Afriwaste The fixation and stabilisation of hazardous waste

Abstract

The disposal of hazardous and toxic wastes is an area where utmost care and responsibility needs to be exercised. A certain (and mostly acceptable) level of care and responsibility has been legislated and is in place in most developed economies (UK, USA, Canada, Europe, etc.). This is, however, generally not the case in under-developed or developing economies, South Africa being no exception.This paper reflects on various disposal methods and describes a potentially economic alternative to existing methods of the disposal of toxic and hazardous wastes. These existing methods are: Disposal in Class I landfill sites and destruction via incineration.Although incineration (which entails the total destruction of toxic compounds) is the preferred method of disposal, an alternative solution is the fixation of these wastes using specially formulated cementitious agents. The Fixation Solution can be economically feasible, especially in developing economies.