General definition

A hazardous waste has the potential to

cause an unacceptable risk to:

 PUBLIC HEALTH

 THE ENVIRONMENT

TRP Chapter 2.1 2

 Why definition is difficult

The hazard associated with a waste depends on:

COMPOSITION PHYSICAL FORM

HAZARDOUS WASTE

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
TRP Chapter 2.1 3
Examples of hazardous waste
definitions: Basel Convention

45 categories of wastes that are presumed to be

hazardous.
PLUS …...

These categories of waste need to exhibit one or more

hazardous characteristics:

flammable, oxidising, poisonous, infectious, corrosive,

ecotoxic

TRP Chapter 2.1 4

Examples of hazardous waste
definitions: UNEP

Wastes other than radioactive wastes which,

by reason of their chemical activity or toxic, explosive,
corrosive or other characteristics cause danger or are
likely to cause danger to health or the environment

TRP Chapter 2.1 5

Examples of hazardous waste
definitions: USA
UNDER US EPA REGULATIONS:

1 The waste is listed in EPA regulations

2 The waste is tested and meets one of the four

characteristics established by EPA:
• Ignitable
• Corrosive
• Reactive
• Toxic

3 The waste is declared hazardous by the generator

TRP Chapter 2.1 6
Different methods of classification
Lists eg Basel Convention Annex I, Basel List A, EU
European Waste Catalogue, US EPA list
Origin eg processes, Basel Convention Annex II
Hazardous characteristics eg toxicity, reactivity, Basel
Convention Annex III
Chemical and physical properties eg inorganic, organic,
oily, sludges
• Need to match classification to objectives
• No method will suit all cases

TRP Chapter 2.1 7

Classification
Classification with Respect to Characteristics
Solid waste has to be examined whether it exhibits a
characteristic that makes it hazardous.
All persons who generate a solid waste have to
ascertain whether their wastes exhibit one or more of
the characteristics as follows: Ignitability, Corrosivity,
Reactivity, Toxicity (Hall and others 1993, UNEP 1983,
EPA 1990a).
•Waste streams eg Basel Convention

•Miscellaneous or ubiquitous wastes eg

• contaminated soils
• dusts
• redundant pesticides from agriculture
• hospital wastes

TRP Chapter 2.1 9

The Basel Convention’s List of Hazardous
Waste Categories (Y1-Y18) identifies
wastes from specific processes
eg Y1 Clinical wastes
Y6 Wastes from the production and
use of organic solvents
Y18 Residues from industrial waste
disposal operations

TRP Chapter 2.1 10

Methods of waste classification: by
hazardous characteristics
Main characteristics:
•Toxic •Ignitable
•Corrosive •Reactive

UN Committee on the Transport of Dangerous Goods by

Road or Rail (ADR) lists waste characteristics. These have
been adopted by Basel Convention - Annex III gives 13
characteristics, based on ADR rules, including:
•Explosive
•Flammable
•Toxic and eco-toxic
Represented as codes H1-H13

TRP Chapter 2.1 11

Hazardous characteristics: Toxicity

Toxic wastes are harmful or fatal when ingested,

inhaled or absorbed through the skin

Examples:
•Spent cyanide solutions
•Waste pesticides

TRP Chapter 2.1 12

Hazardous characteristics: Corrosivity

Acids or alkalis that are capable of dissolving human

flesh and corroding metal such as storage tanks
and drums

Examples:
• acids from metals cleaning
processes eg ferric chloride from
printed circuit board
manufacture
• liquor from steel manufacture

TRP Chapter 2.1 13

Hazardous characteristics: Ignitability
Ignitable wastes:
can create fires under certain conditions
or are spontaneously combustible

Examples:
•Waste oils
•Used solvents
•Organic cleaning materials
•Paint wastes

TRP Chapter 2.1 14

 Hazardous characteristics: Reactivity
Reactive wastes are unstable under ‘normal conditions’
They can cause:
explosions
toxic fumes
gases or vapours

