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18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · December 2017

Question 10 of 28: Properties of a Hazardous Waste

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

Notes on this paper

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 10: Properties of a Hazardous Waste (4 marks)

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.

Regulatory hazardous-waste characterization (the RCRA framework, mirrored by Canadian federal/provincial hazardous-waste regulations under CEPA and provincial Environmental Management Acts) defines a waste as hazardous if it exhibits one or more of four characteristic properties:

  1. Ignitability — a liquid with flash point < 60°C (140°F), or a solid capable of spontaneous/sustained combustion, or an oxidizer/compressed ignitable gas.
  2. Corrosivity — aqueous waste with pH ≤ 2 or ≥ 12.5, or a liquid that corrodes steel at a specified rate.
  3. Reactivity — unstable, reacts violently with water, generates toxic gas when mixed with water or acid, or is capable of detonation.
  4. Toxicity — exceeds a regulatory threshold on a standardized leaching test (e.g. the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure, TCLP) for a listed contaminant (heavy metals, certain organics).