Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste is any unwanted material the disposal of which poses a threat to the environment, i.e. it is explosive, flammable, oxidising, poisonous/infectious, radioactive, corrosive and/or toxic/ecotoxic Sources of hazardous waste include hospitals, timber treatment, petrol storage, metal finishing, paint manufacture, vehicle servicing, tanneries, agriculture/horticulture, electricity distribution and dry cleaning.. Characteristics Flammable The word flammable has the same meaning as inflammable. Flammable liquids are liquids or mixtures of liquids or liquids containing solids in solution or suspension (e.g. paints, varnishes, lacquers, etc. but not including substances or wastes otherwise classified on account of their dangerous characteristics) which give off a flammable vapour at temperatures of not more than 60.50C, closed-cup test, or not more than 65.50C open-cup test. Solids or waset solids, other than those classed as explosives, which under conditions encountered in transport are readily combustible or may cause or contribute to fire through friction. Corrosive Substances or wastes which, by chemical action, will cause severe damage when in contact with living tissue or in case of leakage will materially damage or even destroy other goods or the means of transport they may also cause other hazards.Such wastes are capable of corrodingmetal containers, such as storage tanks, drums, and barrels. Battery acid is an example. Explosive An explosive substance or waste is a solid or liquid substance or waste (or a mixture of substances or wastes) which is in itself capable by chemical reaction of producing gas at such a temperature, pressure and at such

speed as to cause damage to the surroundings. Such substances or wastes are unstable under "normal" conditions. Examples include lithium-sulfur batteries etc. Toxic The substances or wastes have the degree to which something is able to produce illness or damage to an exposed organism, this charecteristic of the substances or wastes is called toxicity. Toxicity can also refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as human or bacterium or plant or to a substructure such as cell or an organ. Type of hazardous waste Industrial hazardous waste The waste generated from the specific industries and processes is automatically considered as hazardous waste as described in the schedule-I of Hazardous waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary movement) Rules, 2008. Some of the examples are as follows: Sludge and filters contaminated with oil Used/ spent oil Lead acid batteries Oil soaked clothes Contaminated aliphatic/ aromatic solvents Spent solvents Oily sludge emulsions from petrochemical processes and pyrolytic operations Residues from alkali wash of fuels, etc Household hazardous waste Also referred to as domestic hazardous waste is the waste that is generated from residential households. Paints, solvants, pesticides, old batteries, shoe polish, paint tins, old medicines, and medicine bottles etc

Biomedical/ Hospital waste Any waste, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biologicals etc. is considered hazardous. These chemicals include formaldehyde and phenols, which are used as disinfectants, and mercury, which is used in thermometers or equipment that measure blood pressure. Agricultural waste Any waste generated due to the agricultural activities such as pesticides and herbicides and the materials used in their application. Fluoride wastes are by-products of phosphate fertilizer production. Even soluble nitrates from manure may dissolve into groundwater and contaminate drinking-water wells; high levels of nitrates may cause health problems. Electronic waste All discarded products or wastes generated from electronic or electric equipment. Examples include toasters, computers, mobile phones, microwaves, radios, internal parts of all these equipments etc. These items produce complicated multi-material wastes with different proportions of metals, plastics and glass. Radioactive waste Radioactive waste means any waste material containing radionuclide in quantities or concentrations as prescribed by the competent authority by notification in the official gazette of Government of India.

1 Sector Commerce & Agriculture Source Vehicle servicing Airports Dry cleaning Electrical transformers Hospitals Farms / Municipal parks Hazardous waste Waste oils Oils, hydraulic fluids etc. Halogenated solvents Polychlorinated Bipheryls (PCBs) Pathogenic / infectious wastes Unused pesticides, `empty' Containers 2 Sector Small-scale industry Source Metal treating (electro-plating, etching, anodizing,galvanizing) Photo finishing Textile processing Printing Leather tanning.

Hazardous waste Acids, heavy metals Solvents, acids, silver Cadmium, mineral acids Solvents, inks and dyes Solvents, chromium 3 Sector Large-scale industry Source Bauxite processing Oil refining (Petrochemical manufacture) Chemical / pharmaceutical manufacture Chlorine production Hazardous waste Red muds Spent catalysts Oily wastes Tarry residues, solvent Mercury

