Environmental And Health Impacts Of Hazardous Waste In Australia: An Essay.

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The modern day globalization and industrial advances has promised the world a technologically advanced future. The improvements in the several factors of commodities and services look forward to make life easier for the modern day people. However, it has to be kept in mind that every benefit comes with a cost and so does all the technological global advancements. Non-sustainable use of different resources to meet the demands of the ever-growing population has led to the industrial sector and other sectors to create tons of hazardous waste (Yang, 2017). These leftover products have no use in the later phases and are just ready to be dumped. Improper dumping of hazardous wastes have been affecting the world since the very advent of the industrial revolution. Very recently, the different global environmental forums and the different governments of the world have realized the negative impacts these hazardous wastes can do to the society. It is important to monitor the impact of these hazardous wastes of the both the health of the society and the environment. These monitoring can further help to identify the primary measures that should be taken by the governments to check and control the impact of the hazardous waste (Hoornweg & Bhada-Tata, 2012). In case of Australia, the Department of Environment has been actively trying to monitor the environmental impact of the hazardous wastes so as check and control their effects in the future for the benefits of the environment and health of the society. This discussion highlights the key aspects of the environmental and health impacts of the hazardous waste and how deeply they have been harming the nature as well as the human health.

Hazardous waste is referred to a special category of industrial or social waste. The primary characteristic of this kind of waste is that, it is harmful for the health of the living beings and the environment in general. Moreover, the danger is more if these wastes are disposed without the proper maintenance of any safety regulations. Hazardous wastes do not only come in the solid form but in every form, solid, liquid and gas, and therefore it can harm every medium of the environment, from air, land and water (Guerrero, Maas & Hogland, 2013). It is important for the governing bodies to properly identify the hazardous wastes and categorize them according to their nature and their potentiality to harm. These can help in the proper management of the disposal and can reduce their impacts on the health of the human beings and the environment.

Hazardous Waste

In Australia, the government has identified 49 waste groups which are categorized to be hazardous and have negative impact on the health of the human beings and also on the environment. However, it has been difficult for them to determine that which among the 49 listed groups have the potential for the most harmful impact on the health and the environment (Environment.gov.au, 2018). The overall contribution towards disposal with regards to the weight of the waste disposed is a very rudimentary indicator to determine the potentiality of a particular hazardous waste towards the environment (Inglezakis & Moustakas, 2015). Similarly, the inherent hazard indicator of the hazardous wastes does not provide any true degree of understanding of the potentiality of the impact that these wastes can have on the environment. However, if the study includes both the weight factor and the hazard index, it is possible to relate them accordingly and identify the key risks that can done by the hazardous wastes.

Figure 1: Graph representing the amount of hazardous wastes in different Australian provinces. (Source: Department of Environment and Energy, Australia)

In the study of the hazardous wastes in the Australian scenario, it has been reported that of all the wastes listed in the category, the primary characteristics of most impactful hazards can be identified in the top 10-12 category of the wastes. These hazards include various biohazards caused from clinical and similar wastes. Some of the other types of hazards are caused due to chromium poisoning which comes mainly from the preserves used for preserving wood. These have a high impact on the environment as well as the human health. Moreover, waste products from pesticides, furans, dioxides, PCBs and compounds (Van der Sloot & Kosson, 2012). Shortlisting some of the most harmful wastes with regards to the volume and the hazard index are Asbestos, Waste Oil, Alkali Wastes, Lead Waste, Clinical Waste, Contaminated Soils, Spent pot liner waste, Contaminated bio-solids, non-toxic salts, Persistent organic pollutants.

The asbestos waste is one of the primary hazardous waste materials which consist of both the building material asbestos and the contaminated soil specimen which consists of asbestos particles. However, asbestos contaminated soils are of lower quantity and for the determination of the impact on health and environment, the study limits itself to the waste asbestos from the building materials (Gamper-Rabindran & Timmins, 2013). Asbestos consists of almost 11% of the solid waste materials that are disposed and is one of the most abundant hazardous waste material that is found in Australia. This material thus poses the significant risk towards the environment and the health of the people. The recent studies have not yet been able to identify whether the asbestos waste has increased or decreased in the recent years (Business.gov.au, 2018).

The Australian Scenario

Figure 2: Asbestos waste in Australia (Source: Abc.net.au)

The primary risk that asbestos waste poses is towards the human health. The risk occurs when the human beings inhale the asbestos fibres. This aspect has serious effects such as the causing of related diseases or at times, death (Khaliq, Rhamdhani, Brooks & Masood, 2014). The effects of inhaling asbestos have a varied effect on the human body ranging from several issues in the lungs. The lung tissues gets damaged by inflammation. The asbestos related diseases are a result of continuous exposure to asbestos breathing and take years to develop. The early symptoms are not detectable and the diseases are detected only when the disease takes a severe form. The most common asbestos related diseases are mesothelioma, pleural plaques, lung cancer and asbestosis (Khaliq, Rhamdhani, Brooks & Masood, 2014).

