Fig. 11.4. Method of landfilling (Barótfi 2000)

11.3.2. 11.3.2. Industrial Solid Waste

The methods employed in the disposal of industrial solid waste are broadly the same as those used to dispose of MSW and comprise open dumping, land filling (both semi-engineered and sanitary landfilling) and incineration. In many countries non-hazardous industrial solid waste is accepted at either open dumps or landfills along with municipal solid waste (although where facilities are available potentially hazardous industrial solid waste is disposed of either in secure landfills or is incinerated).  In those developing countries with few waste management facilities, industrial waste is often dumped on private land or is buried in dump pits within or adjacent to the site of the industrial facility from which it has emanated.

11.3.3. 11.3.3. Agricultural Waste and Residues

In most traditional, sedentary agricultural systems, farmers use the land application of raw or composted agricultural wastes as a means of recycling of valuable nutrients and organics back into the soil and this remains the most widespread means of disposal. Many countries with agricultural-based economies use agricultural wastes to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion.  The biogas (approximately 60 per cent methane) is primarily used directly for cooking, heating and lighting, whilst the slurry from the anaerobic digesters is used as liquid fertiliser, a feed supplement for cattle and pigs and as a medium for soaking seeds prior to germination.

In some countries progress has been made on methods for detoxification of hazardous waste and subsequent immobilization by fabrication into bricks and other usable materials.

In Thailand, a major programme of hazardous waste management is underway along the Eastern Seaboard where petrochemical, chemical and non-ferrous industries produce some 250 000 to 300 000 tonnes of commercially viable hazardous industrial waste each year. A hazardous waste treatment plant, managed by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, has been established at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, a focal point of the country’s petrochemical and chemical industries. Recycling and material recovery are encouraged to reduce the net amount of wastes requiring treatment and disposal and purpose-build landfills have been developed to receive hazardous waste.

11.3.4. 11.3.4. Wastewaters, mud waste

Wastewateris any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. Municipal wastewater is usually conveyed in a combined sewer or sanitary sewer, and treated at a wastewater treatment plant or septic tank. Treated wastewater is discharged into a receiving water via an effluent sewer.

Sewage is the subset of wastewater that is contaminated with feces or urine, but is often used to mean any wastewater. Sewage includes domestic, municipal, or industrial liquid waste products disposed of, usually via a pipe or sewer (sanitary or combined), sometimes in a cesspool emptier.

Sewerage is the physical infrastructure, including pipes, pumps, screens, channels etc. used to convey sewage from its origin to the point of eventual treatment or disposal. It is found in all types of sewage treatment, with the exception of septic systems, which treat sewage on-site.

11.3.5. 11.3.5. Radioactive Waste

Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is hazardous to most forms of life and the environment, and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment.

Radioactivity diminishes over time, so waste is typically isolated and stored for a period of time until it no longer poses a hazard. The period of time waste must be stored depends on the type of waste. Low-level waste with low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume (such as some common medical or industrial radioactive wastes) may need to be stored for only hours or days while high-level wastes (such as spent nuclear fuel or by-products of nuclear reprocessing) must be stored for a year or more. Current major approaches to managing radioactive waste have been segregation and storage for short-lived wastes, near-surface disposal for low and some intermediate level wastes, and deep burial or transmutation for the high-level wastes. When dealing with long-term radioactive waste management solutions, the time frames in question range from 10,000 to millions of years.

A summary of the amounts of radioactive wastes and management approaches for most developed countries are presented and reviewed periodically as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

11.4. 11.4. Environmental effects of waste depositions

Landfilling waste takes up land space and releases toxic chemicals into the environment if the landfill isn't properly lined. The lining of a landfill generally consists of a base of clay, a polyvinyl chloride membrane and a drainage layer such as gravel. If the landfill isn't properly lined, waste that is supposed to decompose frequently doesn't and will release methane into the atmosphere, waste resources and create an eye sore for years. Some landfills capture the methane and turn it into energy.

The main environmental impacts are the emissions of landfill gas usually. It leachate owing to a complex sequence of biological and chemical reactions that occur within the solid waste matrix in a landfill. Pollutants found in leachate released into the subsurface include organic contaminants, which are soluble refuse components of decomposition products of biodegradable fractions of MSW, and a variety of heavy metals. In addition to these environmental impacts, many social impacts such as loss in property values, traffic congestion and health problems are caused by the present practices.

