Toxic and Hazardous Wastes

Hazardous wastes are poisonous byproducts of manufacturing, farming, city septic systems, construction, automotive garages, laboratories, hospitals, and other industries. The waste may be liquid, solid, or sludge and contain chemicals, heavy metals, radiation, dangerous pathogens, or other toxins. Even households generate hazardous waste from items such as batteries, used computer equipment, and leftover paints or pesticides. Toxic chemicals are all around us. In order to create the products that we use every day, companies often produce and release thousands of chemical compounds every year. Unfortunately these companies have inadequate government oversight and these dangerous chemicals are released into the environmentthreatening our rivers, lakes, air, land, oceans, and ultimately ourselves and our future Hazardous wastes pose a greater risk to the environment and human health than non hazardous wastes and thus require a stricter control regime

Types of Hazardous/Toxic Wastes :-[3]

Chemical Waste

If you are using chemicals that are identified as hazardous when you buy them or after you use them, you are dealing with toxic chemical waste when you dispose of the chemicals. Chemicals that are labeled as flammable, corrosive, reactive or toxic are always toxic chemical waste. Some of the most common chemical toxic wastes are solvents, laboratory reagents, chemicals used to develop photographs, pesticides, paints and household cleaners.

Radioactive Waste

Radioactive toxic waste includes any waste materials that are used in the process of ionizing radiation substances. Radioactive waste is most often comprised from radioactive rods used to generate nuclear power in a nuclear power plant and cooling water used to cool the same rods as part of nuclear power production.

Medical Waste

Medical waste is defined as any liquid or solid waste material that either was contaminated or might have been contaminated with biological agents or other infectious materials. Most medical waste comes from hospitals, other health care facilities or laboratories

where the materials are used to treat or used in research on humans or animals. Medical toxic waste includes bulk blood and other blood products, animal or human tissues, biological agents such as viruses and bacterias, materials such as bandages contaminated with animal or human bodily fluids, instruments such as needles and catheters that cannot be sterilized for further use and items designed to be used only once. Manufacturing Wastes

Many industrial or manufacturing operations either use substances that are inherently hazardous or create such substances as byproducts. The EPA regulates substances as carcinogens, corrosive, flammable, oxidants, toxic, radioactive and explosive. Specific industrial chemicals and lubricants fall in this category along with waste from such processes as pesticide manufacture.

Ignitable Substances

Certain wastes, such as solvents, are not listed as inherently flammable by the EPA, but they can be hazardous as waste products if they are able to be easily ignited or spontaneously combust under heat or pressure.

Corrosive and Reactive Substances

Substances such as battery acids can corrode metal, leaching out of their containers to pollute the

environment. Others can react to certain common conditions such as heat, water or compression, resulting in toxic gases or a sudden explosion. Toxic Substances

Lead and mercury are known dangers to humans when absorbed by the skin or ingested. When disposed, substances such as these can contaminate the soil and reach the water table, endangering food and fresh water.

Household Hazards

Everyday substances used in the home can create dangers to the environment, especially when thrown away in landfills where they can pollute the earth and ground water. Examples are used paints, especially those containing lead; solvents and other chemicals; batteries; fluorescent lamps and old thermometers that contain mercury; motor oil; insecticides; cleaning materials; refrigerants; and some smoke detectors containing radioactive material.

Effects of Toxic/Hazardous Wastes :Hazardous waste carries environmental risks and also health risks for humans and wildlife. Some pollutants such as mercury can accumulate in human and animal tissue, thus compounding their effects. Hazardous waste is primarily generated by industry and businesses. Although

regulations exist, contamination still occurs. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recorded 23 million cases of voluntary disclosure of pollution risks and opened 387 environmental criminal cases. As long as threats remain, health effects of hazardous waste will continue to occur.

Some of the harmful effects are :-[2]

Cancer

American farmers apply more than 300 million pounds of pesticides to farmlands each year. Of the 27 most commonly used pesticides, the EPA has classified 15 of them as carcinogens or cancer-causing agents. Cancer has also been linked to air pollution from industry as well as in the home. Radon, for example, is a radioactive by-product of uranium decay. Uranium is found within the Earth's crust and is everywhere in the environment. Radon exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer according to the National Cancer Institute.