The exposure of asbestos wastes were the most during the 1950s to 1970s when the houses of Canberra and New South Wales were fabricated with tons of refined variety of blue and brown asbestos for the purpose of insulation (Environment.gov.au, 2018). This step was taken as asbestos came as a cheap solution for the insulation purpose and was also effective in its purpose. The then responsible company Mr Fluffy used the popular product Asbestofluf for this purpose. The government identified the effects of asbestos as early as 1980s and instructed the removal program in the affected areas. However, despite the early measures, recent incidents of more than 1000 families moving out from their homes, due to asbestos effect have been reported (Environment.gov.au, 2018). The reported events demonstrated cracking of the asbestos ceilings and asbestos fibres contaminating the air in the living space of the families.

The second type of hazardous waste that has been threatening the Australian environment is the waste oils that are emitted as the result of the leftover oils from the industries and the lubricating oils from the vehicles. These oils can be recovered and reused for different other purposes. The reports by the Australian government suggest that these waste oils comprise of almost 3.5% of the total hazardous waste in Australia. With every year the oil waste has been increasing with the development of new industries and the increase in the number of vehicles. The rate has doubled in the last five years. Moreover, the increase in the specialized mining activities and the use of petroleum based resources also contribute to the increase in the waste oils in the environment (Latimer, 2017).

Asbestos Waste

The waste oils highly impact the environment. Environmental disturbances due to oil spills are known events and have damaged the ecosystems over the period of time. Global events such as the oil spill by the Exxon Valdez oil tanker in 1989, caused a widespread damage in Alaska and was an eye opener due to large scale impact on the environment (Palinkas, 2012). The oil spill was the cause of the death of more than 100000 species of mammals and birds and had a huge impact on the ecological balance. The effect was so large that more than twenty five years later in 2014, the beaches of Alaska still contain an amount of 16000-21000 gallons of waste oils.

In Australia, a similar event occurred when an oil spill occurred in March 2009 during cyclone Hamish, when oil spilled along with other fuels and ammonium nitrate into the Coral Sea, from MV Pacific Adventurer, near Queensland. The spill spread over a large area covering an area of over 60 km and affected the areas of the Moreton Bay, Moreton Island and the Sunshine Coast (White, 2013). The Queensland government reported that it required more than $4 million and the labour of more than 1400 people over a period of 16 months to clean up the area.

Figure 3: Impact of oil Spill on sea birds in Australia (Source: Green Left Weekly)

The Australian government, however, started The Product Stewardship for Oil Program, to tackle the oil waste from the industries. The system, comprises of a levy which is laid on the recycled oil and are given back to the refineries to decrease the oil waste in the future (Ford, Steen & Verreynne,  2014). However, there have been discrepancies in the system, as it is not sure whether the levy system is actually helping the environment or has it been just another source of benefit for the oil companies.

Alkaline wastes are the by-products of several industrial mining and extractions. The basic solutions or the bases in general have been harming the environment in good quantities produced as the resultant from the coal seam gas which is extracted from Queensland. Besides this alkaline wastes are also extracted from different industries in Australia, such as the lime kilns, cement factories, aluminium industries which are further used for different purposes (Latimer, 2017).

Alkaline wastes have a harmful effect on the human health. This is due to the resultant exposure to the alkaline solutions in a concentrated form. These exposures can cause severe skin problems such as inflammation in the throat, eye or mouth according to the area of exposure (Tabasová, Kropá?, Kermes, Nemet & Stehlík, 2012).

Waste Oils

The alkaline waste is spread throughout Australia and constitutes about 5% of the total hazardous waste material produced. Queensland is the primary producer of the hazardous alkaline waste producing about 64% of the total production (Environment.gov.au, 2018). From 2009 there has been a massive industrial expansion in Queensland, leading to the extraction of the coal seam gas and other non-toxic salts which have been significantly contributing to the rise of the alkaline wastes. The alkaline waste from the coal seam gas industry alone seems to be around 95% of the total alkaline waste production (Latimer, 2017).

The waste produced from the coal seam gas industry is primarily in the solid and sludge form and a little amount in the brine water form. The 95% waste that has been reported is calculated to 200000 tonnes which indicates the severity of the impact that these alkaline wastes have upon the human health and environment likewise (Environment.gov.au, 2018).

Lead wastes are another form of hazardous wastes which affect the health of the human beings as well as other living beings. The primary source of lead wastes in Australia is the industry related to the lead acid batteries. Besides these batteries, lead wastes are also generated from the cathode ray tube of the televisions and monitors (Kiddee, Naidu & Wong, 2013).

