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Illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals has caused severe damage on human health and the environment, and brought big challenges to countries to meet their commitments to related multilateral environmental agreements. Synergy-building, like organising law enforcement operations, is critical to address illegal trade in waste and chemicals, and further improve the effectiveness of environmental enforcement. This article discusses how and why law enforcement operations can help countries to implement chemical and waste-related multilateral environmental agreements in a more efficient and effective way. The research explores key barriers and factors for organising law enforcement operations, and recommends methods to improve law enforcement operations to address illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The public health challenges of moving dangerous substances across jurisdictions have led to a renewed international focus on the importance of the health perspective in the Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. This paper systematically reviews the health dimensions of the Basel Convention and the ways in which the Convention can be strengthened. It analyses the limits of the health objective of the Convention in promoting public health and the environment and the potential for optimising it. The paper argues that an examination of the Convention's substantive, procedural, and institutional and implementation mechanisms highlights its failure to fully achieve its potential for health protection. Parties to the Convention have initiated measures to address this issue, but the design and functioning of the Convention itself constrain the full achievement of health goals, which in turn undermines the protection of human health and the environment. To optimise the health promotion, the author argues for an adaptive governance framework by bolstering the governance mechanisms of the Convention and the Secretariat, strengthening health cooperation between international health agencies and improving domestic implementation of the Convention by its Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the international trade of the toxic waste with the African countries. Topics discussed include transboundary export of hazardous wastes, release of industrial output burden on the developing countries and impact of the environmental laws of the developing countries on their dumping capacity of hazardous wastes. It also discusses various policies implemented by the industrially developed countries for the regulation of their economic competitiveness.

