It is important to properly dispose of hazardous chemical waste to protect the environment and the health of humans in your community. If hazardous chemical waste is not properly disposed of it can lead to the release of dangerous chemicals. These chemicals can harm animals, and plants as well as contaminate soil, water, and air.

Environmental Marketing Service, a professional hazardous waste disposal service, can ensure all your hazardous waste is handled in a manner that minimizes or eliminates any potential impacts on the environment or human health.

How Proper Hazardous Chemical Disposal Protects Human Health

When hazardous chemical waste is not disposed of properly, it can impact the health of humans in the area. If these waste materials are not transported safely during the disposal process, they can release dangerous toxic fumes that can cause harm to anyone who comes in contact with them.

How Proper Hazardous Chemical Disposal Protects the Environment

Improper hazardous chemical waste disposal releases dangerous chemicals into the environment which can have significant harmful effects on animals and plants. These effects include contamination of the air we breathe, the water, and the soil. Using the services of Environmental Marketing Service will minimize or eliminate all of these threats.

What is Hazardous Chemical Waste?

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) defines hazardous waste as materials that have properties that make it capable of having harmful effects on the environment or human health. In 1976 The RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) was created. This Act is designed to build a framework for properly managing hazardous waste.

The EPA has a regulatory process and definitions to identify specific materials known to be hazardous. The identification process can be very complicated. The specialists at Environmental Marketing Service are available to help your facility through this process.

The first step in identifying a material as hazardous waste is to determine if the material is solid. The second step is to determine whether or not the waste is excluded from regulations as hazardous or solid waste. Once the material is determined to meet the definition of solid waste, it is then checked to see if it is listed or has the characteristics of hazardous waste.

There are specific protocols to follow when a waste is identified as hazardous. To properly treat the waste it must be identified as to which class it has fallen into. There are four classifications of hazardous waste:

Listed Wastes

Under the ‘listed wastes’ classification there are four sub-types:

• F-List wastes include any wastes with nonspecific sources that are produced from industrial and manufacturing processes. Since these waste materials are generated in different sectors of manufacturing, their source is considered nonspecific. Some of the wastes on the F List include:
  • Spent solvent wastes
  • Wood preserving wastes
  • Multi-source leachate
  • Dioxin bearing wastes
• K-List wastes are considered those that come from specific industry sources. Production and treatment processes that create specific types of wastewater and sludge generate distinguishable hazardous waste materials. Some of the wastes on the K list include:
  • Petroleum refining
  • Explosives manufacturing
  • Ink formulation
  • Pesticides
• P and U List wastes are commercial chemical products that can be thrown away. To fall under this category, wastes must meet specific criteria as well as be commercial-grade formulations.

If your facility generates any of these waste materials, contact the Environmental Marketing Service for information on how to dispose of them. Proper hazardous chemical disposal management will be necessary to protect your staff, customers, students, and the environment.

Characteristic Wastes

Characteristic wastes follow an identification process depending on the characteristics they have. These are the four aspects that are identified with these wastes:

• Ignitability
  • Wastes that can generate fires or are considered flammable
• Corrosivity
  • Wastes that can decompose or rust and have the ability to melt through steel
• Reactivity
  • Wastes which can explode, or are unstable under normal conditions
• Toxicity
  • Wastes considered fatally poisonous when absorbed or ingested

If your facility generates any waste with these characteristics, contact Environmental Marketing Service to learn how the disposal process should be handled.

Universal Wastes

Universal wastes are another classification for hazardous wastes. Wastes typically include mercury-containing devices, bulbs, batteries, and pesticides. The nine classifications for universal wastes are:

• Explosives
• Gases
• Flammable liquids
• Flammable solids or substances
• Oxidizing substances and organic peroxides
• Infectious and toxic substances
• Radioactive
• Corrosive substances
• Dangerous substances and materials

Mixed Wastes

Mixed wastes contain hazardous as well as radioactive materials. Mixed wastes can contain various hazardous substances, so the disposal of these can vary.

It is important to understand proper disposal methods if your facility is generating wastes considered hazardous. Knowing all the types of waste and their classifications and categorizations will help in your disposal process. Contact Environmental Marketing Service to learn the different options available for your hazardous chemical disposal management.

