Every year, about 60 kg of hazardous waste is produced for every person on earth, and the amount is escalating at a faster pace. Hazardous waste is defined as waste that poses a significant or possible risk to human health or the environment. They frequently exhibit one or more of the following dangerous characteristics: flammability, reactivity, corrosivity, and toxicity. Hazardous waste can exist in a variety of physical states, including gaseous, liquid, and solid. Hazardous waste is distinct from other waste in that it cannot be disposed of in the same manner as other by-products of our daily life. India produces around 7 million tonnes of hazardous waste at an annual rate, with the majority of it concentrated in four states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. This article will explain to you about hazardous waste, which will be helpful in preparing the Environment syllabus for the UPSC Civil Service exam.

Global Hazardous Waste Generation

Hazardous Waste - Meaning

• The term "hazardous waste" refers to a type of unsafe item. Since industrial and hospital waste includes poisonous compounds, they are considered hazardous.
• Hazardous wastes are toxic, extremely flammable, or explosive, and can be very harmful to humans, animals, and plants.
• Old batteries, shoe polish, paint tins, old pharmaceuticals, and medicine bottles are examples of household waste that might be classified as hazardous waste.
• Metals, Chemicals, Paper, pesticides, Dye, Refining, and Rubber Goods Sectors are important sources of hazardous waste in the industrial sector.
• Direct contact with hazardous waste compounds such as mercury and cyanide can be lethal.

Hazardous Waste - Types

Universal Wastes

• Universal wastes are a type of hazardous waste that, in comparison to other hazardous wastes, provide a lower concern, widespread, and are produced in huge amounts by a large number of sources.
• Fluorescent light bulbs, various speciality batteries (e.g. lithium or lead-acid batteries), cathode ray tubes, and mercury-containing gadgets are among the most common examples of universal wastes.
• Regulatory restrictions for universal wastes seem to be less severe.
• The proper disposal of universal wastes is still required.

Household Hazardous Waste

• Household hazardous waste (HHW), also known as domestic hazardous waste or home generated special materials, is a type of waste produced by residential areas.
• Household hazardous waste is not a waste that is created by a firm or in an industrial setting.
• HHW exclusively refers to waste generated by the use of materials branded and sold for home use.
• Hazardous home waste materials can be harmful to people's health and the environment, thus they should be disposed of properly.
• Paint, cleansers, oils, insecticides, and batteries are examples of hazardous household waste.

Composition of Household Hazardous Waste

Hazardous Waste - Impacts

• Hazardous waste disposal that isn't done properly can endanger human health and the environment.
• Waste that is improperly disposed of, for example, may leak into groundwater, causing long-term contamination of a region's water supply.
• This might have devastating impacts for agricultural communities that rely on groundwater aquifers for irrigation and personal consumption.
• Contamination from inappropriate hazardous waste disposal can be dangerous in urban settings, particularly slums, if untreated trash spills into open sewers and into water distribution systems.
• At the same time, ingesting hazardous waste, inhaling polluted air, or coming into direct touch with skin can result in a variety of short- and long-term health problems such as allergies, skin irritation and lung diseases.
• Carcinogenesis, reproductive abnormalities, and central nervous system problems are some of the hazards that can arise depending on the sort of hazardous waste in question.

Hazardous Waste - Disposal

• Some hazardous materials were formerly disposed of in normal landfills.
• As a result, large quantities of toxic pollutants leaked into the earth.
• These pollutants eventually found their way into natural waterways.
• Countermeasures against groundwater contamination are now required in many landfills.
• For example, to contain dangerous elements that may remain in the dumped waste, a barrier must be erected around the landfill's foundation.
• Hazardous wastes must be stabilized and solidified before entering a landfill.
• The majority of combustible materials can be used as industrial fuel.
• Lead acid batteries, for example, can be recycled even though they contain dangerous elements.

Recycling

• Hazardous waste can be recycled into new products in some cases.
• Lead–acid batteries and electrical circuit boards are two examples.
• Heavy metals in these types of ashes could attach to other contaminants and transform them to easier-to-dispose solids, or they could be used as pavement infill if properly treated.
• These treatments limit the risk of dangerous substances such as fly and bottom ash while also reusing the safe product.

