Hazardous Waste Disposal and Transportation

There are three main ways hazardous waste is disposed of: incineration, injection wells, and landfilling. Each one of those methods has drawbacks and presents unreasonable risks and dangers. In addition to disposal companies, there are hundreds if not thousands of businesses involved in the transportation and storage of these hazardous waste. 

 

1. Hazardous Waste Landfills

 

There are landfills that specialize in hazardous waste. Solids, liquids, and sludges all get dumped here. Some of these landfills were specially built to hold hazardous waste. Others were simply repurposed trash landfills meeting minimum standards of safety to get a permit.

 

Many hazardous waste landfills may not currently be operating, but the toxic chemicals are still present, working their way through into the surrounding soil and the groundwater beneath. For instance, in Andover, Minnesota, an old hazardous waste landfill sits waiting for cleanup. Long ago closed, its toxic contents ate away the liner underneath, and thousands of barrels of waste disposed there worked their way through the soil and contaminated an aquifer underneath the site. How large the plume of toxic waste in the aquifer is or how far it will spread is unknown. In 2011, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were discovered leaking from the hazardous waste pit. 

 

In Williamsburg, Ohio, sits another of those hazardous waste landfills closed long ago. There have been thousands of tons of hazardous waste disposed of there over the years. This landfill also accepted startling amounts of toxic waste from several Superfund sites that needed another place to dump their toxic chemicals. The hazardous waste landfill is located upstream from the drinking water source the people use. Workers at the landfill were found directing wastewater from the landfill into a nearby creek used for drinking water for the town. In addition, one of the walls in part of the landfill caved in because that part had been placed in an aquifer and was below the water table. 

 

Hazardous waste landfills that are presently operating receive tens of thousands of tons of hazardous waste every year. While many do not allow radioactive waste to be disposed of at the facility, some may have a permit for that as well. However, research has shown that a lack of permits does not always mean these landfills do not accept something they should not.  

 

In a strange twist of fate, a hazardous waste landfill that operated near the Niagara River in Model City, New York, just 12 miles from the infamous Love Canal waste site, which started much of the environmental movement, wants to restart its operation, which was closed in 2015. For 31 years the hazardous waste landfill accepted PCBs and toxic waste from 38 states at their facility. For years, they discharged into the Niagara River. They called the contaminated discharge “treated wastewater,” but it had  PCBs, dioxins, and other toxic materials. The landfill reached capacity in 2015, holding over 30 years of the most hazardous substances known to mankind. With the huge amount of money to be made in toxic waste disposal, the company is applying not just to reopen but to expand the landfill. The new capacity would be able to accept half the toxic waste made in the entire country. It may also give the landfill operators the right to discharge 20 million gallons of PCB-contaminated wastewater into the river as well. 

 

In New Jersey, hazardous waste landfills were constructed by Dupont and Monsanto to be used for disposing of waste generated at their manufacturing facilities. In both cases it was under six months before leaks were detected in the landfills. Dupont argued the fluids detected were from rainwater, but the compounds in the fluids showed levels of dissolved solids, the presence of phenol compounds and colors indicating the liquid was not rainwater but contaminants leaking. other contaminants. The Monsanto landfill leak was investigated for four years by an outside consultant, and the source of the leak was unable to be located. In both cases the landfills were built using double liners and leak-detection equipment. In both cases there was a breach in the liner and leaks occurred. 

 

At the U.S. Ecology hazardous waste landfill outside Detroit, Michigan, the company says everything is fine and that they operate a state of the art facility. However, records from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality show otherwise. The liner under the landfill, according to the waste industry, will never leak. The primary barrier to prevent toxic and hazardous waste from escaping containment has been verified to be leaking. There is documentation that toxic leachates from the landfill have been spilled into surface water near the facility. Improper venting and monitoring of hazardous wastes stored underground have been found, which could lead to leaks and possibly explosions for interactions of non-compatible chemicals. 

 

The company violated regulation by disposing of hazardous wastes improperly in a non-hazardous waste landfill, cutting costs by using this cheaper and illegal method, ultimately creating a dangerous situation. And, by failing to properly control reactions between chemical waste they were handling at the facility, they caused nine fires in a period of nine years. One of them was an explosion that burned for three days and forced 900 homes to be evacuated. Fires in the landfill have created thick black smoke containing unknown amounts of fumes from hazardous waste to drift over the surrounding areas. Recently, U.S. Ecology announced that it wants to start taking radioactive fracking wastes from out of state. And, the company had been seeking to be allowed to take in PCBs, one of the deadliest compounds known to humans. They are planning on doing all of this in a landfill known to be leaking. 

 

2. Injection Wells

 

These wells are used to literally inject millions of gallons of toxic wastes into the ground at high pressure. Although not as popular a disposal method for hazardous waste as incineration, it is still used and has had serious problems in the past. 

