Waste disposal is getting more complex. Gone are the days of simply throwing items away, never to be thought about again. These days, waste—especially regulated waste—is taking up more time in managers’ heads than ever before because it is just so difficult—and costly—to efficiently dispose of.
Luckily, however, there are technologies, methodologies, and systems that enable large-scale and sustainable waste disposal—while reducing operational headaches. This was the core of my waste discussion at the recent Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) conference; read on to learn about some of the key takeaways of my talk.
1. Regulated waste volumes are increasing—but disposal options are limited and costs are prohibitive (and rising!)
While regulated waste amounts continue to grow and grow, disposal capacity remains inadequate and fixed at current limits—and disposal costs continue to rise.
Conventional regulated waste disposal involves only incineration or landfilling. Hazardous wastes in liquid, solid, and aerosol forms are incinerated and turned into ash, which is ultimately disposed of into a hazardous waste landfill—while non-hazardous wastes go directly to the landfill. Some hazardous wastes require special treatment before they are landfilled, which requires:
- Stabilization and deactivation
- Chemical oxidation/reduction
- Microencapsulation
These processes come with a host of problems:
- Emissions are released. This can be controlled, but solutions are complex and may require:
- Air scrubbers
- Air pollution control devices
- Title V Clean Air Act (CAA) permitting/approvals
- Leachates can seep into the surrounding environment. Mitigation involves:
- Monitoring
- Engineering standards for landfill-lining mechanisms
- Community threats, which provoke public response and activism. These threats can be things such as:
- Proximity to hazardous waste
- Odor
- Visible pollution/contamination
- Environmental incidents such as spills, contamination of residential areas, and more
The scale of these waste generation problems continues to grow even as the waste streams diversify—and these problems extend to contaminated lab plastics and biological waste, as more and more biotech organizations and R&D facilities are increasing their product needs and waste output.
Currently, federally-regulated hazardous wastes are all treated the same. Hazardous chemicals, infected biologicals, and other similar substances, however, are treated very differently from state to state. Strict adherence to complex regulations is required, and includes considerations for lab set up and storage as well as just disposal.
This can mean it is near impossible to find a compliant way to dispose of regulated wastes except by sending it to the landfill. Increased volumes of hazardous waste and infectious biological waste increases the volume of these wastes in specific landfills, clogging up various treatment technologies and creating an elimination bottleneck.
Regulated lab and hazardous wastes are also particularly expensive to dispose of—second only to hazardous waste. In fact, companies today pay 5-10 times more on average for regulated waste disposal than for traditional waste disposal; the yearly disposal cost of the United States’ regulated medical waste (RMW) exceeds $1 trillion! These cost increases are expected to continue.
All of this doesn’t even factor in that disposal vendors are consolidating—meaning the smaller pool of owners has increased disposal pricing leverage.
2. Today, advanced technology enables increased disposal solutions—many of which are environmentally sustainable—even for contaminated plastics and biological waste.
Creative, holistic waste disposal solutions are emerging—ones that look at waste from materials procurement and sourcing through and beyond end disposal. These innovative approaches can help solve some of the growing disposal challenges, while simultaneously supporting sustainability goals. In this disposal path, waste can now be repurposed or recycled—or landfilled, but with tangible environmental results. Depending on the type and mix of hazardous or regulated wastes, it can be:
- Recycled: Certain regulated lab wastes can be processed in specialized systems for reuse.
- Fuel Blended: Hazardous solvent wastes can be combined, cleaned, and turned into a usable and high-BTU fuel.
- Disposed of in a Waste-to-Energy system that uses incineration to generate useable energy for other processes, ultimately reducing consumption of other fuels.
There is no way to divert all waste from incineration and/or landfilling—but many wastes can be recycled or reused. It is crucial to determine which wastes fall into which category to maximize sustainable disposal. There more we know about expected organizational waste generation and greener, alternative disposal avenues, the more we can salvage or repurpose.
3. Triumvirate Environmental offers plastic recycling with Plastics4PurposeTM, fuel blending, waste-to-energy, universal waste recycling, and more. We can also help you analyze and classify your waste streams, ensuring each waste type is disposed of in the most sustainable—and best possible—way.
Truly, we have sustainable solutions for almost all of your challenging wastes.
We disinfect regulated lab waste and use a 6-step process to turn this into clean, durable, plastic lumber that can support any number of applications. This contributes to a circular economy and limits waste sent to the landfill. Also, since there is no process change, it enables comparable—or even better—stable waste disposal pricing. There are also potential cost savings from using our reusable waste containers for regulated waste disposal. This solution is innovative, safe, and stress-free—and enables you to meet organizational sustainability goals and control disposal costs. Our fuel blending process offers a number of identical benefits—hazardous solvent waste is combined and filtered to create a fuel that can then be entered back into the system.
Allow us to help you reach your sustainable waste disposal goals. Contact us today to learn more!
