Northern Wastes

Lore & Background

Hazardous waste is defined by its potential to harm human health or the environment, with properties such as toxicity, reactivity, or corrosivity. As of 2022, humanity produces 300–500 million metric tons of this waste annually. Common sources include solvents, batteries, and byproducts of metal refining. In the U.S., universal wastes are a special category that generally pose a lower threat relative to other hazardous wastes, are ubiquitous, and are produced in very large quantities by a large number of generators. Examples include fluorescent light bulbs, some specialty batteries (e.g., lithium or lead containing batteries), cathode-ray tubes, and mercury-containing devices. Universal wastes are subject to somewhat less stringent regulatory requirements, and small quantity generators may be classified as "conditionally exempt small quantity generators" (CESQGs), which release them from some regulatory requirements for handling and storage. However, universal wastes must still be disposed of properly.

In Their Own Story

Domestic and industrial groups consume large amounts of lubricants. It is estimated that only half of that material is recovered; the remainder is waste. Recovered lubricants require treatment, and the treated product is less valuable than the original. Historically, some hazardous wastes were disposed of in regular landfills. Hazardous wastes must often be stabilized and solidified in order to enter a landfill and must undergo different treatments to stabilize and dispose of them. Most flammable materials can be recycled into industrial fuel. Some materials with hazardous constituents can be recycled, such as lead acid batteries. Many landfills require countermeasures against groundwater contamination. For example, a barrier has to be installed along the foundation of the landfill to contain the hazardous substances that may remain in the disposed waste.

Reader's Guide

Some hazardous wastes can be recycled into new products. Examples may include lead–acid batteries or electronic circuit boards. When heavy metals in these types of ashes go through the proper treatment, they could bind to other pollutants and convert them into easier-to-dispose solids, or they could be used as pavement filling. Such treatments reduce the level of threat of harmful chemicals, like fly and bottom ash, while also recycling the safe product. Incinerators burn hazardous waste at high temperatures (1600–2500 °F, 870–1400 °C), greatly reducing its amount by decomposing it into ash and gases. Incineration works with many types of hazardous waste, including contaminated soil, sludge, liquids, and gases. An incinerator can be built directly at a hazardous waste site, or more commonly, waste can be transported from a site to a permanent incineration facility. The ash and gases leftover from incineration can also be hazardous. Metals are not destroyed, and can either remain in the furnace or convert to gas and join the gas emissions. The ash needs to be stored in a hazardous waste landfill, although it takes less space than the original waste. Incineration releases gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds. Reactions in the furnace can also form hydrochloric acid gas and sulfur dioxide. To avoid releasing hazardous gases and solid waste suspended in those gases, modern incinerators are designed with systems to capture these emissions. Hazardous waste may be sequestered in a hazardous waste landfill or permanent disposal facility. "In terms of hazardous waste, a landfill is defined as a disposal facility or part of a facility where hazardous waste is placed or on land and which is not a pile, a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an underground injection well, a salt dome formation, a salt bed formation, an underground mine, a cave, or a corrective action management unit (40 CFR 260.10)." Some hazardous waste types may be eliminated using pyrolysis in a high temperature not necessarily through electrical arc but starved of oxygen to avoid combustion. However, when electrical arc is used to generate the required ultra heat (in excess of 3000 °C) all materials (waste) introduced into the process will melt into a molten slag and this technology is termed Plasma not pyrolysis. Plasma technology produces inert materials and when cooled solidifies into rock like material. These treatment methods are very expensive but may be preferable to high temperature incineration in some circumstances such as in the destruction of concentrated organic waste types, including PCBs, pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants.

Did You Know?

• As of 2022, humanity produces 300–500 million metric tons of hazardous waste annually.
• Universal wastes in the U.S. include fluorescent light bulbs, some specialty batteries (e.g., lithium or lead containing batteries), cathode-ray tubes, and mercury-containing devices.
• Incinerators burn hazardous waste at high temperatures of 1600–2500 °F (870–1400 °C).
• Plasma technology, using electrical arc to generate ultra heat in excess of 3000 °C, produces inert materials that solidify into rock-like material.
• The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 12, Target 12.4, aims to 'achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle.'