18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · May 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.
Biomedical waste is generated wherever human or animal diagnosis, treatment, or biomedical research occurs. (1) Hospitals and acute-care facilities — the largest single generator category, producing sharps, anatomical waste, blood/body-fluid-contaminated materials and laboratory waste across surgical, emergency and inpatient services. (2) Medical and diagnostic clinics and laboratories — including doctors' and dentists' offices, blood-collection and diagnostic-testing labs, which generate sharps and specimen waste in smaller volumes but at a much larger number of individual sites. (3) Veterinary clinics and animal hospitals — generating an equivalent range of biomedical waste from animal diagnosis and treatment. (4) Biomedical and pharmaceutical research institutions — universities and private laboratories working with biological agents, cultures and animal research subjects. (5) Long-term care and dialysis facilities — generating sharps (insulin needles) and, for dialysis, blood-contaminated tubing and filters, in ongoing, high-volume outpatient settings. (6) Funeral homes and mortuary services — generating waste from embalming and body-preparation procedures.