Lead is both toxic for the environment and the health, but as lead is a mineral it can get accumulated in the soil while it can have severe adverse effects on the health of the human beings. Exposure to lead causes different types of abnormalities in the health system. Diseases occur mainly in the nervous system of the human beings resulting in the failure of organs. The exposure to led can also be harmful for the unborn babies (Kang, Chen & Ogunseitan, 2013). The lead exposure primarily affects the smaller children up to the age group of five years. The unborn babies can have severe problems like growth deficiency, premature birth, and improper development of the brain or other body organs. This can lead to a generation born with physical and mental deformities.

Figure 4: Huge amount of Lead Waste in Australia (Source: AHLEC)

The generation of lead waste has been growing significantly in Australia. The lead wastes comprise of about 2% of the total hazardous waste that are created in Australia. The growth of the industries especially, the battery industries have contributed to the increased use of lead in the recent years. The Australian is trying to find solutions for the reducing and the effective management of the lead wastes so that its effects can be minimalized in the future (Latimer, 2017).

Clinical wastes are some of the most common and most dangerous hazardous waste that occurs in the everyday life. The clinical wastes are by-products or the used products from the medical fields ranging from hospitals, clinics, veterinary uses, dental clinics, pharmaceutical factories, laboratories, blood banks and a variety of other medicinal facilities. These wastes are often infected with the germs of the diseases and have the potential to spread the germs to other people (Windfeld & Brooks, 2015).

Figure 5: The chart shows the initiative by the Australian government to reduce Clinical Waste (Source: EPA Victoria)

Besides these used products there are also several other medical wastes which are discarded from hospitals, clinics and pharmacies (Mathur, Patan & Shobhawat, 2017). These products consist of the discarded medicine which have crossed their expiry dates or are discarded due to non-use. These drugs upon contact with polluted air form several toxic products which contaminate the environment (British Medical Association, 2013). These drugs develop cancer-causing agents and highly dangerous if it comes in contact with any person.

The medical wastes form about 1% of the hazardous wastes in Australia, in terms of the volume. However, according to the hazard index, these medical wastes are some of the most dangerous agents to have impact on the environment and human health (García-Pérez et al., 2013). The dangerous natures of these medical agents are primarily due to the infectious agents that are present in these wastes. One of the most primary causes of the infection are the used needles which are a large part of the medical wastes. These wastes contain micro-organisms of pathogenic nature and can potentially enter the body of any human being by ingestion or inhalation (Xin, 2015). The most susceptible to these infections are the hospital staff who are often exposed to accidental piercing from the used needles due to mishandling.  Besides the hazardous factor, the visual impacts of the medical wastes are also disturbing as they sometimes contain human body parts (Latimer, 2017).

However, Australia maintains a very tight regulation regarding the disposal of medical wastes, but still poor handling by the hospital staffs and the inefficiency of the health care facilities in Australia sometimes lead to the improper disposal of the medical wastes which affect the environment and the human health (Latimer, 2017).

The contaminated soils are very difficult to study and it is very difficult to judge how much environmental and health impact they produce. This is due to inability to isolate the hazardous toxic materials from the soil material. However, it is important to identify the contaminated soil as annually, more than 1.4 metric tonnes of contaminated soils are produced (Roberts, 2015). Such a huge amount of toxic soil inevitably causes a huge impact on the environment and the health of the human beings.

There are types of hazardous wastes which are produced on a regular basis in the industrial sites and factories. These wastes are managed inside the sites and are often missing from the interpretation data. These hazardous wastes are referred to as the invisible wastes as it is not possible to know how these wastes impact the environment and the human health (Latimer, 2017).

Spent pot liner is one of the most hazardous waste that is produced as a result of the industrial process. Spent pot liner generates from the aluminium smelters. At present there are five smelters who work in Aluminium in Australia. The process of the smelting is carried in cells which are electrolytic and are called pots. During the operations, amounts of aluminium and different kinds of fluorides get absorbed in the lining of the cells. This accumulates over the period of a few years after which the lining becomes useless and are replaced (Domingo, Perelló, Nadal, & Schuhmacher, 2012). The removed lining is known as the spent pot liner. This liner is extremely hazardous for the environment as it has several limitations. Firstly, the highly reactive component fluoride is present along with the poisonous component cyanide which easily dissolves in the water bodies. Secondly, the lining becomes very corrosive due to its exposure to basic elements such as alkali. Thirdly, it is highly reactive with water and as a result emits various toxic and explosive gases (Latimer, 2017).

These wastes pose severe threat to the human health along with the environment. This threat is due to the mixing of the fluorine in the waters which presents itself as a possibility for the wastes to have a highly negative impact on the environment (Mari et al., 2014).

