1. What is Hazardous Waste?
A solid waste or combination of solid wastes that, because of quantity, concentration or physical or chemical characteristics, may cause or significantly contribute to adverse effects on human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed, or otherwise managed is known as Hazardous waste.
In the Indian legislation, the HWs are listed, consisting of 41 items, which is generated from various processes from industries. According to the HW (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, it is defined as “A solid waste is a hazardous waste if it exhibits, any of the characteristics like Corrosivity (C), Reactivity (R), Ignitability (I) and Toxicity (T).

2. Do we generate Hazardous Waste in our homes? If yes, what are those waste?
Yes, we do generate hazardous waste in our homes. The general categories of hazardous products that we generate at our homes are listed below.

• Household cleaners — bleach, ammonia, toilet bowl cleaner, drain cleaner, oven cleaner, bathroom cleaner

• Automotive products —gasoline, motor oil, lead-acid batteries, brake fluid, transmission fluid

• Home improvement products —paint, paint thinner, paint stripper, adhesives, varnish

• Pesticides —rat and mouse poison, pet spray, flea collars, mothballs, insecticide, weed killer

• Batteries, Electrical & Electronic Waste

• Shoe polish, lighter fluid, prescription medicines, arts and crafts materials, etc.

3. If hazardous waste is unsafe, how do we handle them safely?
The safety measures that has to be followed while handling hazardous waste are,

• Use protective clothing and wear gloves to avoid skin contact

• If you don’t know what the substance is, handle it gently and carefully with protective measures

• Never change the original container, and the label should be clear and visible

• Do not mix the containers with hazardous substance with other household containers

• Keep away from children and food items

• Follow the directions carefully before using any hazardous substance

4. Are there agencies to dispose Hazardous Waste safely?
For the state of Karnataka, the Government has authorized private operators for safe collection and disposal of hazardous waste from industries.
The household hazardous waste should be ideally segregated and collected door to door. BMP should dispose this in secured landfills.

5. If I run a small industrial unit, which generates Hazardous Wastes, how should I dispose it?
All small scale generators must ensure that the hazardous waste is segregated depending upon the incompatible materials, collected in a suitable container specially used to store these hazardous wastes , labeled accordingly, documented and stored until a authorized disposal agency collects it from the industry.

6. We have heard about a new facility, which is being created on the outskirts of Bangalore to handle Hazardous Wastes. Is this true? If so, where is it?
A common treatment and disposal facility (TSDF) authorized by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board , owned and operated by a private operator is coming up at Dobbaspete, which is expected to be completed and commissioned in 2008.

7. What do you do with the Hazardous Wastes that are brought to this facility?
The Hazardous Waste brought to this facility is processed and disposed in a scientific manner. Once this waste is treated and disposed, it will become inert and will not be dangerous any more. The waste is first checked for its suitability for disposal into the landfill. Inflammable, radioactive, explosive, and ignitable materials are not accepted in a landfill.

8. Would a landfill affect the ground water?
There will be a multilayered sealing system at the bottom of the landfill. The proposed landfill is mostly above the ground (a maximum of 3 m below the ground). Hence, the presence of the landfill will not affect the ground water table. A ground water table at 30-60 m is ideally suited for a landfill.

9. Will the landfill be used to dump dead bodies, hospital waste and radio active waste?
The landfill will be used to dispose only special wastes from certain industries in Karnataka. No, hospital waste or dead bodies will be collected and disposed separately. No radioactive waste will be dumped into the landfill.

10. Would a landfill cause air pollution?
No smoke emanates from the landfill, hence no air pollution issues. No smell will emanate as decomposable waste will not be brought in. Also, no smelly organic liquids will be accepted.

11. Can’t you dump the waste deep into the sea?
Deep sea waste dumping is nowadays banned worldwide. Doing this will endanger the marine environment.

12. Can Hazardous Wastes be transferred to a far off facility if one already exists?
Though this can be done, there are several concerns that need to be addressed. Also, it is a good idea for every State to have its own disposal facility. Transportation over long distances can increase cost, which is unaffordable for many industries. The chances of accidents and other related problems will increase with long distance transportation.

13. What, ideally, is the life of the proposed disposal facility?
The facility will be operated for 20 years. Subsequently, it will be monitored for a further period of 30 years. After operation period the area can be made into a golf course or garden etc.

14. Is there a preventive measure incorporated in the facility to prevent leaching?
This landfill is specially designed to reduce leacheate generation. The technology used in this landfill has been transferred from Germany where no leachate percolation has occurred in any landfill since 1985. Other measures also include careful site selection based on geological profile, four protective layers (clay, plastic, geo-membrane and drainage) and exclusion of liquid waste and rainwater by covering it during monsoon. Waste with high moisture content will be dried before hand. If, however, there is leachate generation, it will be collected in the drainage layer and treated.

15. What will be the mode of transporting the Hazardous Waste?
Covered trucks will be employed to transport Hazardous Wastes. Use of closed containers is mandatory. The law also strictly prescribes covered waste transportation.

16. Will the waste from other states be brought to this facility?
No, This is designed for 40,000 tonnes per year of waste from Karnataka only.

17. Will the landfill project be a strain on our water resources?
This facility has very minimal requirement of water. All used water will be recycled and rainwater harvesting will also be implemented. Water will be drawn from the test wells once a month for purposes of analysis only.

18. Don’t you have any other way for disposal of hazardous waste other than this facility?
Landfill facility is a proven technology for safe disposal of the hazardous waste. This has been tested and proven to be safe in many places.

19. Why can’t each industry establish this facility? Then there will be no need to gather and dump the waste in one place.
It is not a viable option to adopt this technology at the industry level for economic reasons. It will be convenient for regular monitoring if it is done at one place rather than at each industry level.