 

The EPA is responsible for regulating these Class I Hazardous Waste Disposal Wells. This class of injection is primarily used by the petroleum, pharmaceutical, and chemical industry to dispose of their toxic waste and other by products considered hazardous. The wells are up to two miles deep in some cases and need to be designed to ensure the waste does not escape from the injection zone. In fact, the EPA requires companies operating these wells to show evidence the hazardous waste will not move from the place it is injected into for a period of 10,000 years. 

 

The industry prefers not talking about this method, so the public for the most part doesn’t even realize what it is the industry is doing. Regular inspections of these facilities are supposed to be taking place, but too often due to a shortage of inspectors, they do not happen. Wells do leak, and many times much of the well casing is unable to be examined anyway due to the specialized equipment and time needed to do a thorough inspection. Therefore, leaks may take years to be discovered, but in the meantime they are contaminating the surrounding soil and groundwater. Supposedly, this method is safe enough to assure the waste does not move for 10,000 years, but it is really another attempt to make it seem the waste has gone away. 

 

The EPA estimates over four trillion gallons of industrial waste have been pumped into the Earth. In Ohio alone, three companies, Vickery Environmental, AK Steel, and INEOS USA, are running injection wells that pumped 247.5 million gallons of acids and cyanide into these wells. In fact, one of the wells in Vickery, Ohio, run by Vickery Environmental, is allowed to continue operating in spite of the EPA listing it  as having major defects. 

 

The facility in Vickery has had quite a history. Back in the mid-1970s, six injection wells were issued permits, and the company began injecting hazardous wastes. By the early 1980s, all of the wells had failed. Waste, which included dioxins, commercial waste, and landfill leachate, leaked into the rock above the 10,000 year containment zone. The leakage was estimated to be over 45 million gallons. Several of the wells were discovered to have holes in their casing, and others were corroded from contact with the waste. The company Waste Management was fined more than $12.5 million for repeatedly mismanaging the leaking wells and dumping over one million gallons of PCBs and dioxins into lagoons on the property.  

 

Sometimes permits to operate hazardous waste injection wells are given out overzealously. In Pasadena, Texas, ExxonMobil wanted to have its own injection well to get rid of hazardous waste at its plant. The company convinced the EPA there was a reasonable degree of certainty the waste would stay where the company put them until they were no longer hazardous, that for the next several thousand years, thousands of gallons of toxic waste would remain in the exact same place and cause no problems. The EPA accepted this self-evidently false reasoning. 

 

The rock and subsurface materials that the hazardous waste is injected into can be incompatible with the waste which can destroy confining formations. Corrosive chemicals, primarily acids, can eat away at the rock formations that protect the water-bearing zones, causing two major problems. First, the permeability of the receiving zone increases, allowing wastes to move into unprotected areas. Then, corrosive chemicals expand the receiving formation cavity by destroying the walls of the injection zone. The size of the cavity grows, causing instability in the overlying rock formations. 

 

In at least one documented case the public has found out about, acid waste was pumped down an injection well in Florida to dispose of it. Unfortunately, the rock structure the acid was supposed to have been contained in for thousands of years reacted with the acid. The acid ate away the rock, which resulted in an underground cavern some estimated was at least 100 feet by 40 feet in size. This cavern may have led to collapse of the underground structure or release of the acid waste into other rock layers, potentially contaminating underground water supplies. Based on this example, the probability of this happening elsewhere with some frequency over the years is quite high. 

 

3. Transportation of Wastes

 

Hauling hazardous wastes from the generator to the disposal company is also a large part of this process. Tank trucks filled with liquid waste roll over our highways all over the country. Truck trailers and rail cars filled with boxes and drums of wastes travel as well. Trucking companies haul hazardous waste like any other cargo. Trucks carrying hazardous wastes have registrations from the states they are licensed in on the sides of the tankers. People who know where to look can see the initials from the state environmental agency listed with registration numbers next to the initials. Other than that marking or a placard on the truck or trailer, the average driver could not tell what its contents are. Tony and I have seen hazardous waste trucks, along with every other type of hauler, routinely parked on the sides of the road. 

 

There are two major concerns with toxic waste transportation: company truck yards being used for storage or transfer of hazardous wastes and the location that the trucks are cleaned and washed out in. 

