Hazardous Waste Essay

Through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress directed EPA to regulate all aspects of hazardous waste. As a result, EPA developed strict regulations for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. States may implement stricter requirements than the Federal regulations as needed. Treatment and Disposal: Any process that changes the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of a waste to minimize its threat to the environment. Storage: The temporary holding of waste before the waste is treated,

The general principals for environmental cleaning are to ensure the hospital environment is as clean as possible to reduce the risk of infection, and that all precautions are taken in accordance to legislation and Healthcare policy’s and guidelines. “To prevent the transfer of micro-organisms which may cause infection, and to prevent the transfer of foreign protein which may cause adverse reaction and pose the risk of spreading diseases e.g. vCJD. “

Nuclear waste is a radioactive waste that is dangerous, and a fair percentage of people would agree on this topic. However, is it really dangerous or is it just harmful to an extent? In society, many debates are held over trying to prove to the world that this substance is harmful. In the essay, “Nuclear Waste,” Muller states clearly that he sides with the anti-nuke of the debate and how he pinpoints the facts of nuclear waste with great persuasion. Yet, it is uncertain whether Muller clearly has a good argument and/or answers the questions that many people linger to know.

In 1986, a waste treaty between Canada and the U.S. was signed by American lawmakers concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste.  Under the terms of this treaty, the EPA is to receive notification of these shipments, and then would have 30 days to consent or object to the shipment. Since 1986 Canada has shipped its garbage to Michigan to be dumped into landfills and the provisions of this treaty have never been enforced.  But now is the time for them to be enforced and stop the importing of Canada's garbage.

The implementation process of the RCRA has been a complex and controversial issue in the history of the EPA. It provide a complex problem because the EPA often dictates how hazardous wastes is identify and dispose of. For example, according to Sullivan, the author of Environmental Law Handbook recognizes the implementation process, the author writes “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and states have implemented this mandate in extensive regulations issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976(RCRA) and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984.”(Sullivan 147 2014). The EPA policy implementation concepts functioned as the basis for the hazard identification and waste control. This model challenges society to protect the environment by isolating contaminants from the environment while at the same time addressing difficult regulations of hazardous wastes under the RCRA. Since the enactment of the act, it had experienced challenges because the regulation did and received much attention as a result of the hazardous waste classification. The most vital challenge implementing of the RCRA is the policy that rigorously limits on land disposal of hazardous wastes. Moreover, existing hazardous waste regulations do not create robust incentives for disposing of hazardous waste. The author recognized this challenge when he

These chemicals when in small dosages might not be harmful but when a considerable quantity leaks it can cause damage to the environment in unprecedented ways. In the context of a chemical containing and transformation factory this essay shall outline an approach to the evaluation of environmental risks from potential spills using examples from a variety of activities; namely storage, transportation and disposal of chemicals. The individual methods or tools that should be used in the evaluation of these risks will also be discussed.

While lithium batteries are not specifically included or exempted in the hazardous waste regulations, these batteries have some characteristics of toxic hazardous wastes. The reason for the uncertainty regarding the toxic characteristics of lithium batteries is because they can be effectively disposed as non-hazardous waste by discharging them fully. When completely charged or partially discharged, lithium batteries can be regarded as reactive hazardous waste due to the considerable amounts of un-reacted lithium in the battery ("Product Sheet", 2007).

A Superfund is a program that was created in 1980, that oversees the management and cleanup of abandoned Hazardous waste sites. Hazardous materials at the given locations consist of gases, explosives, flammable liquids, mineral deposits and numerous others but are not limited to only such hazardous wastes. Once an abandoned location is determined to contain forms of hazardous materials by individuals (citizens, state levels, or the Environmental Protection Agency) can locate the sites. The Environmental Protection Agency then can assign programs such as the Superfunds to the complicated process of cleaning up the waste materials. The EPA also determines the necessary funding and remedies required to obtain a reclaimed property of land for the

Chemical interactions can often lead to the production of environmentally unsafe byproducts. If the byproducts have no use, they are disposed as waste. Waste disposal companies make profit by collecting and disposing large amounts of these unused byproducts. These companies often concentrate the byproduct solutions so that they are easier to dispose of. One particular chemical waste disposal company wishes to utilize these concentrated byproduct solutions to create potentially useful solids (Bauer 45). It was the lab group’s goal to design procedures for creating

The United States has always been known as the home of the brave and land of the free. We tend to think our country is dominant, advanced, and stable; we also like to overshadow our problems with our glorious recognition as almost the entire world has seen our patriotism in some sense. “Every year one American produces over 3,285 pounds of hazardous waste”; the total population in the United States is around 300,000,000. In other words, if we calculate the number of Americans living in the United States and the number of pounds each American produces, the total of hazardous waste is about 925,500,000,000. That is 115 times more waste than the entire population on Earth; China and India’s population exceeds 1,000,000,000. Just imagine how much waste is being produced on a global scale. This hazardous waste is not only destroying species but also their habitats, which are more important because they provide intrinsic value to our community as a whole. Together, we must preserve and conserve Earth’s natural ecological system and its citizens

The release of the hazardous material or exposure to the fire that ensues results in

The Environmental Protection Agency defines contaminated lands as sites polluted by hazardous wastes and materials that have been unwarrantedly handled, sites containing toxic materials that may have been deposited due to terrorist acts or natural disasters, or sites that contain hazardous materials that are the result of accidents or incorrect handling (EPA).

Such kind of waste emits radiations from tens to hundreds of years. These reactive radicals make the sand or the water contaminated. It is known as mixed waste. The mixture cause hazardous chemical reactions and leads to dangerous complications.

Hazardous waste and its proper disposal have become a major sociological problem today due to its capability of contaminating the area in which we live and its potential to be lethal to all living things. In order for the United States and the rest of the world to save itself from a potentially life threatening problem they must fix the causes which lead to the improper disposal of hazardous wastes and like materials. Some reasons that hazardous waste has become a problem in the United States today is due to the breakdown in enforcing laws for the proper disposal of such wastes, a lack of initiative on big companies behalf to spend money on proper disposal, and the ease of disposing of such wastes illegally.

When a waste cause threat to human health, it is considered as hazardous (RCRA, 1978). According to RCRA of USA all the wastes are solid