Abstract: This study examines a procedure developed for planning a nation-wide hazardous campus waste (HCW) collection system. Alternative HCW plans were designed for different collection frequencies, truckloads, storage limits, and also for establishing an additional transfer station. Two clustering methods were applied to group adjacent campuses into clusters based on their locations, HCW quantities, the type of vehicles used and collection frequencies. Transportation risk, storage risk, and collection cost are the major criteria used to evaluate the feasibility of each alternative. Transportation risk is determined based on the accident rates for each road type and collection distance, while storage risk is calculated by estimating the annual average HCW quantity stored on campus. Alternatives with large trucks can reduce both transportation risk and collection cost, but their storage risks would be significantly increased. Alternatives that collect neighboring campuses simultaneously can effectively reduce storage risks as well as collection cost if the minimum quantity to collect for each group of neighboring campuses can be properly set. The three transfer station alternatives evaluated for northern Taiwan are cost effective and involve significantly lower transportation risk. The procedure proposed is expected to facilitate decision making and to support analyses for formulating a proper nation-wide HCW collection plan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The issue addressed in this paper consists in the localization and dimensioning of transfer stations, which constitute a necessary intermediate level in the logistic chain of the solid waste stream, from municipalities to the incinerator. Contextually, the determination of the number and type of vehicles involved is carried out in an integrated optimization approach. The model considers both initial investment and operative costs related to transportation and transfer stations. Two conflicting objectives are evaluated, the minimization of total cost and the minimization of environmental impact, measured by pollution. The design of the integrated waste management system is hence approached in a multi-objective optimization framework. To determine the best means of compromise, goal programming, weighted sum and fuzzy multi-objective techniques have been employed. The proposed analysis highlights how different attitudes of the decision maker towards the logic and structure of the problem result in the employment of different methodologies and the obtaining of different results. The novel aspect of the paper lies in the proposal of an effective decision support system for operative waste management, rather than a further contribution to the transportation problem. The model was applied to the waste management of optimal territorial ambit (OTA) of Palermo (Italy). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this work was to determine the composition and production rate of medical waste from the health care facility of social insurance institute, a small waste producer in Xanthi, Greece. Specifically, produced medical waste from the clinical pathology (medical microbiology) laboratory, the X-ray laboratory and the surgery and injection therapy departments of the health facility was monitored for six working weeks. A total of 240kg medical solid waste was manually separated and weighed and 330L of liquid medical waste was measured and classified. The hazardous waste fraction (%w/w) of the medical solid waste was 91.6% for the clinical pathology laboratory, 12.9% for the X-ray laboratory, 24.2% for the surgery departments and 17.6% for the injection therapy department. The infectious waste fraction (%w/w) of the hazardous medical solid waste was 75.6% for the clinical pathology laboratory, 0% for the X-ray laboratory, 100% for the surgery departments and 75.6% for the injection therapy department. The total hazardous medical solid waste production rate was 64±15g/patient/d for the clinical pathology laboratory, 7.2±1.6g/patient/d for the X-ray laboratory, 8.3±5.1g/patient/d for the surgery departments and 24±9g/patient/d for the injection therapy department. Liquid waste was produced by the clinical pathology laboratory (infectious-and-toxic) and the X-ray laboratory (toxic). The production rate for the clinical pathology laboratory was 0.03±0.003L/patient/d and for the X-ray laboratory was 0.06±0.006L/patient/d. Due to the small amount produced, it was suggested that the most suitable management scheme would be to transport the hazardous medical waste, after source-separation, to the Prefectural Hospital of Xanthi to be treated with the hospital waste. Assuming this data is representative of other small medical facilities, medical waste production can be estimated for such facilities distributed around Greece. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, the design and cost analysis of a real-time, geographical information system (GIS) based management system for hazardous waste transportation are described. The implementation of such a system can effectively prevent illegal dumping and perform emergency responses during the transportation of hazardous wastes. A case study was conducted in Guangzhou, China to build a small-scale, real-time management system for waste transportation. Two alternatives were evaluated in terms of system capability and cost structure. Alternative I was the building of a complete real-time monitoring and management system in a governing agency; whereas alternative II was the combination of the existing management framework with a commercial Telematics service to achieve the desired level of monitoring and management. The technological framework under consideration included locating transportation vehicles using a global positioning system (GPS), exchanging vehicle location data via the Internet and Intranet, managing hazardous waste transportation using a government management system and responding to emergencies during transportation. Analysis of the cost structure showed that alternative II lowered the capital and operation cost by 38 and 56% in comparison with alternative I. It is demonstrated that efficient management can be achieved through integration of the existing technological components with additional cost benefits being achieved by streamlined software interfacing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hazardous wastes are likely to cause danger to human health and/or environment. Safe transportation of them is so important. Consequently, selection of the right and most appropriate transportation firm is an important problem for hazardous waste generators. In this paper, a two step methodology is structured to evaluate hazardous waste transportation firms containing the methods of fuzzy-AHP and TOPSIS. And a numerical example is presented to clarify the methodology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes a new device and a method to determine the radon diffusion coefficient in damp-proof menibranes developed in the Czech Republic. The main advantage of the device is that it enables tests to be carried out in all the known measuring modes used throughout Europe. Two recently developed computer programs are presented for the numerical modelling of the time-dependent radon transport through damp-proof membranes. According to this method, the radon diffusion coefficient is derived from the process of fitting the numerical solution to the measured curve of radon concentration in a receiver container. Numerical simulation and measured data are also compared. Reasons for disagreements between different methods and specific configurations of the measuring device are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two accidents, Seveso 1976 and Bhopal 1984, paved the way toward the international control of hazardous substances and waste, and public dissemination of information on their releases and transfers. The final facility cleanup in Seveso took place in 1982. The remaining dioxin-containing residues were packed in 41 drums. However, the drums disappeared and were found several months later in France. This was the starting point for the development of international control on transboundary movements of waste within the OECD. Between 1983 and 1992 OECD developed five binding Council Acts on the classification and control of transboundary movements of waste. This work also provided the foundation for the adoption of a series of directives and the Shipment Regulation 259/93 within the European Community, aimed at monitoring and controlling transboundary movements of hazardous waste, and of a global instrument in 1989 under UNEP: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal. The Bhopal 1984 and another similar accident shortly thereafter led to the development of a mandatory Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in the United States in 1986, to inform the public of releases and transfers of potentially hazardous pollutants and waste. OECD work has supported the rapidly increasing implementation of Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) since 1994. The Basel 1989, Rotterdam 1998, and Stockholm 2001 Conventions all require strict control of the production and management of hazardous chemicals and waste. Yet, production of hazardous chemicals and generation of hazardous waste are still in rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide generation should be avoided during wastewater transportation. The efficiency of nitrate dosing for the inhibition of sulfide generation was evaluated during reclaimed wastewater transport with two nitrate doses, 2.5 and 5 mg/L nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N). A calcium nitrate [Ca(NO3)2] solution was injected at the beginning of the 61-km-long gravity pipe, which is part of the Reclaimed Wastewater Reuse System of South Tenerife (Spain). During transportation after dissolved oxygen depletion a denitrification process took place. With the 5 mg/L NO3-N dose, nitrate was not completely removed at the end of the pipe, whereas with 2.5 mg/L NO3-N, a complete denitrification was achieved. Sulfide generation was completely inhibited with the 5 mg/L dose. However, with 2.5 mg/L, sulfide generation was not completely inhibited but delayed and minimized to a great extent. Denitrification was stoichiometrically limited by the availability in biodegradable matter. An empirical equation enables one to predict the nitrate concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple dynamic deactivation procedure for advection-dominated contaminant transport is presented. The key idea is to avoid any work in regions where the solution cannot change, i.e. where sources vanish and unknowns do not exhibit any spatial change. Saving factors in CPU of 1: 3–1: 10 are commonly achieved. The procedure is general and simple to implement, and should be applicable to a large number of codes and transport problems. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on several court rulings on cases related to environmental protection in Europe, as of February 2002. Shipment of hazardous waste by Abfall Service AG; Directives and concept of waste; Noise emissions of airplanes.

