Question

Understanding and being able to apply the key principles of chemistry to address the treatment of hazardous waste is an essential skill for the practicing environmental, health and safety (EHS) professional. In your opinion, list two aspects of chemistry that you believe are needed to develop a hazardous waste management plan for a chemical facility. Why did you choose these? How would your ability to develop a management plan be compromised if you did not have these skills?

Answer 1

Hazardous chemicals are defined as those which are toxic or dangerous to human health and/or environment. Hence, a proper plan must be devised to handle, store and dispose of such chemicals and this constitutes the hazardous waste management. The two most important factors to consider while devising a waste management plan for hazardous chemicals are the stability and the chemical reactivity of the chemical. Any chemical can be safely stored if the chemical is stable, i.e, the chemical doesn't react with air or decompose or degrade to give harmful products on exposure to air or water or common organic solvents. The chemical stability of an element is related to the stability of the chemical. The more stable is the chemical, the less is the reactivity and viceversa. The chemical reactivity of chemicals is important in deciding how to store chemicals. For example, acids and alkalis cannot be stored together since they are highly reactive to each other. Certain elements like sodium are highly reactive in water, hence, they must be stored in organic solvents. If the stability and the chemical reacitivty of the element is not considered while devising a waste management plan, then toxic conditions may arise due to unforseen reactions, etc.