Question

Hazardous Waste Categories 2 page essay

This assignment is designed to familiarize you with the physical, chemical, and hazardous properties that are used to properly classify hazardous wastes. The management and disposal of hazardous wastes depends on which category the hazardous waste is assigned. Some wastes are neutralized; others are incinerated or solidified. Properly classifying a hazardous waste ensures that the waste is compatible with allowable treatment technologies available for each class of hazardous waste, and it helps to ensure that workers will not be harmed when treating a misclassified waste.

Your assignment is to answer the following questions on hazardous waste in two parts.

Part A

Describe the different categories of hazardous waste that can be found in homes and residential buildings. Explain this using a table listing the properties that make each category hazardous. Based on the hazardous properties, propose your idea on how these wastes should be stored while waiting for periodic collection by the local community.

Part B

For a comparison between residential and industrial generators, what are four examples of hazardous wastes that are generated in a vehicle maintenance facility? Explain using a table to list the properties that make each category hazardous. For each hazardous waste identified, in your opinion, what are the biggest concerns that need to be addressed when the wastes are in storage for collection by a waste hauler?

Answer 1

Part A

The dwelling places like homes and residential building generate a lot of hazardous waste. The hazardous wastes generated are very important to be carefully handled and disposed. Following table describes the properties of such waste and its effect on human as well as other living creatures:

Sl No.	Type of domestic waste	Effects
01	Human waste(This include sputum, urine, stool ect. which if not properly disposed, can be very hazardous)	The human waste carry a lot of micro organisms like bacteria, virus ect. This may cause epidemics to others when they come into contact
02	Plastic waste	The hazardous nature of plastic is a very well known concept. This plastic stays for a very long time in the earth as it’s not bio degradable. Thus causing water and soil pollution. Burning plastic release dioxins which is cancer causing if inhaled.
03	E-wastes	The unused electronic devises thrown away from domestic sources contain a large number of chemicals in it. The chemicals are hazardous to living beings. The metals contained in such devises contaminate drinking water and soil and stay for a very long period of time. E-wastes also contain a lot of plastics. The improper disposal of refrigerator or air conditioner may release Chloro Fluro Carbons which is a potent Ozone depleting substance.
04	Chemical wastes	A lot of chemical materials are used in our homes in our daily lives like paint, cosmetic products, cleaning solvents, detergents ect. This must be properly disposed otherwise; it may leach into drinking water and soil and may cause hazardous diseases.
05	Radiation wastes	Many electronic equipment we used in our home like portable X-ray machines and imaging machines uses radioactive isotopes. This when disposed improperly may cause hazardous radioactive pollution and may cause large types of cancers.

How to stop the menace of these wastes?

We must properly deal with these hazardous wastes and disposed it off. The biggest problem lies in identifying and segregation of these wastes so that it can be properly disposed. Following actions should be adopted:

1. There should be complete awareness among the communities about the source of the hazardous wasted and how to identify it.
2. Identify the type of the waste and segregate it according to the classes of wastes say like, human, medical, chemical, plastic ect.
3. Create separate waste bins for each of them and put a label on it mentioning the type of waste. Colour coding is also an effective way of segregation of waste. This helps people to put waste in the proper bin and local body can collect it and dispose it properly.
4. The community waste bin in the community should be away from children, water sources, playing ground, animals like dog ect. Otherwise it may get spread.
5. These wastes must be handled properly, like use hand gloves, masks and avoid spilling.

By adopting these measures, we can assure that the hazardous domestic waste is properly collected, segregated and disposed.

Part B

Vehicle Maintenance Facility

The vehicle maintenance facilities deal with a lot of hazardous wastes. This result in the people working on the facilities and people around the facilities are prone to pollution and after effects caused by such wastes. The following table explain each of such wastes and its effects and how to effectively store it.

Sl no.	Type of waste	Effects	How to store it?
01	Petroleum wastes	The vehicles use a no of petroleum products like fuel, lubricant, and grease. The petroleum products are organic compounds. The vehicle maintenance unit create a lot of such petroleum waste. When improperly disposed, it leaches to water, soil and air (fumes) and pollute it. This cause a number of diseases and complications.	The petroleum wastes should be properly stored in cement or strong containers so that it does not leach out. Use adequate protection to ensure it doesn’t come into contact with our skin and eyes as it may cause impairment.
02	Heavy metals	The vehicles use a large number of heavy metals and maintenance units release heavy metals like Mercury and such metals may cause diseases like cancer if not properly disposed	Extreme care should be taken while dealing with such waste. This metals should be stored separately and it should be reused if possible as this is very difficult to dispose.
03	Plastic wastes	Plastic is heavily used in vehicle manufacturing and maintenance. The plastic is non bio degradable and cancer causing.	Plastic in vehicles should be reused. And if it needs to be thrown away, it must be properly disposed. It shouldn’t burn, as it releases number of toxic gases.
04	Aerial wastes	The smoke released by vehicles is very hazardous. It consists of carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides ect. These cause lung diseases and other complications.	The gases released by vehicle industry is impossible to store, We must ensure proper maintenance of our vehicles, usage of correct grade of fuel and periodical checking of smoke.
05	Chemical wastes	The vehicle use a number of chemicals in coolant, air conditioners, air purifiers ect. This is hazardous to human and other living beings.	The chemicals should be properly stored in separate containers and we should exercise extreme care in dealing with it.