Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites Research Articles

Redistribute Toxicity

Abstract Redistribute Toxicity was a commissioned art piece created by visual artist Jonas Staal in close collaboration with environmental historian Jonas Stuck and curator and researcher Caroline Ektander, and later enriched by the knowledge and practices of seed librarian, artist, and activist Zayaan Khan for the exhibition The Long Term You Cannot Afford: On the Distribution of the Toxic at SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin in 2019. Informed by historical research on the trade of hazardous waste between the two Germanys during the Cold War—with a particular focus on the landfill Vorketzin, which served as West Berlin’s primary hazardous waste disposal site during the division—the art commission asked us to consider what an act of redistribution of a toxic past could look like. Similar to other waste practices premised on systems of externalization, the one that transpired between a divided Germany resulted in an asymmetrical impact on human, animal, and plant lives populating the former East—effects that are till this day hard to account for. The research process generated a series of designs that exposed the various practical and ethical issues entangled with acts of retribution and helped shape a project that became less concerned with correcting the past and more committed to reconfiguring toxic relations in the present. The final installation design propagated seeds from the wetland vegetation surrounding the landfill. This wild vegetation had not only become implicated in Germany’s toxic history as silent witnesses but had also helped remediate the soils over time.

In‐depth exploration into China's industrial park air monitoring market

AbstractIn different regions of China that can range from 5 to 100 km2, various production plants and facilities such as petrochemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, paper mills, thermal power plants, hazardous waste disposal sites makes chemical industrial parks with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, these chemical industry parks in various places are in urgent need of advanced monitoring, prewarning, and tracing technologies, in order to strengthen monitoring of atmospheric emissions in chemical industrial parks, and timely prevention of the leakage of exhaust gas and explosion accidents in the production process of these enterprises. Most of the Chinese chemical industry parks still use traditional air monitoring technologies that requires setting up passive air monitoring collection points at the boundary of enterprises and industrial parks and use the “point” sensor and pollution factors collected by air stations. However, the operation of traditional air monitoring equipment is affected by the prevailing wind conditions, thus the traditional air monitoring equipment and technology is of limited use to conduct monitoring. One of the authors of this manuscript, Weimin Zhang with Jiangsu China‐U.S. Environmental Monitoring Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as EMCUS), with 10 years of has been testing and observing air diffusion law in chemical industrial parks for 10 years and has achieved fruitful success. The best way to truly achieve tracing and prewarning about the air pollution is to conduct timely three‐dimensional dynamic collection of chemical factors and then perform qualitative and quantitative analysis. Based on this theory, EMCUS has abandoned the traditional “point” passive monitoring theories. After a comprehensive analysis and comparison of air quality monitoring technology and equipment around the world, especially several investigations of advanced Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) equipment and software in the United States, EMCUS initiated the three‐dimensional monitoring technology for exhaust gas emissions which fully combined with the current situations of chemical industry parks. During the EcoPartnership project, the stepwise vertical and radial air monitoring technology was fully promoted in Chinese chemical industry parks to generate key emission data.

An integrated multi-criteria decision-making method for hazardous waste disposal site selection

An integrated multi-criteria decision-making method for hazardous waste disposal site selection

Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Models Based on Geographic Information Systems in Locating Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites (Case Study: Bushehr Province)

Background and Objective: Todays, due to the expansion of cities, large quantities of industrial and hazardous materials are produced, which, in order to prevent its long-term and dangerous effects on human and environmental communities, selecting the best site for these wastes has become one of the complex decisions in urban management action. Because of numerous industrial units, especially refineries, in Bushehr province, it is essential to find a management solution for hazardous wastes of this province. Finding the optimal location using multi-criteria decision models based on GIS that has both the lowest environmental risks and economically optimal, is the main goal of this article. Method: In this study, 24 parameters were used to analyze the selection of hazardous waste disposal sites based on the Delphi method in Bushehr province. Selected criteria were divided into two ecological and economic categories and ANP method was used to weight the criteria. At the final stage, suitable sites for these wastes were determined based on the GIS-based WLC method. Findings: The results showed that ecological criteria had the highest score (61/34%) and land use had the highest weight (0/27) and evaporation of the lowest weight (0/0017). Also, 6/13% of the province has a very high potential and 17/7% of the surface area is completely inappropriate for the disposal of hazardous wastes. Discussion and Conclusion: Study results highlighted the importance and significant weight of environmental criteria in prioritizing the proposed areas for hazardous disposal in Bushehr province, and has shown the model's efficiency in integrating GIS and MCDM.

