Hazardous Waste Transportation - Term Paper Example

Hazardous Waste Transportation Introduction         Everyone and almost every thing in the world produce waste from the daily activities that humansget involved in. These are natural by-products of all the processes of life and living. According to the RCRA Regulatory compliance Guide, some of these materials are considered to be hazardous because they “are dangerous to handle, or to dispose of, and may cause death, illness, or a hazard to health or the environment” (Dennison 25). The negative consequences of these materials are increasing and worsening. The current global warming and climate change are only a few of its dreadful effects. In the anticipation of such events, the United States government made the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976. Today, the act is being implemented under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA); and mandates specific rules and regulations regarding the management of these materials. This paper would focus on the hazardous waste transportation as one of the important aspects of the act’s proposed “cradle-to-grave” program. This would start with knowing what the hazardous wastes are, why there is a need of properly transporting it, what are the specific provisions indicated in the RCRA on transporting these materials, its process and the people, or organizations involved. Hazardous Wastes: Getting to Know Them         There are four main things that deem wastes as hazardous. They are hazardous if they are toxic, can catch or readily start a fire, have high reactivity level when combined with other products, or are corrosive (Kovacs 71). The RCRA specifically defined these wastes under solid waste; although it can also include any form of matter. They are “any garbage, refuse, sludge or other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities” (Teets, Reis, and Worrell 21). Any of the materials that contain carcinogenic [can cause cancer], mutagenic [can induce mutation], or teratogenic [can cause malformation or even death to a fetus] elements are considered toxic. Corrosive substances “include inorganic acid and bases that have the ability to damage or destroy material and living tissue by direct chemical action.” Reactive materials, on the other hand, are those that readily react if combined with other products and “can cause burns, poisoning, fire or explosion” while flammable materials “include combustible liquids, flammable solids, flammable gases, hydrocarbons and solvents with low flash points and have easy ignition affinity” (Ekosse 446-7). Transporting Hazardous Wastes Properly: A Need         The hazardous waste management of the RCRA takes a cradle to grave program of regulatory processes which includes generation, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal; and the keen record keeping and reporting of the activities involved in these steps (Dennison 43). Every step must be monitored to control and ensure that lesser amount of these hazardous materials, if not none, will be released to the environment during each step. Hence, although proper disposal is the ultimate goal in regulating the negative effects of these materials to the environment, it is equally important to pay significant attention in properly transporting them from the generator to the disposal sites and through all the processes in between. Some Facts about U.S. Hazardous Waste Transportation         The United States is currently the leading generator of hazardous wastes in the world. According to the USEPA (qtd. in Pitchel 427), the country transported 8.1 million tons of hazardous waste in the year 1999. More than sixty percent of these wastes were exported from one state to another. This part shows that there had been an increase of about 30% or 1.3 million tons of the exported wastes from 1997 to 1999 (Pitchel 427). In the year 1993, Pitchel also noted that there were almost 21 thousand transporters that the RCRA via the USEPA gave license to in moving these wastes. After a few years, this number started to decrease despite the increase in the number of hazardous waste generators. Although there are generators who are able to transport and handle their wastes properly to the disposal sites, the discrepancy in the number poses an arising dilemma in the hazardous waste management. RCRA and DOT: Regulators of Hazardous Waste Transportation         As it has been mentioned earlier, the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is the designated administrator of the RCRA in all the processes of the hazardous waste management including transportation. In EHSO.com, it is said that the USEPA applies the RCRA laws relative to the “requirements of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA) and any statutes promulgated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) pursuant to HMTA” (“Commercial”). Simply, the Environment, Health and Safety Online site notes that the USEPA must ensure that specific hazardous waste management will be applied in reference to the regulatory activities of the DOT “on labeling, marking, placarding, using proper containers, and reporting discharges” in the transportation of the materials.         