Question

Understanding and being able to apply the key principles of chemistry to address the treatment of hazardous waste is an essential skill for the practicing environmental, health and safety (EHS) professional. In your opinion, list two aspects of chemistry that you believe are needed to develop a hazardous waste management plan for a chemical facility. Why did you choose these? How would your ability to develop a management plan be compromised if you did not have these skills?

Answer 1

Management is understood as the set of activities aimed at giving waste to the most suitable final destination.

Waste management is called the entire process that encompasses the activities necessary to take care of a waste.

Principles of chemistry to address the treatment of hazardous waste:

• Separate properly and do not mix hazardous waste, avoiding particularly those mixtures that increase their danger or that hinder its management.
• Packaging and labeling containers containing hazardous waste in the form to be determined by regulation.
• Keep a record of hazardous waste produced or imported and destination of the same.
• Provide authorized companies to carry out waste management Information necessary for proper treatment and disposal

Waste holders will be obliged, provided they do not proceed to manage them by themselves, to deliver them to a waste manager for recovery or disposal, or to participate in a voluntary agreement or collaboration agreement that includes these operations. In any case, the holder of the waste will be obliged, while they are in their power, to keep them in proper hygiene and safety conditions.

The management of waste generated in a chemical installation presents a problem differentiated from industrial waste since they are generated in small quantities, they have a great variety and high danger both from the physical and chemical point of view as toxicological and for the environment. If they are not treated and accumulate in the area generate unnecessary dangerous chemicals. In addition, they are often not properly packaged, identified and stored. Therefore, the Management of this type of waste constitutes a fundamental aspect in the application of criteria of quality and environmental management, and it is also one of the requirements of application of good environmental practices.

Its management must be based on the principles of minimization, reuse, treatment and safe disposal To manage them correctly, a program of waste management that collects all generated waste, including reagents expired, reagents not expired but unnecessary, single-use materials contaminated or not, the patterns and all those materials or products that have been used or generated, such as medicines, paper, gloves, among others.

A waste management program must cover all waste generated, both Non-hazardous as dangerous and should contain the following aspects:

• Responsible or responsible for supervising and verifying the correct application and the execution of the program, depending on its implications within the organization chart of responsibilities.

• Level of resources needed. The cost of the program must be known and evaluated including all external management operations: collection, transportation, storage and subsequent final treatment (incineration, physical-chemical treatment or controlled discharge).

• Identification. All products considered as waste must be classified and identified according to their danger and/or final destination.

• Minimization/reduction. The possibilities of reuse, recovery, treatment in the laboratory itself or rationalization of purchases in order to reduce as much as possible the generation of waste.

• Inventory. A list of the waste generated and Keep it updated.

• Warehouse. A separate space in the laboratory for storage must be available of waste, provided with the necessary safety elements.

• Collection and transport. Proper containers and labels must be provided for the collection and transport of waste.

• Security measures. The necessary security measures must be established indicating the protective clothing to be used.

• Action in case of accidents/incidents. The instructions of action in case of spills or spills, or of any incident that may occur Also, the action guidelines should be indicated in case of a emergency.

• Training and information about the program. All staff must know the existence and characteristics of the waste management program adopted, its execution and the responsibility that derives.

• Monitoring of the process. It is the obligation of the waste producer, when these are intended for external treatment and/or management, check that both the company in charge of transport as the treating company are recognized as such by the Administration and that meet all the administrative requirements (sheets of monitoring, waste declarations).