Examples:
• Peroxide solutions
• Hypochlorite solutions or solids

TRP Chapter 2.1 15

Eco-toxic wastes are harmful or fatal to other species or to
the ecological integrity of their habitats

Examples:
• Heavy metals
• Detergents
• Oils
• Soluble salts

TRP Chapter 2.1 16

Methods of waste classification:
by chemical, biological and physical
properties
Inorganic wastes eg acids, alkalis, heavy metals,
cyanides, wastewaters from electroplating

Organic wastes eg pesticides, halogenated and non-

halogenated solvents, PCBs

Oily wastes eg lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids,

contaminted fuel oils

Sludges eg from metal working, painting, wastewater

treatment

TRP Chapter 2.1 17

 Exclusions from control systems

Some wastes may be excluded from the legal definition of

hazardous wastes, and thus not subject to controls. These
vary, but may include:
Hazardous waste from households - outside the controls in
many countries
Small quantity generators - often placed outside the system,
at least initially
Aqueous effluents discharged to sewer or treated on-site -
controlled separately from hazardous wastes in most countries
Sewage sludge - excluded in some countries
Mining wastes - often excluded
Agricultural waste - often excluded
Nuclear waste - always excluded

TRP Chapter 2.1 18

Ignitability
The hazardous waste characteristic of ignitability was
established to identify solid wastes capable during
routine handling of causing a fire, or provoking a fire
once started.
A solid waste is deemed to exhibit the characteristics of
ignitability if meets one of the four descriptions.
It is determined using the test method specified in
ASTM Standard D-93- 79 or ASTM Standard D-3278
(EP A 1990a, DEPE 1992, Meyer 1989).
Corrosivity
Corrosive substances may exhibit extremes of acidity or
basicity or a tendency to corrode steel.
Wastes capable of corroding metal could escape their
own containers and liberate other wastes.
In addition, wastes with a pH at either the high or low
end of the scale can harm human tissue and aquatic life
and may react dangerously with other wastes.
It is determined using the test method specified in EP A
600/ 4- 79-020.
 Reactivity
Reactive substances are those, which are extremely
unstable and have a tendency to undergo violent
chemical change or explode during stages of its
management.
The regulation lists several situations where this may
happen which guarantee specific consideration like the
behavior of the substance when mixed with water, when
heated etc.
 Instead of developing a precise scientific description of
this characteristic, EPA has publicized a descriptive,
prose definition as a suitable test protocols for
measuring reactivity are unavailable (EPA 1990a,
1990b, Meyer 1989).
 Toxicity
One of the most significant dangers posed by hazardous
wastes is the leaching of toxic constituents (of land
disposed wastes) into the ground water (Christensen
1971, EPA 1981).
EPA designed the (Toxicity Characteristic) TC Toxicity,
to identify wastes that pose a threat to human health or
the environment resulting from ground water
contamination by simulating the leaching process that
occurs in a municipal landfill.
EP A treats mixtures of a characteristic hazardous
waste and a solid waste differently than it does a
mixture of a listed hazardous and solid waste.

Toxicity can be determined by fish bioassay tests.

Toxicity value defined by LC50
Acute Hazard
The acute hazard posed by the waste may be
expressed in terms of
oral,
inhalation or dermal toxicity,
 flashpoint,
explosivity,
concentration of known corrosive species, etc.
 Physical characteristics, such as vapor pressure and
boiling point, may be important.
To avoid dangerous interactions with co-
deposited materials, highly reactive materials,

e.g. powerful oxidants, should also be considered.

