PubMed · 10132834
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K D Wagner. 1993. Waste minimization techniques for hazardous waste.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10132834/
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This article offers an introduction to the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations as they relate to hazardous wastes generated by clinical and anatomic pathology laboratories. Traditionally, the EPA has targeted "heavy" industries such as manufacturing for compliance auditing, but it recently turned an eye toward health-care facilities since they are identified as important sources of hazardous waste generation. Enforcement of EPA regulations within health-care facilities presents the challenge of a new labyrinth of definitions, rules, and compliance methods for laboratorians who have already made it through other regulatory agency mazes, including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) checklists, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.
In setting criteria for landfill classes in Annex II of the EU Landfill Directive, it proved to be impossible to derive criteria for stabilised monolithic waste due to the lack of information on release and release controlling factors in stabilised waste monofills. In this study, we present a scientific basis, which enables a realistic description of the environmental impact of stabilised waste landfills. The work in progress involves laboratory testing of different stabilisation recipes, pilot scale studies on site and evaluation of field leachate from a full-scale stabilisation landfill. We found that the pHs in run-off and in percolate water from the pilot experiment are both around neutral. The neutral pH in run-off is apparently caused by the rapid atmospheric carbonation of those alkaline constituents that are released. The soil, used as a liner protection layer, controls the release to the subsurface below the landfill. This soil layer buffers pH and binds metals. The modelling results show that the chemistry is understood rather well. Differences between predicted and actual leaching might then be attributed to discrepancies in the description of sorption processes, complexation to organic matter and/or kinetic effects in the leaching tests. We conclude that this approach resulted in a new scientific basis for environmental impact assessment of stabilised waste landfills. The integrated approach has already resulted in a number of very valuable observations, which can be used to develop a sustainable landfill for monolithic waste and to provide guidance for the management of waste to be stabilised (e.g. improved waste mix design).
A deep repository for permanent storage of mercury will be designed and built in Sweden. The preferred chemical state for mercury in such a repository would be the sulphide HgS (cinnabar), which is a highly insoluble and the dominating natural mercury mineral. The possible formation of HgS from HgO or Hg(0) by reaction with a sulphur source (S, FeS or FeS(2)) is discussed from thermodynamic considerations, and pe-pH-diagrams are constructed by using the computer code MEDUSA to illustrate under which conditions HgS would dominate. Calculations of the speciation (PHREEQE) under varying conditions (S/Hg-ratios, presence of chloride) are given. Long-term laboratory experiments are performed, where the formation of HgS from the basic components is demonstrated (after mixing under various conditions and storage at room temperature for up to 3 years). The feasibility of HgS-formation with time in a geologic repository under conditions representative of deep granitic bedrock (calcium-bicarbonate buffered to pH 7-8.5) is discussed, as well as effects of alkaline conditions (concrete environment, pH 10.5-12.5). Formation of soluble polysulphides is not expected as long as the S/Hg mole ratio is within 1-1.3 and pH is below 10.5-11. Concrete should be used with caution. Suitable ballast materials could be introduced that would reduce porewater-pH that otherwise would be above 12.