Industrial Waste
CHAPTER NINE
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Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 9, Industrial Waste, Page 1
Since the industrial revolution, industrial and mining operations have been accompanied by a problem: industrial waste which may be toxic, ignitable, corrosive or reactive. If improperly managed, this waste can pose dangerous health and environmental consequences. In the United States, the amount of hazardous waste generated by manufacturing industries in the country has increased from an estimated 4.5 million tons annually after World War II to some 57 million tons by 1975.(1) By 1990, this total had shot up to approximately 265 million tons.(2) This waste is generated at every stage in the production process, use and disposal of manufactured products. Thus, the introduction of many new products for the home and office - computers, drugs, textiles, paints and dyes, plastics - also introduced hazardous waste, including toxic chemicals, into the environment. These, too, must be managed with extreme care to avoid adverse environmental or human health impacts. The EPA estimated in 1980 that more than 70,000 different chemicals were being manufactured in the U.S., with some 1,000 new chemicals being added each year.(3) The human health and environmental impacts of many of these chemicals are largely unknown.(4)
While tens of thousands of industrial chemicals are used in the United States and have the potential to enter the food supply through air, water and soil pollution, no law requires federal agencies to monitor environmental contaminants in food.
Source: United States General Accounting Office, Minimizing Unsafe Chemicals in Foods (Washington, DC: September 1994), 3.
Before substantial state and federal regulation began in the late 1970s, most industrial waste was disposed of in landfills, stored in surface impoundments such as lagoons or pits, discharged into surface waters with little or no treatment or burned. Mismanagement of industrial as well as "hazardous" waste has resulted in polluted groundwater, streams, lakes and rivers as well as damage to wildlife and vegetation.(5) Meanwhile, high levels of toxic contaminants have been found in animals and humans, particularly those, like farm workers and oil and gas workers, who are continually exposed to such waste streams.(6)
Today, three major federal laws and one state law guide management of hazardous waste and other industrial waste in Texas:
- Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, enacted in 1969 and last amended in 1993. This act authorizes a full state regulatory program for solid waste including industrial and hazardous waste under the jurisdiction of what today is called the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (formerly the Texas Water Commission). It sets out various permitting and enforcement authorities and restricts the location, design and operation of hazardous waste management facilities.
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976. As re-authorized in 1984 by the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments, this federal law creates a step-by-step management approach restricting and controlling the treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste onto the land; mandates a permitting system to assure the safe management of all hazardous waste; and implements a system to track hazardous waste as it moves "cradle-to-grave," from the point of generation to disposal. The 1984 amendments also banned hazardous waste which could threaten human health and the environment from land disposal without prior treatment.
- CERCLA, the Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, amended in 1986 as the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act (SARA). This federal law created a $1.6 billion "Superfund" to address spills of hazardous waste and clean up of old, abandoned hazardous waste sites.(7) The Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act provided an additional $12.1 billion.(8) Title III of SARA, the Emergency Planning and Community-Right-to-Know Act of 1986, requires major industries to report releases, transfers and recycling of toxic chemicals to the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Toxics Release Inventory Program.
- Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, amended in 1986. This act, along with RCRA, protects groundwater sources of potable water and regulates underground injection of industrial and hazardous waste.
FLOW OF MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND SOLID WASTE
Source: Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President, Environmental Trends (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, July 1981), 77.
| U.S. SOLID WASTE AND ITS SOURCES (TONS)
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Total Annual Solid Waste Generated | 8 billion
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Total Annual Municipal Solid Waste | 196 million
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Total Annual Hazardous Solid Waste | 265 million
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Source: Council on Environmental Quality, United States of America National Report (prepared for the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development, 1992), Exhibit 6h, 333.
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| WHAT IS HAZARDOUS WASTE? |
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A SOLID WASTE IS HAZARDOUS IF:
1. EPA has listed it in one of three categories:
- Source-Specific Waste. This list includes waste from specific industries such as petroleum refining, wood preserving and secondary lead smelting, as well as sludges and production processes from these industries.
- Generic Waste. This list identifies waste from common manufacturing and industrial processes including spent solvents, degreasing operations, leachate from landfills and ink formulation waste.
- Commercial Chemical Products. This list includes some pesticides, creosote and other commercial chemicals.
OR
2. It exhibits one or more of the following characteristics, subject to certain tests:
- Ignitability;
- Corrosivity;
- Reactivity;
- Toxicity.
Certain waste is exempt from regulation as hazardous waste under RCRA even though it may potentially harm human health or the environment. Exempt waste includes:
- Domestic sewage;
- Irrigation waters or industrial discharges permitted under Clean Water Act, so long as they are not stored on-site;
- Certain nuclear materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act;
- Waste from the exploration and development of petroleum, gas and geothermal energy (waste from the refining process may be classified as hazardous);
- Household hazardous waste;
- Agricultural waste, except some pesticides.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Solving the Hazardous Waste Problem: EPA's RCRA Program (Washington, DC: EPA, November 1986), 5-7.
