Notes

Outline

Current Disposal Methods For Infectious Waste ... (Hospitals, Doctors, Dentists & Clinics). Incineration - Destroys the infectious organisms.  Bulk of the waste is still present.  Requires additional disposal of hazardous ash to a hazardous waste landfill. Grinding/Microwave - Destroys the infectious organisms.  Bulk of the waste is still present and requires disposal to a landfill -    little volume reduction. Autoclave/Steam Sterilization - Destroys the infectious organisms.  Weight and volume may be increased.  Requires  disposal to a landfill. Chemical Disinfecting - Destroys the infectious organisms.  Weight and volume may be increased.  Waste and contaminated chemicals require disposal to a landfill. These Processes do not eliminate the waste ... Waste is treated, making it unrecognizable & landfilled ...

According to the EPA, incinerators are considered to be         the largest source of dioxins in industrialized countries

Current Disposal Methods (Continued) For Special, Non-Hazardous & Hazardous Waste ... Incineration (usually solid waste) - The bulk of the waste    is still present after burning (combustion).  Requires disposal of hazardous ash to a hazardous waste landfill. All incinerators produce dioxins (super poisons) - Dioxin’s toxicity,  gram-for-gram, is as potent a carcinogen as plutonium (Pu 239) ... Hospital incinerators can produce up to 1,000 times more dioxins  than a municipal or a hazardous waste incinerator ... Most incinerators will produce an average of 600 pounds of hazardous ash from every 2,000 pounds of waste it burns … The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that ash from municipal solid waste incinerators has to be regulated as a hazardous waste ... All incinerator ash “retains toxicity” - FOREVER!

Cement kilns produce dioxins and usually required to dispose of ash residues in highly regulated landfills

Current Disposal Methods (Continued) For Special, Non-Hazardous & Hazardous Waste .. Cement Kilns (usually liquid waste) - Are expensive incinerators, and major polluters, that use cut throat pricing tactics       in competition with other incinerators .. Not designed or built to operated as waste dispose facilities. Are listed as the second highest source of dioxin in the U.S. .. Loopholes in current regulations allow processing of high-BTU           hazardous waste … EPA is set to make standards even more stringent. Cement products are now contaminated with heavy metals & dioxins .. All cement kilns emit: higher levels of harmful particulate matter. higher levels of carbon monoxide. higher levels of nitrogen oxides. higher volumes of heavy metals. higher concentrations of dioxins, furans, and PCBs. higher amounts of all acid gases such as hydrogen chloride. high stack opacity.

Communities spend millions of dollars to manage existing landfills - It’s a hazard for the employees as well as the community

Communities spend millions of dollars to build new landfills - Just to store their toxic waste

Current Disposal Methods (Continued) For Special, Non-Hazardous & Hazardous Waste (con’t). Landfills - When most waste streams, or ash from any    incinerator are disposed of in a landfill - it is a disaster waiting              to happen, perhaps even a future EPA superfund site …   All landfills leach into the ground water - much sooner than anticipated ... Even those with the best available liners, such as: synthetic, polymer,  plastic, concrete, etc.   All ash contains concentrated levels of toxic metals ... lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, arsenic, etc.   All landfills leak harmful toxic air emissions into the air for decades ... Benzene, toluene, xylene, vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, MEK, MIBK, hexane, chloroform, ethyl benzene, methylene chloride, etc.    The Real Problem is Stored for Future Generations …      No existing or competing technology destroys                             non-hazardous or hazardous waste as the robust process         of HI’s & PEAT’s patented plasma process …  None ...

Communities spend millions of dollars to secure and maintain landfills - for many decades after they are closed

Landfills may seem out-of-sight, out-of-mind, but are they?  Contaminated ground water travels for miles underground