However, unless toxicity tests are performed on

the waste itself, acute hazards posed by the waste
can only be predicted by the hazards of its
components.
 Long-term Hazard

The long-term hazard posed by the waste will depend

upon the chosen disposal route.
For example, such properties as volatility, water
solubility and solubility in organic chemicals will
influence the mobility of wastes deposited in landfill.
The persistence of a particular material will depend
upon its vulnerabİ1İty to various natural breakdown
mechanisms like microbiological, photochemical,
oxidation/reduction, etc.
The toxicity of a deposited material and its metabolites
and organoleptic factors, such as taste and smell, are
relevant.
Chemical classification
Based on functional groups.

 Alcohols
 Phenols
 Ethers
 Cyclic ethers
 Aldehydes
 Ketones
 Carboxylic acids
 Esters
 Pthalates
 Halogenated compounds
 Sulfur compounds
 Nitrogen compounds
Among these some ethers are Hazardous waste
-These compounds contain an - O – atom bridge between
two hydrogen moieties (major portions of a molecule)
- e.g. Diethyl ether H H H H

* used as anesthetic, solvent. H C C O C C H

* it is ignitable H H H H

-It can occur in cyclic form ethylene oxide Diethyl ether

*used in manufacture of ethylene glycol

* it is ignitable and toxic

O
Ethylene oxide
Halogenated ethers:
These are carcinogens
E.g. 2-chloro ethyl vinyl ether
H H H H

Cl C C O C C

H H H

 Ethers have tendency to form highly explosive peroxides which

make them hazardous H H

 E.g.Di iso propyl ether H C H H C H

 form peroxides. H C O O C H

H C H H C H

H H

Di-isopropyl ether Peroxide

Phthalates
e.g. dimethyl phthalate
*used as plasticizers to improve the
properties of plastics and are common water
Pollutants.
O

C CH3
O

O
C CH3

O
Phenols:
*-OH bounded to aryl moiety.
*Used in industries and are produced as by-
products of pyrolysis of coal.

OH

Phenols
Nitrogen containing
compounds
Amines,Nitro comp,Nitriles, Nitrosoamines.
Amines:
Amines consists of hetero cyclic N2 compounds in
which N atom is a part of an aromatic ring structure.
Di-methyl amine is ignitable
H

N
CH3 CH3
N

Pyridine Amines
Nitro compound:
*NO2 group bounded to HC moiety.
*e.g. TNT CH3

O2 N NO2

NO2

Nitriles: Nitro group

* Nitrile contain the C N group

*ignitable & toxic .e.g. Acetonitrile

H3C C N
Nitrosamines:
-group
-e.g. N-ethyl-N nitroso-N-butylamine.
N N O -These are carcinogens.

H H H H H H

H C C N C C C C H

H H N H H H H

Nitrolamines
Sulfur compounds:
*strong unpleasant odors
*may bound to organic compound as –SH ,
-S- or –S-S- bridging between organic moieties,
as part of a cyclic structure involving a ring of C
atoms (heterocyclic sulfur)and as the 2HC S

H H H

H C SH H C S C H

H H H

Methyl mercaptan
Dimethyl mercaptan
 H H

H C C H

S H N N H

C
Diphenyl sulfide
S

Ethylene thio urea

AROMATIC COMPOUNDS

These contain pi bonded, 6- carbon ring

Poly nuclear aromatic carbons (PNA)
contains condensed aromatic rings. These
are carcinogenic. e.g. Benzola- Pyrene

Poly Nuclear aromatic carbon

Halogenated hydrocarbon HHC
Hydrocarbon bonded to one or more halogens
like F,Cl,Br,I
HHC used as solvents-degreasing (tetrachloro
ethylene) CCl4,CHF3.
The spent solvents & sludges (HW).
Used in synthesis of pesticides, polymers. Tetra
fluoroethenepoly tetra fluoro ethane(teflon)
Vinyl chloride polymerised to form PVC.
POLY CHLORINATED BI PHEYNLS: (PCB)
separate class of chlorinated HC persistent in
environment
Water pollutants consists of 1 to 10 Cl atom
bonded to 2 benzene ring biphenyl group.

Cl 10