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Improper disposal of hazardous wastes is an in-creasing problem in many developing countries.Typically, but not ideally, the first stages of pol-lution control focus on discharges into air andwater, leaving a wide range of other materialsthat are poorly controlled. These materials in-clude substances that pose serious threats to pub-lic health and the environment and that areconsidered hazardous under almost any defini-tion. Examples include sludges from chemicalplants, clinical wastes, contaminated oils, andmetal-bearing wastes. Materials of particular con-cern are those that do not degrade quickly in theenvironment, such as metals and persistentchemicals, and that can pose a threat for longperiods into the future.Proper management and disposal of hazard-ous wastes is expensive, and therefore illegaldumping is common in many areas. The conse-quences include not only environmental degra-dation but also the undermining of legitimatewaste management systems. Control of dump-ing is thus a key issue to be considered whendesigning and implementing regulations.The World Bank can assist governments indesigning and implementing hazardous wastemanagement systems and in the provision of appropriate treatment and disposal facilities, of-ten with the involvement of the private sector.
Scale of the Problem
Definitions
Hazardous waste can be defined in a number of ways including:
Management of Hazardous Wastes
Managing hazardous wastes is a growing concern in many countries. The long-term impactsand costs of improper disposal can be very high, and the emphasis must be on prevention. Acomprehensive management system should include (a) policies, institutions, and effective regu-lations and (b) adequate and acceptable disposal facilities, either public or private. This chapter outlines the key elements of such a system.
•
Hazardous characteristics (e.g., toxicity andflammability)
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Certain toxic components (e.g., PCBs andarsenic)
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Types of materials (e.g., organic solvents andexplosives)
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Processes from which hazardous wastes origi-nate, such as refining and clinical work
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Specific waste streams such as chemical waste-water treatment sludges.Defining hazardous waste is difficult, but theestablishment of a proper management frame-work in developing countries should not be de-layed by debates about what constitutes ahazardous waste. Pragmatic working definitionscan be adopted initially and refined as the sys-tem is developed.Many countries adopt an inclusive approachthat specifies which wastes are to be consideredhazardous for regulatory purposes. Clearly, therehave to be procedures for granting exceptionsand for adding and deleting wastes.
Estimates
Although for planning purposes it is necessaryto estimate the total volume of waste produced,one should avoid putting too much effort intotrying to refine numbers. Estimates are inherentlyunreliable, for several reasons. To begin with,recorded data on waste quantities are almostnever available, and quantities have to be esti-mated on some basis such as number of firms,value of output, or number of employees. Thecoefficients for such estimates are very unreliable,
Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook WORLD BANK GROUPEffective July 1998
145
Management of Hazardous Wastes
and the resulting figures can vary by an order of magnitude. Even where estimated quantities areavailable, definitional questions can have a ma- jor impact. For example, wastes from mining ormaterials processing can often be a major por-tion of the total, and their reclassification can havea significant effect on the estimates of total “haz-ardous” wastes.A related planning problem is the highly elas-tic nature of waste generation. Once real disposalcosts are imposed on the generators throughregulatory effort the reductions in waste quanti-ties can be dramatic. Experience has shown thatwastes delivered to treatment facilities have, insome cases, been only one third of the design es-timates of wastes generated. This drop is ascribedto a combination of waste reduction and evasionof the regulatory system.For practical purposes, estimates of quantitiesshould be based on a relatively narrow defini-tion, perhaps in terms of specific industries orprocess streams, and realistic allowance shouldbe made for the effects of waste minimization.
Policy and Regulation
Hazardous wastes are by their nature a threat topublic health and the environment and thereforeneed to be regulated under the full force of thelaw. However, management of hazardous wastesis complex, and regulations must be developedwithin the context of a comprehensive policy thatcovers the responsibilities of different parties,methods for defining hazardous wastes, incen-tives to reduce quantities, education of wastegenerators and the public, the establishment of approved facilities (with particular concern forcriteria for siting), and systems for controllingand monitoring the movement and disposal of hazardous wastes. Legislation on hazardouswastes should be coordinated with other relatedtopics such as management of hazardous mate-rials and industrial health and safety.The establishment of a hazardous waste man-agement system is often complicated by a“chicken and egg” problem: legislation may re-quire disposal in approved facilities, but suchfacilities are expensive and will usually not beestablished until legislation and enforcementhave demonstrated the scale of the “market” forproper disposal. In the initial stages, therefore,industry may be in the position of having no re-alistic options for compliance with the law. Gov-ernment policy must therefore address theproblems of phasing in the new regulations, byassisting in the provision of some acceptable fa-cilities or by licensing interim solutions.