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INDUSTRIAL AND HAZARDOUS WASTE: WHAT IS IT?
According to EPA estimates, manufacturing, mining and agricultural industries, along with commercial and domestic sources in the U.S., generate about 8 billion tons of waste each year, about 265 million tons of which were hazardous in 1990 under RCRA.(9) That same year, municipal solid waste - what is picked up at our homes, businesses and institutions - made up only 196 million tons, or around 2.5 percent of all generated waste.
Industrial solid waste - which may be solid, liquid or gases held in containers - is divided into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste may result from manufacturing or other industrial processes. Certain commercial products such as cleaning fluids, paints or pesticides discarded by commercial establishments or individuals can also be defined as hazardous waste. While RCRA does provide a general definition of hazardous waste, the hazardous waste "definition" has been further refined through regulations (see box).
Non-hazardous industrial waste are those that do not meet the EPA's definition of hazardous waste - and are not municipal waste. Waste determined to be hazardous are regulated by hazardous waste rules established pursuant to RCRA's Subtitle C requirements, while other non-hazardous waste fall under RCRA's Subtitle D solid waste management requirements.
Under Texas regulations, non-hazardous waste generated by industrial facilities are categorized as Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 waste (see box). Class 2 and Class 3 waste are considered less harmful to the environment or human health than Class 1 waste. While industries do have to report the type of waste they produce, they do not have to report how much of Class 2 and 3 waste they generate or how they dispose of them. However, municipal solid waste landfills do have to report the receipt of all industrial waste, including Class 2 and 3 waste.
| EXAMPLES OF HAZARDOUS WASTE GENERATED BY INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESSES:
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WASTE GENERATOR | WASTE TYPES
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Chemical Manufacturers | Acids and Bases
Spent Solvents
Reactive Waste
Wastewater Containing
Organic Constituents
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Printing Industry | Heavy Metal Solutions
Waste Inks
Solvents
Ink Sludges Containing
Heavy Metals
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Petroleum Refining Industry | Wastewater Containing
Benzene & other
Hydrocarbons
Sludge from Refining Process
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Leather Products Manufacturing | Toluene and Benzene
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Paper Industry | Paint Waste Containing
Heavy Metals
Ignitable Solvents
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Construction Industry | Ignitable Paint Waste
Spent Solvents
Strong Acids and Bases
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Metal Manufacturing | Sludges containing
Heavy Metals
Cyanide Waste
Paint Waste
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Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Solving the Hazardous Waste Problem: EPA's RCRA Program (Washington, DC: EPA, November 1986), 8.
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| NON-HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIAL WASTE CLASSIFICATION
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Class 1 Waste:
- Regulated asbestos containing material;
- Materials containing specific toxic chemical consituents which exceed regulated concentration levels, although not enough to be consideredhazardous;
- Liquids which are ignitable at levels above 150 degrees F, or are solids and semi-solids and contain chemicals considered to be ignitable under certain conditions incidental to storage, disposal or treatment;
- Semi-solids and solids which when combined with water exhibit corrosive properties;
- Empty containers which held hazardous substances or a Class 1 waste, unless the residue has been completely removed through certain processes;
- Waste containing more than 50 parts-per-million of total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);
- Waste associated with exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas or geothermal energy which contain more than 1,500 parts per million total petroleum hydro-carbon (TPH);
- All non-hazardous industrial solid waste generated outside Texas and transported into or through Texas for storage, processing or disposal.
Class 2 Waste:
- Containers which held hazardous or Class 1 industrial waste where the residue has been completely removed and the container made unusable;
- Containers of less than 5 gallon capacity which held Class 1 waste;
- Depleted aerosol cans;
- Non-surgical non-radioactive medical waste;
- Paper, cardboard, linings, wrappings, paper packaging materials or absorbants which do not meet hazardous, radioactive or industrial Class 1 criteria;
- Food waste, glass, aluminum foil, plastics, styrofoam and food packaging that result from plant production, manufacturing or laboratory operations.
Class 3 Waste:
- Waste not meeting the conditions of Class 1 or 2, including chemically inert and insoluble substances, samples without detectable levels of PCBs or hydrocarbons, and waste which poses no threat to human health and/or the environment;
- Inert, insoluble solid waste materials such as rock, brick, glass, dirt and some rubbers and plastics.
Source: Chapter 30, Texas Administrative Code, Section 335.
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Texas Environmental Almanac, Chapter 9, Industrial Waste, Page 1
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