Hazard waste can come in a wide range of forms, from used medical supplies to infected animal carcasses and even corrosive and toxic materials. There are many items that are counted as hazardous waste, and this list is forever changing so for a full up to date list visit Hazardous Waste Incinerators | By Inciner8.
What is important to understand is that hazardous waste can not simply be placed into landfill as it has the potential to leak or cause contamination to the surrounding areas and cause catastrophic damage. To safely dispose of hazardous waste it simply needs to be dealt with in a way that removes the risks of contamination and or be stored safely. Incineration is a great way of not only destroying hazardous waste but doing it in a quick and effective manner.
What is incineration?
Incineration works by destroying waste at a very high temperature and reduces it down to nothing more than ash. In its most basic form, it is the destruction of something, especially waste material, by burning. Incineration is a thermo-decomposition process where the components present in the waste stream are ionized into harmless elements at a higher temperature in the presence of oxygen. The ash can then be either send to landfill or disposed of through the correct channels in order to remove it under local guidelines.
Why is incineration used for hazardous waste?
Incineration is a way of destroying hazardous waste in a controlled environment and reducing the risks of contamination. New incinerators now have extremely advanced pollution control systems that can capture the harmful particles from the incineration burn so they do not escape into the atmosphere. This is why incinerators are the most popular and proven way of destroying hazardous waste. It must be noted that incinerators are the most commonly used method for hazardous waste but they are not suitable for all waste types. Certain items simply can not be incinerated such as solvents, batteries and rubber. For a full list of what you can and can not incinerate please visit What is incineration? | Incineration Facts - Inciner8, this will give you a full break down and see if incineration is right for your hazardous waste.
After the incineration process?
After the incineration process all that remains is ash, It is roughly 3% of the overall weight and volume of what was initially loaded into the incinerator. It is important to note that although the hazardous waste has been completely incinerated there is potential for the ash to still contain trace elements of the hazardous waste.
When dealing with the ash from non organic matter we recommend taking precautions and safely disposing of the ash and treating it as hazardous waste. In this way, you can be assured you have destroyed the hazardous waste, massively reduced its volume, its weight and any potentially remaining trace elements can not get into the environment to cause potential harm. If the hazardous waste was from an organic matter for example an animal carcass then it will be complete inert and can be disposed of how the operator see's fit.
Future of Hazardous waste
The world has taken a dramatic turn in the past 18 months due to COVID-19. The waste relating to this is something will all need to consider, PPE has had an enormous increase in usage since the start of the pandemic and we all need to factor in how PPE waste will be managed moving forward.
With PPE falling directly under hazardous waste it is an obvious choice to incinerate this waste out of precaution and this means there will now be a considerable increase in the amount of hazardous waste we need to destroy every year in the UK alone. With this increase, we could see a direct impact on the costs of disposing of this waste type and any other hazardous waste by collection companies.
To found out more about how to deal with PPE waste read our PPE waste blog HERE
Conclusion
To conclude it must be noted that any type of hazardous waste must be dealt with carefully to avoid contamination or exposure. Incinerating hazardous waste is not only the most common but the most logical form of removing this type of unwanted waste.
Incineration reduces the waste in size, reduces it in weight and crucially removes all hazardous particles that were present in the waste at the start. New pollution control systems can remove all harmful gases and allow you to incinerate hazardous waste knowing it is not being let out into the atmosphere.
Hazardous waste is a waste type that is increasing in volume every year, we need to know how to deal with it in a safe and controlled manner. Incineration is fundamental in this process and is the waste disposal option everyone should be looking at moving forward.
If you need to find more information regarding incinerators and the benefits one could give you please visit our main page: Incinerator Manufacturer & Waste Incineration Expert | INCINER8 or alternatively call us on +44 (0) 1704 884020 or email our expert sales advisors at [email protected]
