18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · May 2014
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Reference texts: Nemerow & Dasgupta, Industrial and Hazardous Waste Treatment, 2nd ed.; Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Resource Recovery, 5th ed.; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering, 6th ed.; LaGrega, Buckingham & Evans, Hazardous Waste Management, 2nd ed.; CCME, Guidelines for the Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada (1992); Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999; provincial Environmental Protection / Hazardous Waste Regulations (e.g. BC's Hazardous Waste Regulation, O.Reg. 347 in Ontario).
All eighteen questions are compulsory on this paper and are answered in full below.
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
Yes. The principal Canadian reference is the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Guidelines for the Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada (1992), developed jointly with Health Canada, which defines the biomedical-waste categories (human anatomical, animal, microbiology/biotechnology laboratory, blood and body-fluid waste, and sharps) and recommends handling, storage, treatment (autoclaving, incineration, chemical disinfection) and disposal practices. The CCME document is a national guideline rather than binding federal law — it is implemented and enforced province-by-province through provincial health-care-waste regulations and, for the sharps/handling side, through CSA standard Z317.10 (Handling of Waste Materials in Health Care Facilities and Veterinary Health Care Facilities), which most provincial regulators and hospital accreditation bodies reference directly.