The Facts of Science & the Values of Social Justice

The Facts of Science & the Values of Social Justice

Allocating remedial costs at a superfund site using risk magnitude, geographic information systems, and Monte Carlo analysis

A method for allocating remediation costs among a number of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) was developed as part of a highly technical, complex Superfund litigation case involving a former hazardous waste disposal site located in the southern United States. The method was devised in response to questions from the U.S. district court regarding the volume and composition of wastes disposed, the “remedy drivers” (defined by the court as wastes or chemicals that most influenced the selection of the remedy), and the relationship between these factors and the various PRPs. A key element of the method was calculation of the Risk Magnitude, which was defined as the logarithm of the maximum concentration of a chemical in groundwater divided by its cleanup standard. Risk magnitude was linked to site remediation costs based on an analysis of remediation difficulty, data from remediation performance studies, and other sources. Key components of the allocation method included: (i) identifying remedy driver chemicals (RDCs) based on risk magnitude; (ii) quantifying the spatially adjusted cumulative risk magnitude associated with each RDC using a Geographic Information System (GIS); (iii) adjusting the risk magnitude to account for remediation difficulty of each RDC; (iv) correlating RDCs with the volume of different waste streams disposed by each PRP at the site; (v) developing an estimate for the waste volume for each PRP using multiple lines of evidence inside a Monte Carlo analysis; and (vi) apportioning final cleanup costs between PRPs based on their attributable volume and cumulative Risk Magnitude. The basic methodology was applied by the district court to develop a scientifically sound opinion that allocated site remediation costs between the PRPs—a decision that was upheld by the U.S. court of appeals. Though developed for a particular site, the method is adaptable, and its fundamental components could be applied to other sites where allocating remedial costs of complex chemical mixtures in environmental media is the objective.

Poor Settlements in Chittagong city, Bangladesh: The context of Pollution and Health Risk

Background: The rapid rate of urbanization in Bangladesh has created some adverse effects on the overall urban environmental health of the cities. Among all, mass poverty, expansion of poor neighbourhood, inadequate supply of urban services such as water, sanitation, waste disposal etc. are mostly responsible for health risks of urban people particularly in low income areas.
 Objectives: The aim of this paper is to determine the health risks of the environmentally poor neighbourhoods in Chittagong city by exploring the discourse of pollution, risk, and stigma.
 Methods: The study is predominantly based on qualitative data collection methods like participant observations, a case study and FGDs. The method has delivered an in-depth understanding of the pollution-related risks, the physical and mental sufferings of the urban poor due to pollution. Though it is solely a qualitative study, the study is complemented by a quantitative survey method and personal interviews.
 Findings: The study revealed that there are two leading environmental risk factors– the structural setting of the neighbourhood and coping practices to everyday life of the poor settlers, who affect the neighbourhood environment. The poor structured living houses, shared kitchens in the environmentally hazardous area, dirty playgrounds, unhygienic latrines, and waste disposal sites near neighbourhoods enhance the risk of diseases and injuries for inhabitants. Similarly, lack of access to pure drinking water, fuel, are generating health risks. Consequently, dwellers, especially women and children, suffer from cough and cold, diarrhoea, gastric/acidity, worm disease, respiratory illness, scabies, headache, allergy, and jaundice regular interval of time.
 Conclusion: The study concludes that physical structure of the neighbourhood, and the physical and mental sufferings of its inhabitants are interdependent. To reduce the sufferings of inhabitants and their health hazards can be reduced with the combined efforts of the Government and the NGOs and the local people as well. 
 Implications: This findings of the study can be useful to the concerned authorities of Bangladesh in planning appropriate policies to control pollution and minimize health risks. For that purpose this study can serve as reference.

Compilation of a model for hazardous waste disposal site selection using GIS-based multi-purpose decision-making models.

Nowadays, given the high production volume of industrial and dangerous materials and their impacts on the human society and environment, disposal of waste materials in the environment and finding the best disposal site for industrial and hazardous wastes, as the most significant managerial measure, have become one of the most important and complex decisions in urban management. In order to find a disposal site, analysis of spatial data, laws, and large socioeconomic and environmental criteria is required. Multi-criteria analysis techniques coupled with GIS capabilities can be a good solution for this. Due to numerous industrial units, especially refineries in Bushehr province, it is essential to find a management solution for hazardous wastes of this province. The main objective of this study is to find an optimal location which has the lowest environmental risk and economically favorable. For this purpose, ecological and socioeconomic criteria were identified and normalized by fuzzy method. The weight of the parameters was determined by analytical network process method combined with the weighted linear combination method. In the capability of the area to locate the hazardous waste disposal, the results showed that the highest weight belonged to ecological criteria (61.34%) and land use (0.27), respectively. Also, 6.13% of the province areas are identified with high potentials for disposal of hazardous wastes. The results of this study showed the importance and significant weight of environmental criteria in prioritizing the proposed areas for disposal of this type of waste. Efficiency of the employed models, integrated with GIS and MCDM, was also proven.

