What Is a Hazardous Waste Facility?

Hazardous waste management facilities refer to facilities and equipment that manage hazardous solid wastes that have been included in the national hazardous wastes list or identified in accordance with national standards for hazardous waste identification standards and methods. ^[1]

According to the definition of the United Nations Environment Programme, hazardous waste refers to wastes that are chemical or toxic, explosive, corrosive or other hazards to people, animals and plants and the environment, other than radioactive; they also refer to wastes that are generated, disposed, Transport of waste specifically discussed in relevant regulations or laws. The World Health Organization defines it as a type of waste with physical, chemical or biological characteristics that requires special management and disposal processes to avoid causing health hazards or other harmful environmental effects. According to the definition of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the types and properties of hazardous wastes, hazardous wastes are divided into two categories: The first category is a list of hazardous wastes compiled by the EPA from hazardous wastes of industrial origin. Numbering. As a result, the EPA can classify hazardous wastes containing hazardous ingredients, which are called inventory wastes. The second category of hazardous wastes is those that are not on the list but contain one or more of the following four hazardous properties: Flammable, toxic, corrosive and reactive, this kind of waste is called nature waste.

The "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes" states: "Hazardous wastes refer to solid wastes with hazardous characteristics that are included in the national inventory of hazardous wastes or identified in accordance with the national standards and methods for identification of hazardous wastes." China will Hazardous waste is divided into 47 categories and a total of more than 600 types, including industrial hazardous waste, medical waste and other social source hazardous waste. Hazardous wastes are complex in composition and have one or more hazard characteristics such as various toxicity, flammability, explosiveness, corrosiveness, chemical reactivity and infectivity, posing serious harm to the ecological environment and human health, and the potential for pollution And lagging is one of the key and difficult issues in global environmental protection. In recent years, with the rapid development of China's industrialization process, the amount of hazardous waste has grown rapidly. Taking 2002 as an example, China's industrial hazardous waste has a particularly large amount of production, about 650,000 tons of medical waste, and a large amount of waste has also been generated in social life. Hazardous waste such as waste batteries and fluorescent tubes containing cadmium, mercury, lead, nickel, etc. ^[1]

For a long time, China has not paid enough attention to the disposal of hazardous wastes. It has not established a unified supervision system, and its management system is not perfect. The level of equipment manufacturing is low, the technology is not sufficient, and the scale is small. Only a few cities have built hazardous waste treatment centers, and the construction of centralized disposal facilities is lagging behind. Most of the hazardous waste is in a low-level comprehensive utilization, simple storage, or direct discharge state. Medical waste has been seriously drained, and a large amount of medical waste has been mixed into domestic garbage. The gap in people's health requirements is large and the situation is grim. In addition, with the exception of individual cities conducting separate garbage collection experiments on a few streets, hazardous wastes were not collected separately, and they were only treated as ordinary domestic garbage, leaving a huge potential safety hazard to the environment. Due to the low level of recycling of hazardous waste, the construction and treatment technology and facilities are relatively lagging behind, and the harm of hazardous waste to the environment is becoming increasingly serious. Pollution control of hazardous waste is one of the key and difficult issues in global environmental protection. How to handle and dispose of it safely and properly Hazardous waste has become an important task for environmental protection. ^[1]

In order to solve the current environmental pollution problem caused by insufficient hazardous waste disposal capacity and increase the intensity of hazardous waste disposal, on November 18, 2003, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Construction jointly issued the " Notice on Implementing a Hazardous Waste Disposal Charge System to Promote the Industrialization of Hazardous Waste Disposal. It is planned to implement the Hazardous Waste Disposal Charge System to change administrative charges into operational service charges, promote the industrialization of hazardous waste disposal, and encourage domestic and overseas funds, including Private enterprises invest in the construction and operation of hazardous waste disposal facilities, give full play to the fundamental role of the market in allocating resources, and establish a hazardous waste disposal operation mechanism that meets the requirements of a market economy.

