18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · December 2016
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); Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regulations on radioactive waste; 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 management starts with segregation at source into categories — sharps, pathological/anatomical, infectious/microbiological, chemotherapy/cytotoxic, and general (non-hazardous) waste — because each category has a different required treatment. Solid biomedical waste (sharps, dressings, contaminated PPE, pathological tissue) must be rendered non-infectious before disposal, typically by autoclaving (steam sterilization) for most infectious solid waste or incineration for pathological/anatomical waste and sharps, after which the residue can go to an ordinary solid-waste landfill; sharps additionally require puncture-resistant containers throughout handling, regardless of the eventual treatment method. Liquid biomedical waste (blood, body fluids, laboratory liquid waste) is generally disinfected (chemical disinfection or heat) rather than landfilled, since it lacks a solid matrix, and the disinfected liquid can then typically be discharged to the sanitary sewer under permit; liquid waste containing chemotherapy agents or other hazardous chemical reagents, however, must instead be managed as hazardous chemical waste (manifested off-site) rather than discharged.