Respiratory Conditions

A direct link exists between air pollution and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Exposure to hazardous waste from emissions irritates the mucous membranes of your mouth and throat. A 2008 study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences found that individuals merely living near a

hazardous waste site had an increased risk of developing respiratory diseases. Heart Disease

The risks of living near hazardous waste sites do not stop with increased risk for respiratory disease. A 2004 study published in the Archives of Environmental Health found an elevated risk of the development of congenital heart disease in the offspring of pregnant women living within one mile of a hazardous waste site. The threat is also more innocuous. Auto emissions also carry an increased risk of heart attack and stroke from thickening of arteries. Fossil-fuel emissions contain several toxins considered non-specific hazardous waste by the EPA. A non-specific hazardous waste is one without a readily identifiable source.

Exposure Effects

The health effects from some types of hazardous waste may be temporary, with no link to other conditions having been determined. Xylene, for example, is one of the most widely used chemicals in the United States. It is an ingredient found in paints, solvents, and varnishes. Although not considered a carcinogen, exposure to the chemical causes dizziness and headaches. A person may also experience stomach discomfort. At high levels, xylene may cause unconsciousness and even death.

Disposal Problems of Toxic/Hazardous Wastes :Standard sanitary landfills and sewage treatment facilities are inadequate for the disposal of many hazardous wastes, particularly those derived from industrial practices. The dumping of untreated hazardous chemicals can have farreaching effects. The discharge of inadequately treated liquid waste to rivers and streams has created problems for communities downstream, and landfill dumps of waste chemicals have created significant health hazards to people living in their vicinity. Buried chemicals can produce vapours which can escape to the atmosphere, while liquids, if inadequately contained, can seep into the earth, enter groundwater and affect drinking water supplies far from the dumpsite. Furthermore, a variety of products and degradation products remain in the environment to enter the hydrologic cycle and be transported through it. The insidious nature of the effects of low levels of some chemicals in the environment makes it difficult to set safe levels of human exposure. The effects of carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals may not show up for many years, and often the health defects that do occur cannot be related to a specific cause.

Treatment of Hazardous/Toxic Wastes :-[1]

Many hazardous wastes can be treated to render them relatively harmless to humans or to the environment. Such treatments include recycling, physical or chemical reactions, incineration (high-temperature degradation), biological degradation, solidification, deep emplacement and long-term recoverable storage. Recycling, by far the preferred method for recoverable chemicals (eg, waste oil, solvents), provides viable industries in many countries, including Canada. Some chemicals can be treated chemically to form stable, nontoxic materials; eg, some acids can be neutralized to less hazardous brine or precipitated as insoluble salts which can be landfilled. Organic chemical wastes can be incinerated in properly designed furnaces equipped with scrubbers so that only carbon dioxide and water vapour reach the air in appreciable quantities. Thus, even persistent chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls can be safely destroyed in well-regulated installations if the incineration time and temperature are sufficient for total decomposition and if adequate checks are made on the formation and emission of recombinant products. Other hazardous chemicals normally emitted from chimneys (eg, fly-ash, other fine particles, acids and alkalis) can be electrostatically precipitated or scrubbed out.

Many industries treat biodegradable liquid wastes with bacteria before discharge to surface waters. Heavy metal wastes (eg, electroplating liquors) can be incorporated into a concretelike mass which resists leaching from burial sites. In some areas, waste liquids (eg, brine) can be ejected into permeable underground formations overlain by impermeable rock (deep-well injection). There is a distinct worldwide shortage of proper hazardous waste treatment facilities. In Canada, a milestone was reached 11 September 1987 when North America's first comprehensive integrated hazardous waste treatment facility was opened at Swan Hills, Alta, with the full support of the local people. It is a state-of-the-art facility, capable of treating and safely disposing of most hazardous waste produced in the province. Other provinces are attempting to set up additional facilities to handle the estimated 5.9 million t of hazardous waste generated in Canada each year.

References :[1]http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm? PgNm=TCE &Params=A1ARTA0003650 [2]http://www.ehow.com/list_5978867_health-effects-hazardouswaste.html\ [3]http://www.ehow.com/about_5427137_types-hazardouswaste.html