Basel Convention
There have been a number of cases of export of hazardous wastes from countries with strict regu-lations to those without similar controls, result-ing in serious pollution problems in the receivingcountries. This trade in hazardous wastes is nowcontrolled under the Basel Convention (the Glo-bal Convention on the Control of TransboundaryMovement of Hazardous Wastes, adopted atBasel in 1989). The convention also promotes thedevelopment of sound national management of hazardous wastes as a prerequisite for the con-trol of transboundary movement.
Components of a Management System
Prevention
Ideally, the generation of hazardous wastesshould be avoided altogether. It is clear from ex-perience in industrial countries with strong con-trols on hazardous wastes that it is possible toeliminate certain wastes and make major reduc-tions in others. This is achieved by imposing thereal costs of disposal on the generators, at whichpoint the incentives for cleaner production andwaste minimization become very strong. Wherethe production of the hazardous waste cannot beeliminated, action should be taken to reduce thehazardous characteristics by treatment or immo-bilization.
Responsibility for Wastes
Unfortunately, proper treatment and disposal iscostly, while illegal dumping is very cheap andtherefore profitable for illegal waste haulers. Aneffective control system is essential both to pro-tect the environment from illegal dumping andto internalize the disposal costs to waste genera-tors in an equitable way. The basic principle un-derlying control systems is that waste generators
146IMPLEMENTING POLICIES:INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION MANAGEMENT
should be responsible for the final disposal of their wastes in an acceptable manner.In practical terms, three different actors haveto be considered in waste management: the gen-erator, the disposal facility, and the transporterof the wastes between the first two. The law willnormally put the responsibility on the generator,but there must be a system that allows the gov-ernment to monitor the movement of wastes fromthe generator to approved disposal. Such a sys-tem normally consists of a number of elements.These include placing formal responsibility onthe generator to prove its compliance with dis-posal requirements, licensing waste haulers anddisposal facilities, and establishing a manifestsystem to track the movement of wastes.In the design of a manifest system, care mustbe taken to provide sufficient control withoutgenerating excessive administrative or regulatoryeffort. The basic principle is that each load of waste is accompanied by a multicopy documentthat identifies the characteristics of the waste, theapproved disposal facility, and the responsiblecompanies or individuals. Copies of the mani-fest are held, at a minimum, by the generator andthe disposal facility. The manifest can providevaluable information to the authorities aboutpatterns and trends in waste generation and dis-posal and make possible confirmation of com-pliance with regulations.
Storage of Hazardous Wastes
A hazardous waste management system shouldinclude regulations governing the storage of haz-ardous wastes at the generator’s site or at anyother transfer or disposal facility. In the absenceof approved (or affordable) disposal options, itis common for generators or transporters to storewastes as a stopgap measure, but this approachcan result in neglected piles of deterioratingwastes that pose significant hazards. It is not ac-ceptable to allow generators to stockpile wastesover an extended period of time as a way of avoiding disposal problems.
Treatment and Disposal Facilities
Hazardous waste facilities frequently comprisestorage, recovery, and treatment stages, as wellas final disposal. This allows the facility to takeadvantage of economies of scale and of opportu-nities to blend different waste streams and to re-cover some materials, particularly oils andsolvents. Such a facility can be complex and needsproper management and supervision. Potentialoperators need to demonstrate the necessarytechnical, financial, and managerial capabilitiesbefore a license to operate is issued. Any dis-charges from the site to air or water need to bevery closely controlled and monitored.Final disposal is almost always incinerationor landfill. (Since incineration generates an ash,which is normally landfilled, it is sometimesconsidered a treatment step rather than finaldisposal, but this distinction is not often im-portant.)
Incineration
Incineration involves the thermal destruction of gaseous, liquid, or solid wastes. Thermal oxida-tion converts complex organics into simple com-pounds, greatly reduces waste volumes, and canrecover the heat content of wastes. Incinerationrequires relatively high temperatures (typicallyabove 1,000°C), normally requires control of fluegases, and generates small quantities of ash orslag.Hazardous waste incineration normally takesplace in purpose-built facilities whose high capi-tal and operating costs require significantthroughputs for economic viability—typically,more than 10,000 metric tons a year. This requiredscale limits their feasibility in many newly indus-trializing countries.Incineration is an accepted form of disposalfor certain wastes in industrial countries, wherecareful gas cleaning and monitoring are required.Similar systems can be suitable for developingcountries if adequate attention is given to themanagement and monitoring aspects.Successful incineration requires good designand careful operation. The key operationalcharacteristics are temperature, residence time,and turbulence in the combustion chamber, allof which affect the efficiency of destruction. Apoor installation can emit particulates, acidicgases, unburned wastes, and trace quantitiesof hazardous organic by-products. Some wastes,
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