18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · December 2015
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; Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes (1989); provincial hazardous waste regulations (e.g. BC's Environmental Management Act and Hazardous Waste Regulation).
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.
A dedicated household hazardous waste (HHW) collection program — permanent municipal depots and/or periodic mobile collection events where residents can drop off paints, solvents, pesticides, batteries, used oil and similar small-quantity hazardous items — is the most effective control, because it diverts these materials at the point of generation, before they are ever mixed into the general municipal solid waste stream where they cannot be practically or cost-effectively sorted back out. In BC and most other Canadian provinces this is increasingly delivered through extended-producer-responsibility (stewardship) programs, which fund dedicated collection depots for specific product categories (paint, batteries, electronics) and pair collection with public education, since program effectiveness depends as much on residents actually using the depot as on the depot's existence.
