When it comes to hazardous waste removal Sydney in New South Wales (NSW), several techniques are available. The most desirable technique is to reduce the quantity of hazardous waste at its source. Another desirable technique is to recycle hazardous materials for some other productive use. While recycling and reduction are desirable options, they aren’t regarded as the final remedy to disposing of hazardous waste. There is a need for treatment and disposal of some amount of hazardous waste.
Hazardous waste treatment
There are different ways of treating hazardous waste. It can be treated by thermal, chemical, physical and biological methods. Chemical methods include oxidation, ion exchange, precipitation, neutralization, and reduction. Among thermal methods is using high-temperature to incinerate the waste, which not only detoxifies certain organic materials but also destroys them completely. Special types of equipment can be used to burn waste in either sludge, liquid or solid form. These include multiple hearth furnace, liquid-injection incinerator, fluidized-bed incinerator and rotary kiln. However, air pollution is usually associated with hazardous-waste incineration.
There is also biological treatment. In this process, certain organic wastes such as waste from the petroleum industry are treated biologically. One method used to treat waste biologically is called land farming. This method involves mixing waste with surface soil on a piece of land. Microbes are then added to metabolize the waste. In some cases, genetically engineered bacterial species is used. Forage or food crops aren’t grown on the same site. Sometimes microbes can be used to stabilize hazardous waste on previously contaminated sites.
Hazardous waste removal Sydney comes with a lot of challenges and that is why it is important to work with a company that has enough experience in the removal of hazardous waste. Thermal, chemical, and biological treatment methods change the molecular form of hazardous waste material. On the other hand, physical treatment solidifies, concentrates or reduces the volumes of waste. Examples of physical processes include flotation, evaporation, filtration and solidification.
Land disposal and surface storage
Hazardous wastes that aren’t destroyed by chemical processes should be disposed of properly. Land disposal is the ultimate waste destination, although it isn’t an attractive practice. It has some environmental risks associated with it. There are two main methods of land disposal and they include underground injection and landfilling. Prior to land disposal, containment systems or surface storage are often employed as a temporary method.
On-site waste storage facilities include ponds, open waste piles and lagoons but it is important to note that these storage facilities are only temporary. New waste piles should be carefully constructed over impervious bases and should comply with regular requirements. The piles should be protected from erosion and wind dispersion.
Secure landfills
Waste removal Sydney NSW companies should understand that landfilling of hazardous containerized or solid waste is regulated more strictly than landfilling of the municipal solid waste. It is important to ensure that all hazardous wastes are disposed of in secure landfills. These landfills provide at least 10 feet of separation between the groundwater table or the bedrock and the bottom of the landfill.
