Non-Hazardous Waste Generation

Abstract

Of the 12 billion tons of waste generated annually in the United States; less than 10% is defined as hazardous under the provisions of RCRA. This paper summarizes the data available on some of the wastes that are defined as non-hazardous. These wastes include industrial non-hazardous waste, and several types of wastes that are currently exempted from hazardous waste regulations, such as oil and gas waste, mining wastes and other categories.

Thermal Destruction of Wastes and Plastics

“…In addition the odors released into the environment are unacceptable. Other methods for waste disposal include incineration (6%) and recycling (11%) [24,25]. The most common practice for the disposal of MSW has been landfill.…”

“…With the land prices continuously escalating and land becoming scarce, this method is unsatisfactory in addition to the environmental needs. As for the thermal destruction, special interest in air toxic organic pollutants and trace metals emission from incinerators came after the risk assessment findings toward human life [24]. Some of these metals (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and beryllium) are very hazardous to humans in addition to being carcinogenic.…”

“…While several methods are being used to treat the wastes, incineration has been widely used to provide the highest degree of destruction [21,22,24] for a broad range of waste streams, even though combustion contributes to pollution. Thermochemical behavior of cellulose and surrogate solid wastes is provided here.…”

“…Municipal solid wastes (MSW) presently use landfills (83%), incineration (6%), and recycling (11%) for waste disposal [23,24]. The most common form for the disposal of MSW continues to be landfill.…”

“…The two distinct reasons for this are (1) reduction in the number of available sites for direct landfill and (2) emission of hazardous chemicals from disposition of wastes. The waste consists of 7-9% by weight or 25-30% by volume of plastics [24]. The use of plastics has dramatically increased during the last couple of decades and the problem of disposing them has become progressively acute.…”