The Spent pot liners are not a part of the waste management tracking framework, as it has different forms and different induced products. It is hard to determine the amount of impact each of the chemicals have on environment and human health. The government believes to decrease the impact by reducing the number of Aluminium smelting units. However, the primary concern for the impact still remains intact because of the long-term stock these companies maintain for the easy and fair production of Aluminium. The stacked aluminium is over 900000 tonnes which has a long use and are not likely to reduce the hazardous impact on the environment and the human health (Latimer, 2017).

The contaminated bio-solids are primarily the sewage sludge which are removed after the treatment in order to decrease the pathogens that cause diseases and the organic matters that are volatile. The product produced is a stabilized one. The biosolids are often reused for beneficial purposes and have a deep impact throughout Australia. The effective bi-solids can be used as the fertiliser to maintain the quality of soils and improve the growth of the plants (Das, Gupta & Mazumder, 2012).

These bio-solids are not tracked in the waste management index and are not monitored by any of the government bodies. These are one of the invisible wastes. However, in the recent years bio-solids comprise of more than 1.5 Mt of wastes and have been reported in the list of Australia’s top hazardous waste products (Greenberg, 2017). This report makes the bio-solids aligned with the other most dangerous waste products which are hazardous by nature.

Bio-solids are generally not considered as hazardous wastes, however, the bio-solids which are generated from the industrial areas are generally contaminated with different industrial wastes such as heavy metals and other contaminating agents that exceed the marking criteria set for the protection of the environment and the human health (Lu, Chang & Liao, 2013). This type of classification categorizes bio-solids in the hazardous waste list.

It is to be noted that there are two types of bio-solids, one categorized as hazardous due to its generation in the industrial area and the other one being beneficial towards increasing the soil quality.  From the reports by the government bodies it is observed that on the basis of the waste management, most of the bio-solids exceed the level of the hazardous index and comprises of the hazardous chemicals and toxins which make it more dangerous towards the environment (Chandrappa & Das, 2012). The presence of arsenic, mercury and lead in the bio-solids establish the fact that the bio-solids have crossed the threshold of the hazardous waste and are susceptible to have a deep impact on the environment.

This discovery of bio-solids being a hazardous waste is a recent development and has caused much awareness among the community. However, at this initial stage the government can take appropriate measures to track down the limit of hazard that can avoided from the bio-solids. These can create an extensive bio-solids management system and can effectively reduce the impact of the bio-solids upon the environment (Latimer, 2017).

As has been discussed earlier the largest production of coal seam gas occurs in Queensland. A few units can also be found in the New South Wales. The coal seam gas waste products consist of 80% of the waste products that are produced in Queensland. These waste materials are monitored and categorised by the government so as identify the intensity of their hazardousness (Latimer, 2017).

The primary waste product that is caused by the extraction of coal seam gas are mostly brine waters. There are also many other products. However, the large volume of the brine water produced makes it difficult for disposal (Rebovich, 2017). Landfill, which is one of the most popular options taken by the companies to check their waste production, is not an option for the brine water solutions. The salt water might get leached into the water bodies through the soil and can cause major environmental damage. Moreover, the groundwater might also get polluted and cause crisis of drinking water. Herein, comes the challenge of maintaining such a huge volume of salt water (Latimer, 2017).

Moreover, in the earlier section, the discussion focuses on the alkaline waste that is produced as a by-product from the coal seam gas. This demonstrates that how coal seam gas pose a high risk towards the environment. Salt water contaminated with alkaline concentration is very risky to contain (Ericson, Caravanos, Chatham-Stephens, Landrigan & Fuller, 2013). The recycling process is lengthy and requires expertise to handle the situation.

POPs are dangerous and ecologically persevering substances which can be transported between nations by the world's seas and environment. POPs gather in living beings and have been followed in the greasy tissues of people and different creatures (Gharabaghi, Irannajad & Azadmehr, 2013). While impacts fluctuate with every individual substance species, human wellbeing impacts have a tendency to be incessant – a few POPS are conceivable human cancer-causing agents. As a rule, their ecological effect is of equal or of a more noteworthy concern - the PBDEs, PFOS and HBCD all exhibit critical sea-going poisonous quality, industriousness in the earth and tend towards bio magnification. There is general universal understanding that they require worldwide activity to decrease their effect on people and the earth (Latimer, 2017).

Conclusion:

Hazardous wastes have been directed by state and regional governments in Australia for a considerable length of time, prompting controls about licensing of different departments that can be responsible for the proper maintenance of the waste management. A more profound learning of what particular hazardous wastes are created in Australia, from what sources they emerge, which administration pathways and distances they go to and what their human wellbeing and natural effects according to the regulations of Australia, is a very recent development. As data and information is being based upon different agencies such as the Australian Government and the State and Territory Government ventures, more agencies are likely to be incorporated for the proper valuation of the hazardous management in Australia.

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