Incineration and Waste-to-energy

• Flammable wastes can occasionally be used as energy sources by incinerating them at a high temperature.
• Many cement kilns, for example, burn hazardous wastes such as old oils or solvents.
• Today's incineration processes not only eliminate hazardous waste, but also create electricity from the gases generated during the process.
• Incinerators come in a variety of shapes and sizes, depending on the waste's qualities.
• Another method for treating hazardous materials is starved air incineration.
• Burning happens, just as it does in traditional incineration, but limiting the amount of oxygen permitted helps to reduce the amount of toxic byproducts created.

Landfill

• A landfill here refers to a hazardous waste disposal facility or a portion of a facility that is not a pile.
• It is the land treatment facility which has a surface impoundment, an underground injection well, a salt dome formation, a salt bed formation, an underground mine, a cave, or a corrective action management unit.

Pyrolysis

• Pyrolysis is the heat decomposition of a solid (or a liquid) into smaller volatile molecules without mixing with oxidants.
• Some hazardous wastes can be destroyed by pyrolysis at a high temperature, not necessarily through an electrical arc, but by depriving them of oxygen to prevent burning.
• These treatment procedures are quite expensive, but in some cases, they may be preferable to high-temperature burning, such as for destroying concentrated organic waste types like PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), pesticides, and other persistent organic pollutants.

Hazardous Waste Management In India

• The detrimental impact on human health and the environment is minimised by scientific disposal of hazardous waste through collection, storage, packaging, transportation, and treatment in an environmentally sound manner.
• Individual waste generators can establish captive treatment facilities or use Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities to dispose of hazardous waste (TSDFs).
• In 17 states/UTs, there are 40 Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs).
• Hazardous trash, such as lead acid battery scraps, used oil, waste oil, wasted catalyst, and other waste, such as waste tyres, paper waste, metal scrap, and so on, are utilised as raw material and as a supplemental resource for material and energy recovery by industries interested in waste recycling.
• As a result, it is always preferable to recycle such garbage or use it for resource recovery rather than dispose of it in a landfill or incinerate it.
• There are around 1080 registered recyclers, 47 cement factories that are licenced to co-process, and 108 companies that are permitted to use hazardous waste.

Related Conventions

Basel Convention

• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements and Disposal of Hazardous Wastes.
• It is an international treaty aimed at reducing hazardous waste movement between nations.
• The major objective is to protect hazardous waste from being transferred from developed to less developing countries (LDCs).
• It makes no mention of the transportation of radioactive waste.
• The Convention also aims to reduce the amount and toxicity of wastes produced, ensure their environmentally sound management, and help LDCs in environmentally sound waste management.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm Convention) is a global treaty aimed at protecting human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
• It was opened for ratification in Stockholm (Sweden) in 2001 and went into effect in 2004.
• The goal is to reduce or eliminate the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
• POPs are "chemical compounds that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food chain, and have the potential to harm human health and the ecosystem."

Rotterdam Convention

• The Convention establishes legally binding obligations for the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure's execution.
• A multilateral convention promoting shared responsibilities in the importing of hazardous substances has been signed.
• The treaty encourages open information exchange and requires hazardous chemical exporters to employ correct labelling, safe handling, and to notify buyers of any known limitations or bans.
• Signatory countries have the option of allowing or prohibiting the import of chemicals named in the convention.

Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2019

• The Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, were the first to differentiate between hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
• In 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change modified the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 to strengthen the country's execution of environmentally sound hazardous waste management.
• Imports of solid plastic garbage have been banned throughout the country, even in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Oriented Units (EOUs) (EOU).
• Exporters of silk waste no longer need to seek approval from the Ministry of the Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change as they have been exempted.
• Electrical and electronic assemblies and components manufactured in India and exported outside the country can now be imported back into the country without seeking approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, if detected defective within a year of export.

Conclusion

In India, a reasonably extensive legislative and regulatory framework for hazardous waste management is in existence. A lack of financial resources, a paucity of employees, a lack of defined processes, and a lack of legal authority are just a few of the problems. Given the numerous human health and environmental consequences of inappropriate hazardous waste disposal, India must overcome these obstacles and ensure that its hazardous waste is appropriately managed.