Hazardous Wastes
What are hazardous wastes?
Hazardous wastes are those waste products that could pose short-or long-term danger to personal health or the environment if they are not properly disposed of or managed. These wastes can be produced by large business and industries (such as chemical and manufacturing plants), by some small businesses (such as drycleaners and printing plants), and by individuals who improperly apply, store, or dispose of compounds that contain potentially toxic ingredients (which can be found in chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and household products).
Concentrations of hazardous wastes occur in the environment when these wastes are handled, managed, or disposed of in a careless or unregulated manner. For many decades, hazardous industrial wastes were improperly disposed of on land, and their toxic components remained in the earth or seeped into ground water and drinking water supplies. The widespread use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals also has resulted in the seepage and run- off of toxic compounds into land and water supplies. In addition, EPA estimates that as many as two million of the more than five million underground storage tanks in the United States may be leaking—discharging gasoline, petroleum products, and other hazardous liquids into the soil and, potentially, into ground water sources.
What is being done to locate and clean up hazardous waste sites?
During the past 20 years, the U.S. Congress has enacted a body of interlocking laws and regulatory procedures aimed at the abatement of environmental hazards. The Superfund Act was enacted in 1980 (and amended in 1986) to provide more than $10 billion for the detection and cleanup of sites where hazardous waste is a problem.
The revenue for Superfund is raised through taxes on petrochemical companies and other manufacturers. Under the law, the EPA, other federal agencies, and individual states may draw the necessary funds to allow them to react in hazardous waste emergency situations and to conduct long- term, permanent cleanups of hazardous waste sites.
How can I determine if a home is affected by a hazardous waste site?
Generally, testing for hazardous waste involves skills and technology not available to the average homeowner or home remodeling contractor.
The EPA has identified more than 30,000 potentially contaminated waste sites nationwide and has completed a preliminary assessment of more than 27,000 of these sites. The Agency publishes a National Priorities List of sites that will require action through the Superfund.
Sites suspected of containing hazardous wastes are mapped at the time of the EPA preliminary assessment and communities likely to be affected by the site are notified. Thus, the nearest regional office of the EPA should have information on the location and status of local hazardous waste sites. The addresses and telephone numbers of these regional offices are listed in the back of this publication.
Furthermore, local and state governments maintain offices and agencies for locating and managing hazardous waste sites, which are often good sources for current information about the location and possible effects of these sites.
What are the primary health hazards associated with hazardous wastes?
The specific health hazards in homes contaminated by hazardous wastes are determined by the kinds and amounts of toxic substances present. Some hazardous wastes can cause death even when ingested in small amounts. Other hazardous wastes have been linked to elevated risks of cancer, permanent damage to internal body organs, respiratory difficulties, skin rashes, birth defects, and diseases that attack the central nervous system.
Can hazardous waste concentrations be removed from my property or reduced to non-hazardous levels?
The ability to remove or mitigate hazardous wastes will depend of the kinds, amounts, and sources of the wastes that are present. Generally, the removal of hazardous wastes from a property is beyond the capability of an individual homeowner.
You also may contact your state-specific indoor environments resources by clicking the following link State and Regional Contact Information http://www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html .
RESOURCES
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides.
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration: Hazardous Waste
This page provides a comprehensive guide to information regarding hazardous waste operations.
Learner.org: Garbage: How Can My Community Reduce Waste?
Where does hazardous waste come from? You may be surprised to find out that it’s not just an industrial problem. Many sources of hazardous waste can be found in your own home.
CLU-IN: Hazardous Waste Clean-Up Information
The Hazardous Waste Clean-Up Information (CLU-IN) Web Site provides information about innovative treatment and site characterization technologies to the hazardous waste remediation community. It describes programs, organizations, publications, and other tools for federal and state personnel, consulting engineers, technology developers and vendors, remediation contractors, researchers, community groups, and individual citizens. The site was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) but is intended as a forum for all waste remediation stakeholders.
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) section 104 (i), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), requires ATSDR and the EPA to prepare a list, in order of priority, of substances that are most commonly found at facilities on the National Priorities List (NPL) and which are determined to pose the most significant potential threat to human health due to their known or suspected toxicity and potential for human exposure at these NPL sites. CERCLA also requires this list to be revised periodically to reflect additional information on hazardous substances.
World Health Organization: Wastes from Health-Care Activities
Health-care activities - for instance, immunizations, diagnostic tests, medical treatments, and laboratory examinations - protect and restore health and save lives. But what about the wastes and by-products they generate?