Ground penetrating radar for fracture mapping in underground hazardous waste disposal sites: A case study from an underground research tunnel, South Korea

Secure disposal or storage of nuclear waste within stable geologic environments hinges on the effectiveness of artificial and natural radiation barriers. Fractures in the bedrock are viewed as the most likely passage for the transport of radioactive waste away from a disposal site. We utilize ground penetrating radar (GPR) to map fractures in the tunnel walls of an underground research tunnel at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). GPR experiments within the KAERI Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) were carried out by using 200MHz, 500MHz, and 1000MHz antennas. By using the high-frequency antennas, we were able to identify small-scale fractures, which were previously unidentified during the tunnel excavation process. Then, through 3-D visualization of the grid survey data, we reconstructed the spatial distribution and interconnectivity of the multi-scale fractures within the wall. We found that a multi-frequency GPR approach provided more details of the complex fracture network, including deep structures. Furthermore, temporal changes in reflection polarity between the GPR surveys enabled us to infer the hydraulic characteristics of the discrete fracture network developed behind the surveyed wall. We hypothesized that the fractures exhibiting polarity change may be due to a combination of air-filled and mineralogical boundaries. Simulated GPR scans for the considered case were consistent with the observed GPR data. If our assumption is correct, the groundwater flow into these near-surface fractures may form the water-filled fractures along the existing air-filled ones and hence cause the changes in reflection polarity over the given time interval (i.e., 7days). Our results show that the GPR survey is an efficient tool to determine fractures at various scales. Time-lapse GPR data may be essential to characterize the hydraulic behavior of discrete fracture networks in underground disposal facilities.

Undisciplining environmental justice research with visual storytelling

Environmental justice research has used maps to make visible the spatial correlations between hazardous waste disposal sites and poor and minority communities since the 1970s. No doubt, such visual evidence of marginalized communities disproportionately burdened with noxious facilities has been an important and powerful tool for activists, regulators, and educators. Despite the efficacy of such mappings in demonstrating unjust distributions of waste, critics argue that they do not capture the complicated processes behind this spatial phenomenon. In this paper, we discuss our pursuit of an “undisciplined” environmental justice project by using visualization, not solely as the traditional product of research, but also as a process for raising new lines of inquiry into the social and environmental dynamics at work in the landscape. To this end, we present one strategy we have used in our project to construct and creatively visualize a novel dataset on the transnational hazardous waste trade in North America. Specifically, we convened a one-day “Design Challenge” with geography students from several sub-disciplines. This event yielded new avenues for international environmental justice research on and visualization of the transnational waste trade, identified methods for and concerns about critical storytelling with large datasets, and highlighted the opportunities and challenges of using critical storytelling to undiscipline EJ research. The paper presents logistics leading up to the Design Challenge, key insights and critical discussion resulting from the day, and interviews conducted one year after the Design Challenge on enduring lessons from the process.

Proactive Evaluation of PRP Status at Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites

Two keys to avoiding potentially responsible party (PRP) status at future Superfund sites are to manage all waste with appropriate care and to perform appropriate inquiries into the history of new properties prior to acquisition. However, corporations can become PRPs because of their ownership and/or operation of historically contaminated property, their historical waste management practices, or their historical disposal of hazardous substances at nonowned disposal sites, such as landfills. This article describes a method by which insurance companies, waste producers, and property owners can proactively evaluate their potential liability associated with environmental response action costs at contaminated sites.

Toxic urban waste's assault on cardiovascular risk

A cardiovascular health survey of 1203 persons in households located near the hazardous waste disposal sites and in a reference community, was conducted from 2009 until today to assess whether rates of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes were elevated among persons living near the sites. Data included medical records of reported cardiovascular disease certificates and hospital admission for cardiovascular diseases from hospital database. The study areas appeared similar with respect to mortality, cancer incidence, and pregnancy outcomes. In contrast, rate ratios were greater than 1.5 for 2 of 19 reported diseases, i.e., angina pectoris, and strokes. The apparent broad-based elevation in reported diseases and symptoms may reflect increased perception or recall of conditions by respondents living near the sites. Our study found that cardiovascular risk is associated only with PM2.5 concentrations, derived from uncontrolled burning of municipal solid waste in particular sites of our country. Their analysis demonstrated a relationship between increased levels of eventual fine particulate pollution and higher rates of death and complications from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Management of solid waste releases a number of toxic substances, most in small quantities and at extremely low levels. Because of the wide range of pollutants, the different pathways of exposure, long-term low-level exposure, and the potential for synergism among the pollutants, concerns remain about potential health effects but there are many uncertainties involved in the assessment. Future community-based health studies should include medical and psychosocial assessment instruments sufficient to distinguish between changes in health status and effects of resident reporting tendency.

