Hazardous Waste 3 11In Minnesota, for example, the problem of household hazardous wastes are being
handled in permanent, regional collection centers, replacing once-a-day drop-off pro-
grams common throughout the United States (Ailbmann 1991). Storage, landfilling in
particular, is at best a last resort measure for hazardous waste handling.
PROBLEMS15.1 Assume you are an engineer working for a hazardous waste processing firm.
Your vice president thinks it would be profitable to locate a new regional facility
near the state capitol. Given what you know about that region, rank the factors that
distinguish a good site from a bad site. Discuss the reasons for this ranking; i.e., why, for
example, are hydrologic considerations more critical in that region than, for example,
the geology.
15.2 You are a town engineer just informed of a chemical spill on Main Street.
Sequence your responses. List and describe the actions your town should take for the
next 48 hours if the spill is relatively small (100-500 gal) and is corhned to a small
plot of land.
15.3 The manifest system, through which hazardous waste must be tracked from
generator to disposal site, is expensive for industry. Make these assumptions about a
simple electroplating operation: 50 barrels of a waste per day, 1 “trip ticket” per barrel,
$25/h labor charge. Assume the generator’s technician can identify the contents of each
barrel at no additional time or cost to the company because she routinely has done that
for years anyway. What is the cost to the generator in person-hours and dollars to
comply with the manifest system shown in Fig. 15-l? Document assumptions about
the time required to complete each step of each trip ticket.
15.4 Compare and contrast the design considerations of the hazardous waste
landfill with the design considerations of a conventional municipal refuse landfill.
15.5 As town engineer, design a system to detect and stop the movement of
hazardous wastes into your municipal refuse landfill.