Guide To Hazardous Waste Removal

How To Remove Dangerous Wastes Safely?

When we build patios there is often waste we need to remove. Hazardous waste must be disposed of correctly to prevent health and environmental hazards. As a result, businesses must have a basic understanding of their responsibilities and specific requirements.  The pros at Pro Skip Bin Hire Brisbane have prepared this guide to hazardous waste removal for homeowners, explaining the different types of hazardous wastes and how you can dispose them in an environmentally friendly manner.

What is Hazardous Waste? 

Hazardous waste is any type or form of waste that may contain toxic substances that are harmful to animals, humans, and the environment. You can refer to any waste as hazardous if it has any of the following characteristics:

• Catches fire under certain conditions
• Very high or low pH and corrodes metal
• Very unstable and explodes or produces gases, toxic fumes, and vapour when mixed with water or subjected to heat or pressure.
• Fatal or harmful when absorbed or swallowed
• Leaches toxic chemicals into the groundwater or soil when disposed of on land.

How To Remove Hazardous Waste 

1. Find your generator category 

You must find your generator category so that you can measure the amount of waste your business produces per month. The amount of waste produced determines your generator categories. Hazardous wastes are measured in gallons and not pounds since they are liquid. However, you will need to convert from gallon to pounds. EPA has established 3 categories, each regulated differently:

Conditionally exempt small quantity generator (CESQG): your business will fall into this category if you generate less than 200 pounds of hazardous waste per month.

Small quantity generator (SQGs): this is only applicable if you generate between 220 and 2,200 pounds of hazardous per month.

Large quantity generator (LQGs): a business is considered an LQG if it generates more than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste per month. As expected, it must comply with more extensive hazardous waste management rules.

2. Identify your waste 

Some of the common hazardous waste generated by small businesses include:

• Still residues from cooked powder residues, spent filter cartridges, solvent distillation, unused perchloroethylene, and spent solvent.
• Toxic waste, solvent waste, plant waste, and ignitable waste. Ignitable liquids include solvents like ethanol, acetone and acetonitrile, byproducts and mixtures from synthetic reactions.
• Used oils, acids and bases, ignitable waste, solvent waste, unused cleaning chemicals, paint waste, contaminated rinse water, silver.
• Spontaneously combustible waste like phosphorus, and dangerous when wet waste like sodium.

3. Qualification for exempt 

A business that generates less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste per month is conditionally exempted from full hazardous waste regulations. However, you must have the following:

• Federal or state-regulated hazardous waste management storage, disposal, and treatment facility.
• Licensed, registered, or permitted facility by a state to manage industrial or municipal solid waste.
• Facility that legitimately recycles waste
• Universal waste destination subject to the universal waste management of 40 CFR part 273.

Storing Waste On Site 

Lack of proper storage of hazardous chemicals can have various adverse effects on the environment. This includes poisoning, the release of toxic fumes, environmental damages, etc. As a result, businesses or households must store hazardous products correctly as they are responsible for their safe management before shipping them off to a disposal facility.

Label Each Chemical Waste 

Clear labelling helps to accurately identify the contents of a waste container. You can either buy labels or print them. On the label, include the name of the person responsible for the waste and contact details. This includes the date of generation, phone number, laboratory, and description of the waste.

Use Compatible Containers 

Store waste in containers lined with materials that are compatible with the hazardous waste you want to store to prevent reaction or corrosion within the containers.

Inspection 

Ensure that all containers holding hazardous waste are closed during storage except when you are removing or adding waste. In other words, don’t handle, store, open, or stack containers in a way that will cause them to leak or fall. After storing the waste, inspect the areas every week to look for leaks and signs of deterioration caused by factors like corrosion. If there is a leak, transfer the chemicals into a new container or contain them.

Don’t mix waste 

Don’t mix incompatible waste to prevent hazards. When you mix hazardous and non-hazardous waste, the entire batch becomes hazardous. Apart from this, mixing waste makes recycling a challenge.

Provide for emergency 

You must minimize potential risks of explosions, fire, and accidents in places where you store hazardous waste. Therefore, there must be an alarm and internal communications system that can provide immediate emergency information. Other measures include fire-control devices, fire extinguishers, foam-producing equipment, water, telephone devices, etc.

Disposing of hazardous waste 

Hazardous waste can be corrosive, toxic, explosive, or flammable. As a result, you must not dispose of them in your general waste.

• Select a treatment, storage, and disposal facility to dispose or recycle your waste. Also, check with the authorities to ensure that the facility has the necessary permits. On your own, label the waste shipments as specified in DOT regulations.
• Prepare a hazardous waste manifest to track waste from the time it leaves your generator until it reaches the disposal facility. Also, include certification and notice with the first waste shipment.
• Rinse empty containers thoroughly to remove traces of chemicals. Instead of burning the containers, simply uncap them and crush them.
• Return containers marked as returnable to the supplier.
• Be meticulous with the disposal of hazardous waste containers. For example, use a strategic location where the waste cannot contaminate underground water, land surface, crops, homes, and livestock. It should also be a depth of not less than 50 cm. Alternatively, you can hire a hazardous waste removal company to handle the entire process.

Conclusion 

Like the rest of the world, the amount of hazardous waste generated by Australia continues to rise every year. Although there are acts regulating the use and disposal of hazardous waste, we must also play our parts as humans to ensure that the environment is protected from the harmful effect of waste.