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Toxics Release Inventory
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly available database containing information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities in the United States. Summary of requirements The database is available from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and contains information reported annually by some industry groups as well as federal facilities. Each year, companies across a wide range of industries (including chemical manufacturing, metal mining, coal- or oil-burning electric utilities, and other industries) that manufacture, process, or otherwise use more than a certain amount of a listed chemical must report it to the TRI. For most listed chemicals, facilities must report if they manufacture 25,000 pounds or process or otherwise use 10,000 pounds of the chemical, but some chemicals have lower reporting thresholds. Origins The inventory was first proposed in a 1985 ''New York Times'' op-ed piece written by David Sarokin and Warren Muir, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhopal Disaster
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's worst industrial disaster, over 500,000 people in the small towns around the plant were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (). Estimates vary on the death toll, with the official number of immediate deaths being 2,259. In 2008, the Government of Madhya Pradesh paid compensation to the family members of 3,787 victims killed in the gas release, and to 574,366 injured victims. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toxic Substances Control Act
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a United States law, passed by the 94th United States Congress in 1976 and administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that regulates chemicals not regulated by other U.S. federal statutes, including chemicals already in commerce and the introduction of new chemicals.Auer, Charles, Frank Kover, James Aidala, Marks Greenwood“Toxic Substances: A Half Century of Progress.”EPA Alumni Association. March 2016. When the TSCA was put into place, all existing chemicals were considered to be safe for use and subsequently grandfathered in. Its three main objectives are to assess and regulate new commercial chemicals before they enter the market, to regulate chemicals already existing in 1976 that posed an "unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment", as for example PCBs, lead, mercury and radon, and to regulate these chemicals' distribution and use. Contrary to what the name implies, TSCA does not se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pollutant Release And Transfer Register
A pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) is a system for collecting and disseminating information about environmental releases and transfers of hazardous substances from industrial and other facilities. PRTRs were established in several countries after the 1984 Bhopal Disaster and the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, which affirmed communities' and workers' right to know about toxic chemicals and other substances of concern. Community right to know In many countries industrial facilities need a permit to operate processes that are causing environmental pressures. Authorities have to balance the interests of different actors when issuing such permits and will reflect this balance in the conditions and requirements put down in the permit. Companies and civilians living near to the facilities generally have quite different levels of understanding and information on the processes and the environmental impact. In a democratic con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pollution Prevention In The US
Pollution prevention (P2) is a strategy for reducing the amount of waste created and released into the environment, particularly by industrial facilities, agriculture, or consumers. Many large corporations view P2 as a method of improving the efficiency and profitability of production processes by waste reduction and technology advancements. Legislative bodies have enacted P2 measures, such as the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 by the United States Congress. Background Significance Pollution prevention is any action that reduces the amount of contaminants released into the environment. Implementation of such processes reduces the severity and/or number of hazards posed to both public health and the environment. Prevention of pollution preserves natural resources and can also have significant financial benefits in large scale processes. If companies produce less waste, they do not have to worry about proper disposal. Thus, P2 is also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Source Reduction
Source reduction is activities designed to reduce the volume, mass, or toxicity of products throughout the life cycle. It includes the design and manufacture, use, and disposal of products with minimum toxic content, minimum volume of material, and/or a longer useful life. Synonyms Pollution prevention and toxics use reduction are also called source reduction because they address the use of hazardous substances at the source. Examples * Reusable packaging - for example the use of a reusable shopping bag at the grocery store; although it uses more material than a single-use disposable bag, the material per use is less. * Overpackaging - Some packaging uses more materials than is necessary for product containment and protection. Redesign can often reduce the size and materials usage in packaging. Procedures Source reduction is achieved through improvements in design, production, use, reuse, recycling, and through environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP). A Life-cycle assessm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Injection Well
An injection well is a device that places fluid deep underground into porous rock formations, such as sandstone or limestone, or into or below the shallow soil layer. The fluid may be water, wastewater, brine (salt water), or water mixed with industrial chemical waste. Definition The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines an injection well as "a bored, drilled, or driven shaft, or a dug hole that is deeper than it is wide, or an improved sinkhole, or a subsurface fluid distribution system". Well construction depends on the injection fluid injected and depth of the injection zone. Deep wells that are designed to inject hazardous wastes or carbon dioxide deep below the Earth's surface have multiple layers of protective casing and cement, whereas shallow wells injecting non-hazardous fluids into or above drinking water sources are more simply constructed. Applications Injection wells are used for many purposes. Waste disposal Treated wastewater can be injected into th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, refuse was simply left in piles or thrown into pits; in archeology this is known as a midden. Some landfill sites are used for waste management purposes, such as temporary storage, consolidation and transfer, or for various stages of processing waste material, such as sorting, treatment, or recycling. Unless they are stabilized, landfills may undergo severe shaking or soil liquefaction of the ground during an earthquake. Once full, the area over a landfill site may be reclaimed for other uses. Operations Operators of well-run landfills for non-hazardous waste meet predefined specifications by applying techniques to: # confine waste to as small an area as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publicly Owned Treatment Works
A publicly owned treatment works (POTW) is a term used in the United States for a sewage treatment plant owned, and usually operated, by a government agency. In the U.S., POTWs are typically owned by local government agencies, and are usually designed to treat domestic sewage and not industrial wastewater. The term is used extensively in U.S. water pollution law (i.e. the Clean Water Act), regulations and programs. Many POTWs were established or expanded with grants or low-interest loans from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There are over 16,000 POTWs in the U.S., serving 75 percent of the total population. The remainder of the population is served by decentralized or private septic systems. The POTWs treat of wastewater every day. Most POTWs are required to meet national secondary treatment standards. See also * :Sewage treatment plants in the United States *Clean Water State Revolving Fund (financial assistance for POTWs) *Water pollution *Water supply and sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Pollution
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants are introduced into these water bodies. Water pollution can be attributed to one of four sources: sewage discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater. It can be grouped into surface water pollution (either fresh water pollution or marine pollution) or groundwater pollution. For example, releasing inadequately treated wastewater into natural waters can lead to degradation of these aquatic ecosystems. Water pollution can also lead to water-borne diseases for people using polluted water for drinking, bathing, washing or irrigation. Water pollution reduces the ability of the body of water to provide the ecosystem services (such as drinking water) that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fugitive Emission
Fugitive emissions are leaks and other irregular releases of gases or vapors from a pressurized containment – such as appliances, storage tanks, pipelines, wells, or other pieces of equipment – mostly from industrial activities. In addition to the economic cost of lost commodities, fugitive emissions contribute to local air pollution and may cause further environmental harm. Common industrial gases include refrigerants and natural gas, while less common examples are perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride. Most occurrences of fugitive emissions are small, of no immediate impact, and difficult to detect. Nevertheless due to rapidly expanding activity, even the most strictly regulated gases have accumulated outside of industrial workings to reach measurable levels globally. Fugitive emissions include many poorly understood pathways by which the most potent and long-lived ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases enter Earth's atmosphere. In p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flue-gas Stack
A flue-gas stack, also known as a smoke stack, chimney stack or simply as a stack, is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue gases are produced when coal, oil, natural gas, wood or any other fuel is combusted in an industrial furnace, a power plant's steam-generating boiler, or other large combustion device. Flue gas is usually composed of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor as well as nitrogen and excess oxygen remaining from the intake combustion air. It also contains a small percentage of pollutants such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. The flue gas stacks are often quite tall, up to 400 metres (1300 feet) or more, to increase the stack effect and dispersion of pollutants. When the flue gases are exhausted from stoves, ovens, fireplaces, heating furnaces and boilers, or other small sources within residential ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