The rules and regulations promulgated by these agencies are applicable to the rest of the federal states of America. However, the states have the right to create own laws and provisions regarding hazardous waste management so long as they are in line with the decrees pointed out postulated by the USEPA and the DOT. In as much as inconsistencies will be discovered, the federal agencies are always entitled to wholly reclaim the control over the transportation of these hazardous wastes whether it may include intra or interstate dealings. Modes of Hazardous Waste Transportation         Although there are several ways to dispose hazardous wastes, one of which do not need transporting as the wastes are immediately disposed at the site where they were generated (Liu and Liptak 46); the rest of these materials are transported to disposal sites through cargo tanks, rails, vessels and even aircrafts as the process of transportation include air, highway, and water transportation as described in the RCRA. These transporters, furthermore, fall into the following categories (Pitchel 248): Generators transporting their wastes to a TSDF or Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility Contract haulers collecting wastes from generators and transporting to TSDFs TSD facilities collecting wastes from generators for transport back to their facility         According to Liu and Liptak, the cargo tanks carry the bulk of the materials from the generator to the disposal sites and travel it along the highway or through the seas to do so. These tanks are “made of steel or aluminum alloy, or other materials such as titanium, nickel, or stainless steel.” Rail shipments are common too; yet, they only carry 8% of the transported hazardous materials. Tankers are the much used transport vehicle as they are not expensive and do not pose much difficulty in accessing the industrial firms like the rail shipping methods do. The rail shipping transportations are expensive as they require special sidings in the buildings for them to connect to during retrieval of the materials. Nevertheless, the last is considered to be the most “suitable for very large quantity shipments” (46). Hazardous Waste Transportation Regulations         The standards of hazardous waste transportation are specifically provided in Part 263 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40. The part is further divided into three subparts. The general regulations include mixing of wastes into a single container as specified by the DOT; and adherence to the manifesting requirements stipulated by the agencies, or by the management standards of the 40 CFR part 273, or according to the State requirements that have the controlling power over specific areas (CFR 342). The general rules also cover the acquisition of the EPA identification number from the Administrator and the meeting of the transfer facility requirements as communicated by the same source. Safety regulations also comprise the processes of “manufacture, fabrication, marking, maintenance, reconditioning, repairing, or testing of packaging or containers which are represented, marked, certified, or sold for use in such transportation.” These transporters must further pass several tests on leak proof tests, hydrostatic pressure tests, stacking tests, cooperage tests, and vibration tests to deem their services capable of safely transporting these hazardous wastes from any point between the generator and the disposal sites (“Commercial”).         Subpart B involves the detailed activities of the manifest system and record keeping that the transporters must make sure of before transporting and upon disposing or transferring the wastes to another transporter. These records must be kept “for a period of three years from the date the hazardous waste was accepted by the initial transporter” (CFR 346).         The last subpart, on the other hand, focuses on the policies and provisions regarding hazardous waste discharges. It is divided into two further subparts which are made up of provisions on the immediate action and the discharge clean up. The basic principle of protecting human health and the environment that serves as the ultimate goal of hazardous waste management is specifically applicable in case of discharges upon transporting these wastes. The following are considered to be relevant steps that the air, rail, highway, or water transporters must take note of (CFR 346): Give notice, if required by 49 CFR 171.15, to the National Response Center; and Report in writing as required by 49 CFR 171.16 to the Director, Office of the hazardous Materials Regulations, Materials Transportation Bureau, Department of Transportation, Washington, DC.         These transporters must also observe the actions that are “required of approved by Federal, State, or local officials so that hazardous waste discharge no longer presents a hazard to human health or the environment” (CFR 346). Conclusion         Hazardous waste management does not only involve of disposing these wastes properly to designated sites to ensure that only a little amount, if not none, of these harmful materials are released into the environment as they can cause severe effects to humans and their surrounding. Activities in between which include the transportation, treatment, and storage of these materials from the generator sites are also relevant aspects of controlling the spread of their negative effects. Hence, the transporters and all of the other people in these activities must also play their part efficiently and adhere to the laws, policies and provisions formulated for the purposes mentioned above. Likewise, the Federal, State and local agencies must as well ensure that their responsibilities are met. Works Cited Code of federal regulations, title 40: protection of environment. Washington, DC: U.S.   Government Printing Office, 2009. Print.   “Commercial Hazardous Waste Licensed Transporters: Transportation of Hazardous        Wastes – Regulations and Licensed Companies.” Environment, Health and Safety Online. EHSO.com, n.d. Web. 5 July 2010.   . Dennison, Mark S. RCRA Regulatory Compliance Guide. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Publications, 1993. Print. Ekosse, G. “A Comparative Approach to Laboratory Waste Management.” Pollution Control & Waste Management in Developing Countries. Ed. Rogers W’o Okot-Uma. USA: Commonwealth Secretariat and SFI Publishing, 2000. Print. Kovacs, William L. “Federal Regulatory Issues.” The Solid Waste Handbook: A Practical Guide. Ed. William. D. Robinson. USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1986. Print. Liu, David. H. F., and Bela. G. Liptak. Hazardous Waste and Solid. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000. Print. Pitchel, John. Waste Management Practices: Municipal, Hazardous, and Industrial.       Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005. Print. Teets, John. W., Dennis Reis, and Daniel G. Worrell. RCRA: Resource Conservation And Recovery Act. Chicago, Illinois: American Bar Association, 2003. Print. Read More