Hazardous Chemical Disposal Cradle-to-Grave Management

RCRA included in their framework for properly disposing of and managing hazardous waste a comprehensive regulatory program. This program ensures hazardous waste is managed safely from ‘cradle-to-grave.’ This means that from the time the waste materials are generated, transported, treated, stored, and all the way to disposal, the generator of it is responsible.

Generators of hazardous waste are the first link in the management system for proper disposal methods. All waste at this link must be identified, and generators are responsible for overseeing the ultimate fate of the waste until disposal is complete. The degree for regulation to generators depends on the amount of waste generated in their facility. Talk to the professionals at Environmental Marketing Service to learn your degree of regulation. 

What is Hazardous Chemical Disposal Management

Facilities receiving hazardous chemical materials for disposal have to treat, store, and then dispose of these substances. These facilities, such as Environmental Marketing Services are called TSDFs (Treatment, Storage, Disposal Facilities.) This is how those processes are handled:

Treatment

Through different processes, such as oxidation or incineration. the character of hazardous materials is altered. Some of these processes allow the waste to be reused or recovered in a manufacturing setting, and other treatments reduce the amount of hazardous waste.

• Incinerators are enclosed devices using controlled flame combustion for thermal treatment of hazardous waste. The incineration process destroys toxic constituents in hazardous waste. The process also reduces the volume of waste needing disposal.

Storage

Temporary holding of hazardous waste is often necessary before it is treated or disposed of. If hazardous chemical waste is stored, it must be in containment buildings, tanks, drip pads, surface impoundments, containers, or waste piles that comply with RCRA regulations.

• Containers are portable devices that can hold hazardous chemical waste that is awaiting transport or disposal. The most common hazardous chemical waste container is a 55-gallon drum. Other examples include railroad cars, test tubes, buckets, bags, or tanker trucks.
• Tanks are stationary devices made of non-earthen materials and used to treat or store hazardous chemical waste. They are typically made from plastic, steel, concrete, or fiberglass.
• Drip pads are a structure consisting of a free-draining, curbed base from non-earthen materials. They are designed to convey chemical drippage from surface water run-on, precipitation, or from treated wood.
• Surface impounds are natural depressions, man-made excavations, or dikes. These areas are typically formed from earthen materials and used to hold an accumulation of liquid hazardous chemical waste.
• Waste piles are non-containerized piles of non-liquid, solid hazardous waste used for treatment or temporary storage.

Disposal

The most common type of disposal is in a landfill where the hazardous materials are disposed of in regulated constructed units. These units are designed to protect surface and groundwater resources.

• Landfills are engineered sites where non-liquid hazardous waste is placed for final disposal. The waste is covered. These sites are selected for minimal environmental risks and are required to follow strict regulations in their design.

Transporting Hazardous Chemical Waste for Disposal

Transporters of hazardous chemical waste are entities that move hazardous waste from one site to another by air, water, rail, or highway. These transporters can also include transporting the hazardous materials from the generating facility to a facility that can treat, recycle, store, or dispose of the waste materials.

Subtitle C of the RCRA defines a hazardous waste transporter as an entity engaged in off-site transportation of hazardous waste. Off-site transportation includes shipments from the generation site to another facility for treatment, storage, or disposal.

Hazardous waste transporters move the hazardous materials on highways, rails, waterways, and public roads. The EPA as well as the DOT (Department of Transportation) has regulations in place for proper transportation of hazardous chemical waste.

The EPA tracks hazardous waste transporters by requiring each one to obtain an EPA ID number. Transporters are forbidden from transporting hazardous chemical waste without an ID number. EPA IDs are site-specific and are assigned to a transportation company as a whole. This means each truck uses the number assigned to their company’s location and does not require a unique number.

Another requirement for transporting hazardous chemical waste is the manifest system. The manifest system is designed to track hazardous waste from the time it leaves the generator’s facility until it reaches the off-site management facility where it will be treated, stored, or disposed of.

Hazardous chemical material regulations have changed significantly over the years. Working with a professional waste disposal service such as Environmental Marketing Service will ensure your facility complies with all regulations to avoid fines and penalties.