Examines the Basel Protocol on Liability and Compensation for Damage Resulting From the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal adopted at the Fifth Conference of Parties. Right of countries to ban hazardous waste imports under the treaty; Liability of waste exporters; Limitations of the protocol; Effects of the lack of global definition of hazardous waste. INSET: Impediments to U.S. ratification..

ABSTRACT One of the major concerns decision makers face in deciding whether to accept a contract for transport and burial of hazardous wastes is whether there will be spillage during transportation and/or leakage after burial, both of which could significantly impact corporate profitability. To mitigate the possible negative impact of such events, two avenues of damage control are commonly invoked. First, some predetermined risk tolerance is usually established that will not be exceeded for involvement in a project without extremely good reason. Second, potential exposure to the negative aspects (spillage and/or leakage) of a project is limited by assuming <100% working interest in a contract. Although such fractional involvement lowers potential gains, it also mitigates potential liabilities, thus preserving corporate fiscal integrity. The present study illustrates how such decisions can be made dependent on a level of tolerance to risk and subject to the estimated probabilities of success and failure (spillage and/or leakage), together with the associated costs of various probable events. Exponential and parabolic utility models are employed to demonstrate how decision makers can evaluate a project and assess, for a given contract price, whether involvement in the project is warranted, what fraction of a contract maximizes the return to a company, what is the range of financially viable working interests, and how acceptance of a project, under uncertain conditions and with variable potential expenditures, could influence corporate profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the regulation of hazardous waste transportation in the United States. Technical and social perspectives on hazardous waste transport; Factors linked to the transport of hazardous wastes; Intergovernmental relations in hazardous waste transport; Responsibilities of various parties from origin to endpoint.

Abstract: The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management initiated a pilot project to improve compliance with hazardous waste regulations and management of hazardous wastes with auto body shops around the state. The program consisted of mass mailings, a series of workshops throughout the state, a coordinated inspection program by the state regulatory agency, and technology transfer. At the start of the program in January 1986, approximately 650 of the estimated 2,350 auto body shops in the state had notified EPA of their waste generating activities; by January 1987, approximately 1,200 shops had done so. Suggestions for improving program efforts include tailoring the outreach effort to the industry, government-sponsored research and development directed at the needs of small firms, mandatory participation in hazardous waste transportation programs, and better coordination by EPA of its information collection and distribution program. (Am J Public Health 1988; 78:1343-1346.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports how, as the European Community moves toward a free-trade market in 1992, some groups fear the implications for hazardous waste transport between member nations. How conflicting definitions for hazardous waste may cause the regulatory standards of the nations with the best disposal regimes to be undermined by the nations with the worst.

Offers news briefs related to the environment. Amendments to Canada's regulation on the transportation of dangerous goods; Study of the Amazon rain forest canopy form a hexagonal platform suspended from a dirigible; Findings that oscillating power-frequency fields produced by alternating electric current can alter living cells and systems; Others.

Reports on the results of a survey of community leaders who live along a planned route in Oregon in which radioactive waste from Hanford, Washington would be trucked to a disposal site under consideration in New Mexico. Definition of public trust; Mean number of knowledge and attitude statements per person classified by topic.

Transportation of hazardous materials, and particularly radioactive wastes, on public highways has become an important risk management issue. The unfavorability of public attitudes regarding hazardous and nuclear wastes signals the potential for strong public opposition to programs for transporting these materials. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted to assess public reactions to a long-term nuclear waste transport program planned to follow a route through a portion of rural Oregon. The survey assessed a number of key risk perception issues, including perceived health and safety risks of nuclear waste transport, relative risks of transport vs. storage at an existing site, trust in state officials, and satisfaction with life in communities along the transport route. The survey identified a number of attitudes and concerns that need to be understood and considered by those in charge of designing and implementing the waste-transportation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents information regarding the responsibilities and liability of dentists for the recycling amalgam waste from mercury separators in dental offices, as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The article discusses whether liability attaches following a the transfer of amalgam to a dental supplier or recycling company, waste receipts as proof of compliance, and the international shipment of hazardous waste.

Focuses on the international and transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and materials. International effort to curb waste trade through the Basel Agreement; Reluctance of the United States to ratify the treaty.

Environmental Consequences of the Gulf War 20Latin America/Caribbean• Environmental Action Plan Adopted 21EC• Shipments of Waste: Draft Regulation 22• MRL Directive Adopted 22CE• Pan-European Environmental Conference 22 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the risks of old electrical goods being transported from the west to China and India for recycling. Campaigners say that workers are being exposed to toxic chemicals. Chemicals released from the recycling process pollute water supplies and could create serious health problems. Recycling workers use little or no protective clothing. Because the process of waste recycling is costly, many developed countries export the waste to developing countries. Here labour costs are cheap, and occupational and environmental standards are often lax or non-existent. The waste is difficult to recycle in an environmentally safe manner. India, Pakistan, Nigeria and China have become prime destinations for the west's toxic waste. Some regulatory efforts are addressing the problem in some countries, but many parts of Asia remain lawless.