The Environmental Problem of Household Hazardous Waste Generation and Treatment

Abstract

In the last decade the problem of household hazardous waste (HHW) is becoming increasingly important, in connection with expansion of the assortment and increase of the total number. The household hazardous waste include: mercury-containing fluorescent lamps and other devices, batteries, electrical and electronic devices (waste electrical and electronic equipment), remnants of household chemicals and medicines, and others.Such waste contains in its chemical composition of hazardous substances, which have negative impact on the environment and human health. If dangerous components are not allocated from the overall flow of low-hazardous municipal solid waste (MSW), in the processing or disposal in landfills, they begin to have a negative impact on the environment, which tends to accumulate.The article presents the assessment of the hazard class of solid waste, containing a specified number of HHW (according to various data about their morphological composition), using calculation methods approved in the Russian Federation. The analysis of the impact of HHW in the composition of MSW on the environment during the implementation of the main ways of MSW treatment is performed. A brief review of modern technologies of collection and processing of HHW in Russia and other countries is presented and recommendations are given.