Sanitary Landfill and Hazardous waste management

1. Prof. M.R.Ezhilkumar
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology
Coimbatore
ezhilkumar@skcet.ac.in
I only feel angry when I see waste.
When I see people throwing away
things we could use. – Mother
Teresa
1
17CE413
SOLID AND HAZARDOUS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
3.9 – Effects of improper management

2. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 2
Learning Outcomes
☼ Hazard vs Risk
☼ Hazardous waste impacts
3.9 – Effects of improper management

3. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 3
Video Session

4. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 4
Hazardous Waste
Introduction
 Many consumer and industrial products, including fuels, solvents, fertilizers,
pesticides, paints, and household cleaning disinfectants, contain hazardous
substances.
 Improper disposal of these materials can lead to unexpected releases of toxins
that are hazardous to humans and harmful to the environment.

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Hazardous Waste
Introduction
 If you live in a developed nation, chances are companies in your country
dispose of quite literally tons of hazardous waste products every day.
 Sadly, much of this waste is not dealt with properly, and can come back to
haunt us.
 Anything from a wadded-up bubble gum wrapper to radioactive waste, if left
unchecked, can leave a huge and damaging footprint on our ecosystems.

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Hazardous Waste
Introduction
 It is a common thought to believe that the “small” amount of hazardous
household waste each individual produces makes such a minimal impact on
the world.
 Nearly every activity leaves behind some kind of waste in the environment.
When you take into account how many people there are in the world – 7.4
billion to be exact – that waste adds up quickly.

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Hazardous Waste
Introduction
 This number becomes especially frightening when looking at the amount of
hazardous waste generated and disposed of, in the United States alone, which
is estimated to be 7.6 billion of tons per year.
 Between the years of 1930 and 2000, global production of man-made
chemicals increased from 1 million to 400 million tons each year and has been
steadily increasing since then.

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Hazardous Waste
Hazard vs. Risk
 The terms “hazard” and “risk” are often interchanged and thought to have
similar meanings to most of us. In reference to chemicals though, the terms are
quite different.
 Hazard – refers to the inherent properties of a chemical substance that make it
capable of causing harm to a person or the environment.
 Risk – is the possibility of harm arising from a particular exposure to a
chemical substance, under specific conditions.

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Hazardous Waste
Hazard vs. Risk
 To understand risk, we need to know both what the inherent hazard is and the
degree of exposure. With every hazardous material, there is a risk of potential
harm being done, which is increased by how much of the hazardous material is
exposed to certain things.
 An example being hydrofluoric acid: This chemical is used in pharmaceuticals
which is generally a safe practice, however, if someone working with this acid
accidentally gets it on themselves, it will likely cause 3rd degree burns.
Potential exposure to the chemical is high if the chemical is handled with bare
hands without proper personal protection equipment (PPE).

10. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 10
Hazardous Waste
Hazard vs. Risk
 Once we understand the risk of something, we can then either reduce it or
manage it.
 Many businesses are not able to reduce the amount of waste they create so
they must look to manage it.
 In the example above, a way to reduce the hazard is to handle the chemical
properly and the person handling it wears the proper personal protection
equipment, which lowers the risk of burns.

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Hazardous Waste
Hazard vs. Risk
 If a chemical is no longer needed for production, another way to lower the
exposure risk is to look for the best environmental waste disposal method to
minimize the impact on humans and the environment.

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Hazardous Waste
How Has Hazardous Waste Impacted The Environment?
 Hazardous waste has enormous impacts on the environment.
 Air, soil, water and wildlife health are all affected by the amounts of hazardous
waste generated every day by business and industry.
 Regulations exist to help us dispose of it properly, but contamination still occurs
all the time.
 In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recorded 23 million
cases of voluntary disclosure of pollution risks and opened 387 environmental
criminal cases in 2009, points out Bizfluent.
 This has effects in both the short and the long run.

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Hazardous Waste
Short-Term Effects on the Environment
 The main danger in the short term is water pollution.
 The chemicals that pour into our waterways make streams, rivers, lakes and
aquifers unsafe to use for drinking or agricultural purposes.
 Animals and plants sicken and die when they drink from these waters, and
human health in areas downstream may be affected.
 However, it is the long-term results that truly terrify.

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Hazardous Waste
Long-Term Effects on the Environment
 Long-term effects include signs of mutation in animals, cancer and other
diseases in humans, trash in our waterways and green spaces, and the
destruction of many natural resources.
 Populations of insects such as bees, which are crucial to preserving the fertility
of plant life, are dying off faster than they can repopulate due to human
pollution.

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Hazardous Waste
How Does Hazardous Waste Affect Human and Animal Health?
 Because bodily fluids are another kind of hazardous waste that often gets
disposed of improperly, we now have to worry about the spread of human
disease as well.
 Other forms of chemical contamination, such as mercury and lead, pose major
human health risks – especially to developing children.
 They accumulate in tissue, build up over time, and can lead to cancer,
seizures, poisoning and death.