Extricating Membership as a PRP at Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites

Corporations often become potentially responsible parties (PRPs) at hazardous waste sites because of their past transportation or disposal of hazardous substances at such sites. Determining a PRP's potential liability for the assessment and cleanup of hazardous waste sites is a challenging effort and often results in disputes among other PRPs regarding appropriate allocation of response action costs to each party. Further, public companies have an obligation to report probable and reasonably estimable costs under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for environmental liabilities at their current or prior hazardous waste sites. The first step in such an evaluation is to determine whether or not a PRP can extricate themselves from any association with the subject site or, alternatively, demonstrate de minimis status. This article describes the methods by which PRPs can extricate themselves from liability associated with response action costs at contaminated sites, including: evaluating a PRP's prior settlements or indemnifications with other PRPs; identifying insurance coverage or other financial assurance instruments for the disposal facility; and examining applicable statutes of limitations against when a PRP received notification from the regulatory agency. The article also presents a case study discussing how a PRP with a portfolio of 72 hazardous waste disposal sites was able to extricate itself from the majority of these sites, resulting in only four sites where the PRP was determined to be a PRP and where an associated allocable share was assigned. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Environmental justice and equal protection: intent, motivation and cognition in decision-making

This article discusses the relationship between equal protection jurisprudence and environmental justice in the United States, particularly in relation to environmental decision-making on the siting of frequently unwelcome environmental amenities such as hazardous waste disposal sites. The article explores the current mismatch between equal protection jurisprudence and recent discoveries in the behavioural sciences about the nature of human decision-making and the origins of racial and economic bias. It discusses the extent to which these discoveries should and could be incorporated into decision-making related to environmental burdens and the changes that will be necessary to make United States jurisprudence in this area compliant with international norms on human rights as far as discrimination and environmental protection are concerned.

Solubility analysis and disposal options of combustion residues from plants grown on contaminated mining area

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is an excellent alternative for the partial replacement of fossil fuels in thermal and electric energy production. A new fuel type as biomass for energy utilisation includes ligneous plants with considerable heavy metal content. The combustion process must be controlled during the firing of significant quantities of contaminated biomass grown on brownfield lands. By implementing these measures, air pollution and further soil contamination caused by the disposal of the solid burning residue, the ash, can be prevented. For the test samples from ligneous plants grown on heavy metal-contaminated fields, an ore mine (already closed for 25 years) was chosen. With our focus on the determination of the heavy metal content, we have examined the composition of the soil, the biomass and the combustion by-products (ash, fly ash). Our results confirm that ash resulting from the combustion must be treated as toxic waste and its deposition must take place on hazardous waste disposal sites. Biomass of these characteristics can be burnt in special combustion facility that was equipped with means for the disposal of solid burning residues as well as air pollutants.

Potential for Effects of Land Contamination on Human Health. 2. The Case of Waste Disposal Sites

This review of the epidemiological literature shows that evidence for negative impacts of land contaminated by waste disposal on human health is limited. However, the potential for health impacts cannot be dismissed. The link between residence close to hazardous waste disposal sites and heightened levels of stress and anxiety is relatively well established. However, studies on self-reported outcomes generally suffer from interpretational problems, as subjective symptoms may be due to increased perception and recall. Several recent multiple-site studies support a plausible linkage between residence near waste disposal sites and reproductive effects (including congenital anomalies and low birth weight). There is some conflict in the literature investigating links between land contamination and cancers; the evidence for and against a link is equally balanced and is insufficient to make causal inferences. These are difficult to establish because of lack of data on individual exposures, and other socioeconomic and lifestyle factors that may confound a relationship with area of residence. There is no consistently occurring risk for any specific tumor across multiple studies on sites expected to contain similar contaminants. Further insights on health effects of land contamination are likely to be gained from studies that consider exposure pathways and biomarkers of exposure and effect, similar to those deployed with some success in investigating impacts of cadmium on human health.

