18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · May 2017
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; Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regulations on radioactive waste under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act; 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.
The most effective way is source separation through a dedicated household hazardous waste (HHW) collection program — permanent depots and/or periodic collection events that are convenient and well publicized, so residents divert hazardous items (paints, solvents, pesticides, batteries, electronics) from the regular garbage stream before it is ever collected as municipal solid waste. Because these items enter the MSW stream in small quantities from a very large number of individually-uncontrollable sources (households), no downstream sorting or treatment technology can reliably remove them once mixed into the general waste stream; prevention at the point of generation is inherently more effective and safer than attempting to sort them out afterward.
