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SOLID WASTE - INTRODUCTION

Definition: Any moveable solid material that is perceived to
be of no further use and is permanently discarded.
- Source of solid waste: domestic, office / commerce,
agricultural, mining, industrial, energy production.
- Solid waste produced from domestic and business are
called municipal wastes, non-hazardous and only
require normal methods of disposal. e.g. vegetables,
plastic, wood, glass, paper, etc.
Guess the highest percentage of solid waste comes from
which sources?

Methods of treatment
Villagers
Mining

Sanitary
Landfill

In Situ
Disposal

Factories,
e.g palm oil
mill
Incineration

Methods

Products?
Reuse

Recycle

Three
methods

Methods of treatment

HAZARDOUS WASTE - INTRODUCTION

Definition: Hazardous waste means solids, sludge, liquids
and containerized gasses other than radioactive and
infectious wastes which by reason of their chemical activity
or toxic, explosive, corrosive or other characteristics cause
danger or likely will cause danger to healthy or
environment, whether alone or when coming into contact
with other waste.

e.g Lead, Arsenic, Mercury, Mercury Metallic, Benzene,

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Cadmium, Benzo (a)
pyrene, Chloroform, Benzo (b) fluoranthene, Aroclor 1260,
Aroclor 1254, Chromium (+6) etc.
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HAZARDOUS WASTE - CLASSIFICATION

Can be determined in either 2 ways:
1. Laboratory tests
2. on the list of specific wastes - having the potential to
exhibit hazardous characteristics.
Based on laboratory test, a hazardous waste is having any
of the following characteristic.
- Corrosivity (highly acidic or alkaline, i.e pH 2 or
12.5)
- Ignitability (easily ignited and thus posing a fire hazard
during routine management)
- Reactivity (capable of potentially harmful, sudden such
reactions such as explosion)
- Toxicity (capable of releasing specified substances to
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water in significant concentrations)

HAZARDOUS WASTE - ORIGIN

1. Deliberated addition to soil, water or air by humans.
2. Evaporation or wind erosion from waste dumps into the
atmosphere.
3. Leaching from waste dumps into groundwater streams
of water.
4. Leakage such as from underground storage tanks or
pipelines.
5. Evaluation and subsequent deposition by accidents
such as fire or explosion.
6. Release from improperly operated waste treatment,
storage and disposal facilities.

HAZARDOUS WASTE - PROPERTIES

Physical-chemical properties of hazardous waste,
Vapour pressure - Varies with T and P.
Solubility - the degree to which one substance (solute)
will dissolve into another solvent
Diffusion coefficient - define as the movement of a
contaminant under the influence of a concentration
gradient.
Bioconcentration factor (BCF) - amount of a chemical
that is likely to accumulate in aquatic organisms
Sorption - process by which a component (sorbate or
contaminant) moves from one phase to another phase
across some boundary.

HAZARDOUS WASTE - PROPERTIES

Most of the hazardous chemicals are classified as organic
chemical. Organic chemicals can be divided to:
- Volatile organic compounds (VOC):
high vapour pressure which allow them to evaporate
quickly, high solubility and low BCF
-Semi-volatile organic compounds: typically
subcategorized as base/neutral and acid extractable.
- Base/neutral extractable are PAHs, nitrosamines,
ether, having low to moderate vapour pressure
- Acid extractable are usually phenolic compunds,
having high BCF
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HAZARDOUS WASTE - CONTAMINANT RELEASE

The release of contaminants from the waste site can occur
in one or all of the three phases:
Liquid release contaminated runoff, direct aqueous
discharges to surface water, leachate to ground water
Air emission stack emissions including gaseous and
particulates, volatile emissions from lagoons.
Solid suspended solids in water

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EFFECT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

- There are 3 exposure routes by which environmental
contaminants can enter body
Inhalation (respiratory tract)
Ingestion (gastrointestinal tract)
Dermal contact (skin)

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EFFECT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

The immediate and long term effects are:
1. Sensitisation - skin contact with a chemical
2. Neurotoxicity - damage to the central nervous
system
3. Teratogenecity - damage to the embryo and fetus
leading to birth defect
4. Mutagenicity - damage that result in change to the
DNA structure in genes
5. Carcinogenicity - the development of malignant
tumors and neoplasms (new growth)

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TREATMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

Treatment and disposal of hazardous waste,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Neutralisation
Oxidation
Reduction
Reverse Osmosis
Ion-Exchange
Carbon adsorption
Recovery of acids
Phenol destruction
Evaporation stripper

For wastewater which contain suspended solids, physical

separation process e.g. filtration
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TREATMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

Strong Hazardous

Reuse purification,
recycling
e.g?

Destruction pure
Chemical process
e.g?

Immobilization
Encapsulation by
Impermeable
Polymer
e.g?
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ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION
There are 3 specific regulation to control toxic and hazardous
waste under EQA 1974.
1. Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulations,
1989
2. Environmental Quality (Prescribed Premises)
(Scheduled Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities)
Order, 1989
3. Environmental Quality (Prescribed Premises)
(Scheduled Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities)
Regulations, 1989

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