LEGISLATION FOR MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE AND CATEGORISATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE In exercise of the powers conferred under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), the Central Government has made the Hazardous Waste(Management & Handling) Rules, 1989 and published in the official GazetteNo.S.O.594(E), dated 28.7.1989. These Rules define the Hazardous Wastes and provide specific schedule in which wastes are listed for application of the rule. The rules have been further amended in 1999 called Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, January 6, 2000. The

occupier generating hazardous waste has obligation to take all practical steps to ensure that such wastes are properly handled and disposed off without any adverse effect, which may result from such wastes. The occupier shall also be responsible for proper collection, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of these wastes, either by himself or through the operator of a facility. The occupier shall submit application to the State pollution control board (SPCB) for grant of authorisation for handling of hazardous wastes. The SPCB shall not issue an authorisation unless it is satisfied that the operator of a facility or an occupier, as the case may be, possesses appropriate facilities, technical capabilities and equipment to handle hazardous wastes safely. The State Govt./U.T. Administration, or a person authorised by it, is required to undertake a continuing programme to identify the sites and compile and publish periodically an inventory of disposal sites within the State/UT for the disposal of hazardous wastes. An environmental impact study shall be undertaken before final identification of a site as waste disposal site. Import of hazardous waste from any country to India shall not be permitted for dumping and disposal of such wastes. However, import of such wastes may be allowed for processing or re-use as raw material, after examining each case on merit by the SPCB or by an officer authorised in this behalf. The Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules apply to the categories of Hazardous Wastes as specified in the Schedule-I to the Rules amended on January 6, 2000 as given at Annexure 6.1 HANDLING OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS It has been observed that there is always potential risk due to handling and transportation of toxic/ hazardous chemicals and particularly in residential areas. Storage of such chemicals in residential and commercial areas should be closely monitored. The MoEF have notified the Manufacturer, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 (as amended on January 20, 2000) and according to these rules, activities relating to handling and transportation of

hazardous chemicals should be regulated. However, this subject is not under the purview of local bodies but, they can provide assistance to the concerned agencies whenever needed.

INDUSTRIAL LOCATION There are certain types of industries though they are small sized/tiny but, cause considerable pollution when they are located in residential areas. Suchindustries quite often do not seek s Consents from SPCBs and even not licensed by the local authorities. Therefore, SPCBs and Municipal authorities should review and interact with each other to ensure that industries do not come up in nonconforming areas. From solid waste generation point of view, small industries dispose variety of solid waste like, packaging materials, oil sludges, scraps, paints, metallic/non-metallic containers, metallic sludges, etc. Based on pollution potential, category of industries which may be examined and restricted for their siting in residential areas may be referred in the Annexure 6.2. Municipal authorities while providing services in residential and commercial areas when find that there are industries which discharge solid waste, should bring out information to the knowledge of SPCBs so that necessary actions are taken. In commercial areas, service units like flour mills, automobile service stations should be properly served notices by the concerned administration to the effect that such units should dispose their solid waste as per norms laid by Pollution Control Boards/ municipal authorities. MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL SOLID WASTES-COORDINATION (SPCBs & LOCAL BODIES) Urban local bodies are constantly in the field and they are well aware of the local situation. They also know sources of waste generation and areas under their control. In order to organise proper collection, transportation and disposal of industrial solid waste, there is need to set up co-ordination between

SPCBs, local bodies and industrial departments. suggested to follow:

Following guidelines are

i) Urban local bodies should identify the areas from where industrial solid waste is generated. ii) Inventorisation of industries could be attempted through SPCBs or industries department for characterisation of wastes. iii) SPCBs may take necessary actions for issuance of consents/Authorisations to the industries under relevant Acts and Rules. iv) Urban local bodies may undertake collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste on cost recovery basis as per existing rules and may identify Hazardous waste (Management and Handling) Amended Rules, 2003: These define hazardous waste as any waste which by reason of any of its physical, chemical, reactive, toxic, flammable, explosive or corrosive characteristics causes danger, or is likely to cause danger, to health or environment, whether alone or when on contact with other wastes or substances. In Schedule 1, waste generated from the electronic industry is considered as hazardous waste. DGFT (Exim policy 2002-07): The Director General of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Commerce governs the EXIM policy, and as per the Para2.17 of EXIM Policy, 2002-07 which says: "All second hand goods shall be restricted for imports and may be imported only in accordance with the provisions of this Policy, ITC (HS), Hand book (Vol.1), Public Notice or a licence/ certificate/ permission issued in this behalf5." The industries do change their products, processes, or capacity of production and as new industries get established, there is a need to periodically update inventories by the SPCBs/PCCs. Besides, it should be made mandatory on the part of industries to report changes / additions in hazardous waste generation and the steps taken by them to reduce generation of waste per unit of production.

For proper tracking of HW disposal in an environmentally sound manner by the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) the Manifest System of movement of hazardous waste shall be followed as per the hazardous waste regulations. The SPCB/PCC should develop on-line tracking system for movement of hazardous waste from generation to the disposal/recovery/recycle stage. To take care of cases of remediation where the polluters are not traceable, a dedicated fund should be created by the SPCB/PCC.