11.5. 11.5. Requirements of establishment waste deposition

The deposition of urban wastes is a technological process that can negatively influenced the environment quality. In the context of sustainable development, the waste management plays an important role, waste deposition being not only a potential pollution source but also an important source of raw secondary materials and energy. The environment quality (air, water, soil) into the urban waste deposition area must be monitorized. Also, the evaluation of environmental impact generated into the urban waste landfill must be quantified using an adequate evaluation method. The following standards shall apply to the establishment, maintenance, and operation of solid waste disposal sites (landfill sites) within the country.

- No city, district, sector, cell, public/private or municipal corporation shall acquire and operate, or cause to be acquired and operated, a dump or site for the disposal of garbage or refuse, or a transfer station or collection point for garbage or refuse, within the country without the consent of the Regulatory Agency

- The technical design of the landfill shall meet the standards required by the Regulatory Agency (RURA) to ensure that the operation of the facility does not cause an adverse effect or give rise to a significant risk of a potential adverse effect occurring.

- These directions do not exempt the registered person from any other relevant legislation. Proof of exemption must be submitted to the Regulatory Agency

- If the Site is an existing Site and not zoned for waste disposal, and if consent cannot be provided by the Regulatory Agency for waste to be disposed on the Site, the registered person must within a period of 60 days following the application for registration, apply for the rezoning of the Site for waste disposal purposes.

- The registered person must take all measures to ensure that no hazardous, medical and scheduled pharmaceutical products waste is disposedof on the Site

1. The location of the landfill should not give rise to any adverse effects or a significant risk of any adverse effects occurring.

2. Solid waste landfills shall meet the following minimum technical location standards:

- The bottom of the landfill shall be at least 3 meters above the seasonal high ground water level;

- The maximum height of the Site above ground level must not exceed three (3)

meters.

- The edge of the landfill shall be not closer than sixty (60) meters to a surface water body and hundred (100) meters upstream from apublic water supply well;

- The landfill shall not be located in aquifer recharge areas or public water supply catchment areas unless there are no other feasible alternatives, in which case the landfills shall be lined with appropriate material and subject to additional water quality monitoring.

3. All new landfill sites shall meet the following criteria:

- The site shall not be closer than three thousand (3,000) meters from an airport, airfield or site reserved for the construction of an airport or airfield;

- The site shall be located and operated in such a manner that it does not create significant negative impacts on flora and fauna on adjoining land;

- The site shall not be closer than four hundred (400) meters from an existing residential development;

- The edge of the landfill shall not be closer than hundred (100) meters from an area to which the public have access, a national park, protected area or an area having national historical or archaeological significance;

- There must be a buffer area around the landfill of at least twenty (20) meters to allow provision for visual screening from adjoining properties.

- Landfill access roads shall be located and constructed so as to have a minimum impact on adjacent residents.

The following are the provisions that are designed to improve landfill safety and provide operational flexibility:

- All new phases of landfills should be constructed with double composite liner systems. This type of liner provides secondary containment for leachate and, through a collection system installed between liner layers, detects leakage before it enters the groundwater underneath the landfill. Double liners may not be required where a landfill is expanding vertically over an area that is already lined, depending on the type and quality of the existing liner, the type of waste that will be placed in the expanded area, and the length of time that the expanded area will be used. While designing a landfill, should be a point of compliance for groundwater standards, one hundred and fifty (150) meters from the edge of the system designed to control waste or the property line (whichever isless). Groundwater contamination from a landfill that extends beyond the point of compliance must be assessed and remediated (if necessary).

- Landfills will be allowed to recirculate leachate at landfills with double liners. This speed up the decomposition of a landfill and allow it to stabilize over a shorter time period than would be needed if leachate is discharged to a wastewater management system.

11.6. Presentation

For more information on this chapter see the presentation below

Presentation

11.7. Self-checking tests

1 Describe the definition of waste and name the different sorts of it! 2 What methods have to follow to reduce the quantity of the municipal solid waste (MSW)? 3 Describe the environmental effects of waste production! 4 Explain the environmental effects of the landfills!

12. 12. Environmental geological facilities of Hungary, sensibility and hereditary dishease of the geographical units

Hungaryis situated in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe. The country lies between latitudes 45° and 49° N, and longitudes 16° and 23° E.

12.1. 12.1. Environmental geological facilities of Hungary