Wastes from hazard class 1 to 4 to protect both the environment and humans and animals must be properly stored and disposed of. All products that have a negative impact on the ecosystem are divided into 5 classes, but the first four are the most dangerous, since the fifth includes substances that can be recycled.
5th grade
This class has the lowest hazard rating. Most often we are talking about bulky household garbage: old furniture and things, plastic or glass products, paper and food waste.
4th grade
Wastes from hazard class 1 to 4 are classified depending on the degree of harmful effect. Grade 4 just includes products that pose little danger to the environment. Damage from such harm can be repaired in three years. In addition to bulky household garbage, this group also includes construction waste: the remains of bricks, gravel, metals, broken glass, and unnecessary wood.
Oil-containing products that appear as a result of well construction and field development also belong to this class. Disposal of hazard class 4 wastes, in particular those containing petroleum products, must be carried out in accordance with regulatory legal acts.
3rd grade
This hazard class is assigned to products and materials that cause environmental damage. Recovery lasts for about 10 years. Construction waste, industrial waste in the form of failed equipment, rubber ramps, oils for various purposes, acids and alkalis are commonly classified as this class. The pollution source in this case is construction sites, including unfinished construction sites, industrial enterprises.
2nd grade
Hazardous waste of classes 1-4 is disposed of for quite a long time - at least three years. A high degree of danger is assigned to goods, products that belong to the second class. These wastes can undermine the equilibrium of the ecosystem, and restoration of contaminated territories will take at least 30 years. This class includes harmful products of production, equipment that has failed, chemical compositions - oils, alkalis, acids. The source of pollution are industrial enterprises. The second class of hazard also includes batteries, which cause irreparable damage to the environment due to acid and lead poisoning. Waste collection, according to the rules, must be carried out in a specially designated container.
1 class
These are extremely dangerous harmful substances, the presence of which in nature can lead to sad consequences and destruction, which are almost impossible to recover. This group includes industrial waste. Galvanic cells, thermometers, lamps on a mercury or fluorescent basis, various devices - all this is a hazard class 1 waste. The list includes primarily mercury-containing elements, because this liquid metal very quickly enters the environment and causes irreparable harm to the ecosystem.
The requirements of the law indicate that waste of the first class should be collected separately from other products in a special container. As a rule, it is created from galvanized metal, since this garbage cannot be recycled. Disposal of hazard class 1 wastes, especially mercury-containing and radioactive substances and pesticides, is carried out only using special equipment. The process itself is carried out by different methods: cementing, microwave energy or storage at special landfills. And traditional methods in the form of burning, for example, only further pollute the environment.
How to reduce risk factors?
As we have already said, waste from hazard classes 1 to 4 can cause irreparable damage to the environment. To prevent this from happening, a special management system has been created that allows maximum recycling of garbage and its further use. In most countries, and in Russia in particular, laws have been passed according to which waste must be subjected to:
- recycling;
- processing;
- recyclable.
Disposal methods: incineration
Class 1 - 4 waste disposal is most often done through storage or incineration. The first method is an ordinary landfill, however, to minimize harm to nature, it is organized on clay soil, which is strengthened by various geosynthetics. Their task is to prevent the leakage of harmful substances into the environment.
Waste incineration is an opportunity to reduce their quantity at landfills, but this process is dangerous by emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. If you want to minimize damage to nature, products are destroyed in incinerators that are equipped with multi-stage air purification systems.
Wastes of hazard classes 1 to 4 that cannot be recycled and used in the future, which cannot be burnt, should be buried. When creating burial grounds, reservoirs of geological formations are used - granite, basalt, gypsum, but in this case, some conditions should be remembered.
- The seams must be watertight, and an aquifer should be located under them.
- Mandatory is the absence of deformation, which can be caused by a shift under the influence of various factors.
If underground waste disposal is used, then this is done using special containers.
Explosive product disposal
Disposal of hazard class 1 waste is a serious measure. For example, it is advisable to store explosive substances in special underground tanks, to which high demands are made.
- Waste is placed in containers that can withstand various loads - mechanical shocks, currents.
- The placement of substances is advisable away from power lines.
- It is mandatory to maintain a low storage temperature and phlegmatization in order to protect the waste from chemical interactions with other components.
Or is it secondary use?
Waste processing is complicated only by the need for sorting and separate collection. But this is the most rational solution to the problem. Many wastes of 1 - 3 hazard classes are quite suitable for reuse. We are talking about plastics, batteries, cellulose in all its forms. Of course, this process requires large financial investments, which are not stingy in European countries, but in Russia this method is not used as often as not every company can find funds for the disposal of production waste.
What to do with toxins?
Hazardous waste of classes 1 to 4, which have toxins in their composition, are often neutralized by thermal methods. There are many of them.
- Liquid phase oxidation is used to neutralize waste in the liquid phase and sludge that is present in wastewater. The method involves working at a certain temperature and pressure, it is notable for low energy costs, but during the process scale forms on the heating surface, and this is the main minus.
- Heterogeneous catalysis. It is used when it is required to neutralize industrial waste in the gaseous or liquid phase.
- Pyrolysis, which is oxidative or dry. Oxidative pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of harmful industrial products when they are either partially burned or come into contact with products as a result of fuel combustion. The method is ideal for sludge, plastics, oils, fuel oil impurities. With dry pyrolysis, the products decompose thermally, but without oxygen. Due to its high efficiency and zero waste, the technology is in great demand.
- Gasification is another way to recycle waste. The advantages of this method are that the combustible gases formed in the process can be used as fuel, and resins as chemical raw materials.
- Low temperature plasma. It is advisable to use this technology when necessary to dispose of toxic waste.
Chemical wastes
Hazardous chemicals include hazardous waste of the 1st hazard class, the list of which includes magnesium sulfates, zinc compounds, phosphates. As a rule, these wastes are generated as a result of a flotation method for mineral processing using amines. If such dust enters the body, problems with the bronchi and blood vessels can occur.
The most harmful are waste products that contain mercury and its compounds, mercuric chloride, antimony, potassium cyanide. If a person suddenly recovers with these substances, the whole nervous system will be affected, the kidneys may fail, and as a result, a fatal outcome. That is why waste disposal (including 4 hazard classes) is a responsible process.
Why do I need a passport?
Waste of any hazard class requires the development of a passport, which is based on a number of documents. If there is no such passport, the company faces a considerable fine, in addition, its activities may be suspended. The fact is that the absence of this document is considered as a violation of the environmental safety of the environment. Drawing up a passport involves a number of stages - from an inventory of the company's business activities to research by special laboratories and calculating the hazard class of waste.
conclusions
Recycling is a matter that worries scientists around the world for more than one generation. The difficulties are that a unified approach to the processing of industrial products has not been developed; moreover, not every country has understood that industrial waste can be reused. Of course, new devices, methods and equipment are appearing that make it possible to at least slightly improve the state of the modern ecosystem, but the lack of funds for the implementation of such projects poses a danger to humanity.