Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Information On Hazardous Waste Disposal

By Mattie Knight


There are many dangerous materials in households today that many people do not know about. These materials are usually in the form of ingredients or materials used to make products that people consume every day. Some examples of household products that have been classified as hazardous include paints, solvents, ammunition, refrigerants, aerosols, electronics, pesticides, automotive wastes, caustics, and certain batteries among others.

The aforementioned products are safe when they are used safely and when they are still in good condition for use. However, when misused or their life-cycle expires, they become a threat to human and animal health as well as to the well-being of the environments. As such, they need to be disposed in the right way to avoid danger. Each waste material has a preferred method of disposal. This article will give some main hazardous waste disposal methods in use today.

Proper disposition of wastes eliminates or at least minimizes the danger they pose to the environment, human beings, and animals. On the other hand, grave danger is likely to result when improper disposal is exercised. For instance, harmful materials poison underground and rain water when they seep into the soil or come in contact with gutters respectively. Soil can also be contaminated and its suitability for agriculture affected.

There are several methods through which the various forms of hazardous materials can be disposed. Some of the major ones include recycling, incineration, pyrolysis, landfills, and use of cement. Recycling of wastes is a common method that can be used to avoid danger. The method involves putting products into new use ones they cannot perform the primary function they were built for. However, not all products can be recycled.

The second method that is in wide use is incineration. This method involves destroying the harmful materials under very high temperatures. This process takes place inside a special chamber referred to an incineration chamber or incinerators. The materials are reduced to ash, which is harmless and can be disposed with ease without posing a threat to people or the environment.

A lot of harmful gasses are emitted into the environment as the materials burn, and that has always raised concern. However, with recent advancements in technology, incinerators have been developed with capabilities of preventing emission of harmful gasses. In addition, such incinerators can generate energy from the combustion process to power other systems. Pyrolysis is similar to incineration only that the process occurs in an inert environment to prevent combustion.

Landfills have been the traditional method of disposing hazardous materials, but that changed as better methods emerged. The adoption of better methods was prompted by the fact that landfills lead to seepage of the materials into underground water sources. This leads to pollution, which cannot be reversed. This method is however still in use in certain places, but to a minimum extent.

Cement can also be used to treat and dispose harmful material. Cement works by solidifying and stabilizing the material for ease of disposal. The material to be disposed is treated with cement, which modifies its characteristics and decreases the level of toxicity and ability for contaminants to be transmitted. Application is limited though.




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