On December 19, 2003, the State Council approved the National Hazardous Waste and Medical Waste Disposal Facility Construction Plan, which stated that China will increase investment and attract social investment. It will invest 14.92 billion yuan in 3 years Control the environmental pollution of hazardous waste, medical waste and radioactive waste, and basically realize the safe storage and disposal of hazardous waste. It plans to build 31 comprehensive hazardous waste disposal centers with full functions and increase the capacity of hazardous waste disposal by 2.82 million t / a. The company newly rebuilt and expanded the 3.5 million t / a comprehensive utilization and disposal capacity, all of the hazardous waste generated that year, and gradually digested the hazardous waste stored over the years. It plans to build 300 centralized medical waste disposal facilities and increase the processing capacity by 2,080 t / d. Strengthen the building of basic regulatory capabilities including monitoring and technology development, and build 31 provincial hazardous waste registration and exchange centers, and set up a national hazardous waste exchange and accident emergency network. Standardize collection and storage, establish a transportation system, establish a professional disposal team, and promote enterprise-oriented and socialized operations. Formulate and implement charging policies and related preferential policies to ensure the normal operation of facilities. The "Planning" also clarified the technical requirements of 6 aspects, such as transport vehicles, technical routes, incinerators, exhaust gas treatment, safe landfill, and system configuration. ^[1]

The "Planning" approved by the State Council requires that the construction of 31 hazardous waste and 300 medical waste disposal facilities nationwide be completed in three years. The "Planning" has been issued for more than a year. Only a handful of projects that have completed national review have been completed. Slowly, a comprehensive and functional hazardous waste disposal center has not yet been established nationwide, which is far from meeting the requirements of the implementation of the Plan. The main problems are:

Strengthen technical guidance for hazardous waste management facilities

The state shall organize relevant units to further scientifically demonstrate the technical requirements for the construction site of hazardous waste disposal centers to make it more operable. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the preparation of technical specifications for high temperature disposal of hazardous wastes and the supporting facilities in the construction of disposal facilities The establishment of construction standards for monitoring instruments, office space, general layout, public works, etc., and standardized design of safety landfills. Organize forces, summarize experience, compile standardized design work such as rotary kiln, pyrolysis, and tail gas treatment, further strengthen technical guidance, standardize and improve the technical level of engineering construction. Carry out relevant technical training, make full use of domestic and foreign resources and conditions, and continuously strengthen and enhance the awareness and technical capabilities of hazardous waste disposal.

Raising scientific awareness of hazardous waste management facilities

The construction project of hazardous waste disposal center is an important environmental protection basic project. It is the foundation and guarantee for the sustainable development of the local economy and the guarantee of the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people. The masses and the government raise scientific understanding, understand the general situation, and take the overall situation into consideration, and support the completion of the project so that it can be completed as soon as possible and serve the economic construction and social development as soon as possible.

, Strengthen leadership of hazardous waste management facilities and make solid progress

Leaders in various places must attach great importance to the construction project of hazardous waste disposal centers, do a good job in project implementation, strengthen project construction management, implement responsibilities at various levels, coordinate and resolve various difficulties in the project construction process, and do a good job in all aspects. Ensure the smooth progress of project construction. The construction conditions of the project owner unit, construction land and supporting funds shall be implemented as soon as possible, and the charging system for hazardous waste and medical waste disposal shall be formulated as soon as possible to accelerate the project construction progress and promote the project construction process.

, Strengthen inspection of hazardous waste management facilities and treat them differently

Due to the large differences in the progress of the implementation of the Plan in various regions, in order to increase the progress of the implementation of the project, the state must strengthen supervision and treat them differently according to the actual conditions in each region. For projects that have passed the review and have been reported to the National Development and Reform Commission, the subsidy for government bond funds should be implemented as soon as possible to accelerate the pace of bidding and project design. For projects with more mature conditions, we must focus on advancing, and organize review as soon as possible. Strive for projects of different scales and grades, different technical routes, different geographical distribution, different types of owners and construction models to have substantive progress and construction, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent large-scale construction.

, Strengthen management of hazardous waste management facilities to create conditions

All localities should take the opportunity to construct hazardous waste disposal facilities as an opportunity to vigorously strengthen the capacity building of hazardous waste management. Strengthen supervision and law enforcement, ensure that hazardous waste is receivable and collected, illegal dumping and unsafe storage are strictly prohibited, ensure the closed transfer and disposal of medical waste, and increase the investigation and treatment of the recycling of disposable medical supplies. At the same time, Establish a hazardous waste information release system, and regularly release information such as the amount, type, disposal status, and environmental monitoring of hazardous waste, and create necessary and favorable external conditions for the smooth implementation of the Plan and the construction and operation of centralized hazardous waste disposal facilities. ^[1]