent in the near
future when the resources will first become too expensive to be commercially used until the
sources are finally exhausted.
7.4 China
Not only China but other fast developing countries like China and India to start with in the
Asian sub continent are day by day making progress in demands for energy sources. All of
the similar economies are progressing day by day with organizations from all over the world
setting up industries in the developing nations due to cheap labor costs. As a result, the
demand for energy resources and their supply is ever growing in these economies. It is high
time that these demands are met which is not possible with the limited resources and can only
be answered with clean technology.
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7.5 Consumers
The success of any market is depended on the consumer demand. These demands are created
by the personal preferences of a consumer. The personal preferences of a consumer are again
governed by the attitude of the consumer. Rising global energy depletion and rise in costs of
the same, climate change due to pollution from unsustainable use of resources all affect the
consumer at certain levels. It is the concern of the investors who purchase recycled products
to know how the product came into being and what technologies were implemented to
manufacture the same. Nobody wants to be a part of something that is harmful.
7.6 Climate
The climate review was at a time a subject of research and theoretical discussion in closed
rooms but the times have changed and the implementation if cleaner technologies are
imminent to restore he natural balance of the earths environment. Those who are smart, are
taking this seriously and starting early while clean technology is cheaper and available
without much fuss (Andreola, 2005).
8.0 Conclusion
As indicated previously, these examples of earlier activity should not lead to the assumption that
such practices have been eliminated. Hazardous waste statutes, codes, and regulations have
made it difficult for practitioners of illegal dumping to avoid detection and prosecution.
Nevertheless, attempts to avoid the effort and/or cost of proper hazardous waste management
continue to be made. It is high time that industrialist recognize these drives that must be
considered to bring newer and cleaner techniques of waste management into existence. Work has
been done in this sector and most industries are thriving under legal obligations to incorporate
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better technique but the gap is huge and more time and resources are needed to be invested for
the cause to be completed.
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9.0 References
Dawson, G. and Mercer, B. (1986). Hazardous waste management. New York: Wiley.
Fattore, E., Fanelli, R., Turrini, A. and di Domenico, A. (2006). Current dietary exposure
to polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorodibenzofurans, and dioxin-like
polychlorobiphenyls in Italy. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 50(10), pp.915-921.
Gomez, E., Rani, D., Cheeseman, C., Deegan, D., Wise, M. and Boccaccini, A. (2009).
Thermal plasma technology for the treatment of wastes: A critical review. Journal of
Hazardous Materials, 161(2-3), pp.614-626.
Griffin, R. (2007). Principles of air quality management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor &
Francis.
Herndon, R. and Moerlins, J. (1988). Florida hazardous waste and sanitary landfill
report, county data. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.
Juhasz, A., Magesan, G. and Naidu, R. (2004). Waste management. Enfield, (NH), USA:
Science Publishers.
Krag, B. (1985). Hazardous Wastes and Their Management. Hazardous Waste and
Hazardous Materials, 2(3), pp.251-308.
LaGrega, M., Buckingham, P. and Evans, J. (1994). Hazardous waste management. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Method and apparatus for human waste treatment. (1998). Waste Management, 18(1),
p.69.
Sawant, A., Cocker, III, D., Miller, J., Taliaferro, T., Diaz-Sanchez, D., Linn, W., Clark,
K. and Gong, H. (2008). Generation and Characterization of Diesel Exhaust in a Facility
for Controlled Human Exposures. Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association,
58(6), pp.829-837.
Sobey, E. (2007). A field guide to household technology. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review
Press.
Zambon, P., Ricci, P., Bovo, E., Casula, A., Gattolin, M., Fiore, A., Chiosi, F. and
Guzzinati, S. (2007). Sarcoma risk and dioxin emissions from incinerators and industrial
plants: a population-based case-control study (Italy). Environmental Health, 6(1).
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10.0 Appendix
1. Clean Tech Report June 2009
http://www.cmslegal.com/Documents/Cleantech_Report_June2009.pdf
2. Technology and Innovation Futures: UK Growth Opportunities for the 2020s
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288564/10-1252technology-and-innovation-futures.pdf
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