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Hazardous Waste
Hazards, Risks, and Exposure Dangers when Dealing with Waste
Management
 The waste management industry is evolving.
 This is not just because of the newer technologies being incorporated into the
sector, but because of the increasing amount of changes they need to
incorporate in order to deal with emerging increasingly dangerous wastes.

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Hazardous Waste
What Type of Hazards are there for Waste Disposal Employees?
 Waste disposal is a very challenging job.
 Not only does it pose a direct threat to the workers, it needs to be handled in a
highly specialised manner to ensure that there is no further harm which arises
from the waste being disposed of incorrectly that can harm others in the
environment.

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Hazardous Waste
What Type of Hazards are there for Waste Disposal Employees?
 Some of the hazards faced by waste disposal employees on a daily basis
include:
Pathological waste Chemical waste
Infectious waste Genotoxic waste
Radioactive waste General waste

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Hazardous Waste
Pathological waste
 Body parts, human tissues and organs, and fluids associated with pathological
sources.
Chemical Waste
 Hazardous chemicals like heavy metals, disinfectants, and solvents from
different laboratories are a part of chemical waste.
Infectious Waste
 This comprises of waste from pathological sources like blood, bodily fluids and
infected samples from various labs as well as hospital waste that can be
infectious.

20. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 20
Hazardous Waste
Genotoxic Waste
 Highly dangerous wastes including those from carcinogenic sources, mutagens
or hazardous drugs fall in this category.
Radioactive Waste
 Radioactive waste from various laboratories and therapeutic hospitals.
General Waste
 Non-hazardous daily waste.

21. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 21
Hazardous Waste
Risks that may occur when Disposing of certain Waste
 Every kind of waste needs specific handling procedures to make sure that they
do not cause problems in the long run.
 As such, they do pose specific threats in their handling procedure.
 For example, improper disposal of solid wastes cannot only cause direct
spreading of infectious diseases, but also indirect threats which include
fermentation and thus, the attraction of various disease spreading factors.

22. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 22
Hazardous Waste
Risks that may occur when Disposing of certain Waste
 Similarly, chemical waste can cause the groundwater to pollute while toxic
waste can literally lay waste to a whole area, causing irradiation and various
diseases (like cancer). The Chernobyl disaster is a prime example in this case.

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Hazardous Waste
What are the Exposure Risks to Waste Management Workers?
 Exposure risks relate to risks that the workers in the waste management sector
face as a result of coming in regular contact with different kinds of waste.
 There are a lot of risks associated with exposure to waste.
 This is more so in this sector than any other since waste relates directly to the
refuse, which can be much more infectious.
 As such, the various kinds of wastes relate to different kinds of exposure risks.
 This can range from diseases from pathological or infectious waste to direct
harm related to chemical waste.

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Hazardous Waste
What are the Exposure Risks to Waste Management Workers?
 However, the risk can be less immediate as well, prolonged exposure to air
particles or radioactive waste, resulting in cellular degradation which may
occur.

25. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 25
Hazardous Waste
What Biological and Health Hazards may affect those in Waste Disposal?
 Human bodies are very strong and resilient however being resistant to the
man-made wastes in the modern society is not always possible.
 As such, not only are the newer strain of diseases arising out of genotoxic
waste highly dangerous to the waste disposal workers, the various forms of
chemical wastes and the diseases that occur due to the infectious wastes are
also equally problematic.
 If steps are not taken to handle such wastes separately, it poses a major
problem to all the workers involved.

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Hazardous Waste
Chemical Substances and Substances that may Expose Risks
 Chemical waste is one of the most difficult to get rid of.
 In fact, since chemicals are usually indistinguishable in the natural
environment, they pose a much greater threat than other forms of wastes.
 Some of the ways chemical waste may percolate are:
Water Air
Soil & Sediment Food

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Hazardous Waste
Water
 One of the most common forms of chemical waste is carried in water.
 As such, if they are not handled separately, they can pose a very big pollution
threat.
Soil & Sediment
 A hazardous chemical can be borne through soil or even via dust.
 This is highly dangerous especially to infants since they do not have the
necessary protection.

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Hazardous Waste
Air
 Airborne hazardous waste can cause lung diseases and breathing disorders.
Food
 Unless waste is managed at the basic level, they may percolate directly into the
food chain, or via indirect means like through fishes from polluted waters.

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Hazardous Waste
What part do Aerosols play in Waste Management Hazards?
 Aerosols can contain either pressurised gases or liquids.
 However, they still remain one of the most important byproducts of a civilised
society.
 Besides the cans themselves qualifying as a solid waste, the content itself can
be a major problem since they may themselves be hazardous in nature.
 As such, be sure to not only puncture them (depressurising them) before
disposal, make sure they are fully used up before disposal as well.
 Not only does that support recycling, it also ensures that you are not wasting
any of the products you bought.

30. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 30
Hazardous Waste
5 Consequences of Mismanaging Hazardous Waste
 Managing a waste program is complicated.
 With so many moving parts, keeping every project up to standard can seem
impossible.
 If your organization is managing waste internally, make sure your team is
following state and federal regulations to ensure compliance and avoid the five
consequences of mismanaging hazardous waste listed below.

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Hazardous Waste
Failed Inspections
 When hazardous waste is mishandled, organizations are breaking compliance.
 Not abiding by laws and regulations will eventually lead to failed inspections
during routine examinations by the EPA, OSHA, RCRA, etc.
 Failed inspections are not only costly to organizations due to fines, they also
are very disruptive, negatively impact a company's reputation, and if repeated
incidences occur, they can cause operational failures and shut downs.

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Hazardous Waste
Expenses
 As mentioned in the first section, failed inspections due to hazardous waste
mismanagement will result in organizational fines.
 In addition, there are some long term expenses that can occur as a result of
non-compliance.
 First off, if people are injured onsite, insurance premiums will go up.
 Also, doing things improperly for a long time period will be very expensive to
clean up.
 It's much better to fix processes early and find solutions to avoid these
expenses in the long run.

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Hazardous Waste
Organizational Inefficiencies
 Hazardous waste mismanagement is a mess for an organization's EHS
department.
 If there is no one dedicated to handling the waste, issues go unsolved until it's
too late, resulting in a reactive response process.
 Once issues are reported, responsibilities double in size, and EHS employees
are overwhelmed by paperwork and tracking and have to scramble to create
and manage a compliance calendar.

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Hazardous Waste
Risks to Employees
 Spills, fires, explosions, reactions, and exposure of toxic chemicals are all
potential risks of mishandling hazardous waste.
 All of these examples pose threats to both employees and other people in the
area.
 Injuries, and unfortunately even deaths, can result from not complying with
federal and state laws when it comes to managing hazardous waste.
 These processes should be left to experts who are authorized to touch and
move the hazardous waste to minimize the potential of risk and keep people
safe.

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Hazardous Waste
Environmental Hazards
 In addition to human risks, hazardous waste mismanagement is also very
harmful for the environment.
 Pollution, contamination, and leachate are all negative impacts that hazardous
waste can have on the environment if not handled properly.
 It's time to focus on your hazardous waste management program and make
sure your organization is properly handling waste.
 For more information, watch our on-demand webinar, Four Elements to
Strengthen Your Hazardous Waste Management Program.

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Hazardous Waste
Hazardous Waste and Global Warming
 Emissions pour into the air every single day from both primary businesses and
the secondary waste treatment plants that help to mitigate pollution.
 These chemicals destroy the ozone, which then warms the Earth and causes
hazardous wastes to impact the Earth in new ways, wrecking now more-fragile
ecosystems.
 Climate change may even expose hazardous wastes once thought locked
away, such as in abandoned Soviet strongholds.

37. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 37
Hazardous Waste
What Is the Government Doing to Protect Our Environment?
 Hazardous waste has another big impact: on our pockets.
 Improper disposal of waste of any kind has to be rectified and paid for out of
the pocket of the state – and, therefore, the pockets of taxpayers.
 If we want to avoid this, we must keep supporting government initiatives that
offer clear guidelines about waste disposal to citizens.
 We must also support waste disposal measures that guide pharmaceutical,
nuclear, imported, electronic and other forms of waste.
 Luckily, the government is putting these measures in place in ever-greater
numbers.

38. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 38
Hazardous Waste
What Can We Do To Combat The Harmful Effects Of Hazardous Waste?
 While many developed nations, have established organizations to combat the
growing negative impact of hazardous waste both on land and in our waters, it
is paramount that companies learn the proper steps to handling hazardous
waste to minimize the risk of pollution and damage to both individuals and
ecosystems alike.
 This entails abiding by proper hazardous waste disposal protocols, especially
for toxic materials such as blood, medical equipment, and radioactive waste.

39. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 39
Hazardous Waste
What Can We Do To Combat The Harmful Effects Of Hazardous Waste?
 Hazardous waste disposal is critically important to the environment and your
business operations.
 Trying to determine how to dispose of your hazardous waste on your own,
usually ends up with disastrous results and heavy fines.
 Look for a hazardous waste transporter that is both licensed, bonded and has
adequate insurance to ensure your company is protected to the fullest possible
extent.

40. SHWM – Module 3 – SANITARY LANDFILL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT  Mr.M.R.Ezhilkumar 40
Assessment Time
Review
Question Report a recent hazardous waste issues discussed in the
social platform and its impacts.

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