Removal of silver from aqueous solutions by complexation–ultrafiltration using anionic polyacrylamide

Wastewaters containing silver ions are produced by several sources like metal finishing, electroplating, electronics, hazardous waste disposal sites, galvanic industries, etc. Complexation–ultrafiltration (CUF) is a developing hybrid process for the removal and recovery of heavy metals, even at trace level concentrations, which uses the selectivity of complexing agent and filtration ability of ultrafiltration (UF) membrane. In the present work, separation of silver ions from aqueous solutions by CUF using a novel complexation agent, namely anionic polyacrylamide (average molecular weight >50kDa) and a polyethersulfone UF membrane (molecular weight cut-off: 10kDa) was studied along with the effects of operating parameters on metal ions rejection including fouling behavior of the UF membrane used and decomplexation of silver ions for recovery. The UF experiments were performed on Perma®-pilot plant using synthetic aqueous solutions of metal salt at different applied pressures (4, 5, 6atm), initial metal ions concentration in feed (5, 10, 15, 20, 50ppm), feed pH (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) and polymer-to-metal ions ratio (0.5, 1, 1.5) at a constant feed flow rate of 15L/min. Maximum rejection, close to 100%, of silver ions has been obtained at optimum operating parameters. Kinetics of complexation reaction of metal ions with anionic polyacrylamide (aPAM) was studied in a separate experiment which suggested that about 24min is required for silver ions to reach complexation equilibrium.

Locating hazardous waste treatment facilities and disposal sites in the State of Yucatan, Mexico

In this work, geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were used in order to identify the appropriate location for hazardous waste (HW) treatment facilities and final disposal sites in the State of Yucatan, Mexico. For HW-treatment facilities, in addition to the distance to generators and treatment facilities, geographic conditions of the site, such as vegetation, soil type, accessibility, distance to urban or rural communities, and all the boundary elements as agricultural or livestock areas, were considered in GIS and MCDA. Final disposal was taken into account only for those HW that could not be avoided or treated. In order to find the most suitable areas, the Mexican Official Norm NOM-055-SEMARNAT-2003 criteria were observed too. It was found that the most suitable zones for HW-treatment facilities were at the centre of the State, whereas the most recommended areas for HW final disposal sites were at the south.

Integrating multi-criteria decision analysis for a GIS-based hazardous waste landfill sitting in Kurdistan Province, western Iran

The evaluation of a hazardous waste disposal site is a complicated process because it requires data from diverse social and environmental fields. These data often involve processing of a significant amount of spatial information which can be used by GIS as an important tool for land use suitability analysis. This paper presents a multi-criteria decision analysis alongside with a geospatial analysis for the selection of hazardous waste landfill sites in Kurdistan Province, western Iran. The study employs a two-stage analysis to provide a spatial decision support system for hazardous waste management in a typically under developed region. The purpose of GIS was to perform an initial screening process to eliminate unsuitable land followed by utilization of a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to identify the most suitable sites using the information provided by the regional experts with reference to new chosen criteria. Using 21 exclusionary criteria, as input layers, masked maps were prepared. Creating various intermediate or analysis map layers a final overlay map was obtained representing areas for hazardous waste landfill sites. In order to evaluate different landfill sites produced by the overlaying a landfill suitability index system was developed representing cumulative effects of relative importance (weights) and suitability values of 14 non-exclusionary criteria including several criteria resulting from field observation. Using this suitability index 15 different sites were visited and based on the numerical evaluation provided by MCDA most suitable sites were determined.

Measurement of Solute Diffusion Behavior in Fractured Waste Glass Media

Determination of aqueous diffusion coefficients of solutes through fractured media is essential for understanding and modeling contaminant transport at many hazardous waste disposal sites. Development of experimental methods and measurements for the characterization of diffusion in fractured glass media is necessary for the design and performance assessment of glassified radionuclear waste disposal facilities. We report on the use of time-lag diffusion experimental method to assess the diffusion behavior of three different solutes (Cs, Sr, and pentafluoro benzoic acid) in fractured, immobilized low activity waste (ILAW) glass forms. A fractured media time-lag diffusion experimental apparatus, which allows the measurement of diffusion coefficients, has been designed and built for this purpose. Use of time-lag diffusion method, a considerably easier experimental method than the other available methods, was not previously demonstrated for measuring diffusion in fractured waste glass media. Hydraulic conductivity, porosity, and diffusion coefficients of a solute were experimentally measured in fractured glass blocks using this method for the first time. Results agree with the range of properties reported for similar rock media earlier, indicating that the time-lag experimental method can effectively characterize the diffusion coefficients of fractured ILAW glass media. Data presented are rare and useful for the design of vitrified glass disposal facilities.