 

My family had an instance when I lived in upstate New York and a large hazardous waste trucking company wanted to build a terminal and transfer station in our town near a highway. Many people initially saw no problem with a trucking company, but when they realized there was going to be hazardous waste sitting at the location, sometimes for days, that was a different story. When the company was asked about how they were going to clean and wash out their trucks, initially, they said on the site. They quickly backtracked when the issue of the hazardous contents they would be carrying and residues needing they would need to  clean out came up. Typical shipments would consist of PCB-tainted liquids, used and contaminated acid solutions, and paint sludges. Suddenly, the people in the area readily recognized the dangers from the waste and cleaning chemicals that potentially would be stored or used on the site. . These substances could possibly contaminate the wells, depending on the groundwater. Because the company was unable or unwilling to add safety measures to address these issues, their permit was denied. 

 

In Vernon, California, a battery recycling center (which has since been closed down) and a trucking company worked together to illegally transport lead-contaminated materials. The recycler, Exide Battery, and the trucking firm, Wiley Sanders, moved over 128,000 pounds of this hazardous material from one location to another. There was no preventive packaging or liners to secure the lead contamination, and, at least twice, hazmat crews were called to respond to liquids dripping out from beneath the truck trailers. The county is suing the transport company, alleging that for almost 20 years hazardous materials leaked from the improperly secured trucks on roads, highways, and the ground. The storage yard where the trucks returned after hauling the toxic materials quite possibly may have been contaminated as well, spreading the lead and other toxic chemicals into the surrounding area over the years. 

 

In Springfield, Oregon, a company involved in hazardous waste cleanup, testing, and training was fined for mishandling hazardous waste. Northwest Hazmat was cited for transporting waste to locations other than listed on official paperwork and storing waste onsite months longer than allowed. One memorable violation involved one of their employees being allowed to bring waste contaminated with cyanide home with him. The citation didn’t specify why he brought the waste home, but Northwest Hazmat let him do it.

 

In Stockton, California, a Texas-based hazardous waste transport company was caught illegally storing hazardous waste at one of their facilities less than 500 feet from nearby homes. Nobody gave them a permit for doing so, and nobody knows how long these hazardous materials have been regularly sitting in the neighborhood. 

 

In Salisbury, Massachusetts, Safety-Kleen was fined for violations at their hazardous waste storage facility. Numerous violations were noted, including improperly installed leak detection equipment, incomplete records, mismarked storage containers, and improperly trained staff. These were just some of their violations; several other issues were noted at the facility at the time as well. 

 

In Cherokee County, Georgia, an alert driver spotted a tanker truck draining out the tank under an overpass along the interstate highway. Responding police and an environmental team found the hazardous liquids along the roadway. Analysis showed the substance was toxic leachate, most likely from a landfill. A warrant was issued for the truck driver who fled the scene prior to the police arriving. 

 

4. Blending and Preparation of Wastes

 

Some companies decide to get into the game of hazardous waste disposal without having an incinerator themselves. They make themselves into an entirely problem solving company and negotiate disposal deals with the incinerator companies. These companies collect the hazardous waste and either directly bring it to the incinerator or, many times, take it to their own facility to sort, combine, and repack to maximize their own profit.

 

These sites can be almost as dangerous as the incinerator as many accidents and spills occur due to the increased handling and storage of this waste on the site.

 

There are many more of these facilities than most people think. In California alone there 78 such places. Many of them blend in with all the other companies, and people passing by would never know they are handling hazardous and toxic waste inside, unless, of course, there is a problem. Out of those 78, five failed for mishandling the hazardous waste they are supposed to be experts in. Nine other companies received only conditionally acceptable grades when inspected. There were violations including failure to store hazardous waste properly, accepting toxic materials they were not authorized to handle, and using trucking companies not licensed to carry hazardous waste. Thousands of these companies operate across the country and may be in your town. 

 

Outside Chandler, Arizona, a company that does solvent recycling, a process that removes contaminants from solvents so they can be reused, was cited for a variety of violations. Investigations into the company practices revealed that hazardous materials were released to the air on numerous occasions. These releases went unreported, and no measures to prevent this were taken. If it weren’t for employees and others who told about how some of the containers with aerosols were simply released into the air, we wouldn’t even have known about this practice.  In addition to solvent recycling, they also did blending of hazardous wastes, and repackaging which led to other violations as well. 

 

Furthermore, safety measures to minimize risk of fire and explosions were not done, and hazardous waste was not handled properly at the site, which resulted in mixing incompatible wastes. In addition, there were ten open dump areas the company allegedly had used, which the EPA is now forcing the company to clean up. At another of their seven operations, a release of 4,000 gallons of a toxic solvent formed a toxic cloud that drifted away from the plant over wetlands areas near the facility. 

 

Near Tacoma, Washington, in 2018, a hazardous waste facility run by Stericycle mismanaged handling and disposal of tetrazole, a highly hazardous material, resulting in a fire. The state environmental agency fined Stericycle $1.9 million, saying that during the investigation Stericycle gave misleading and incomplete information. The state department of ecology said people could have been killed or injured by the mishandling of the hazardous wastes.

 

The company had another fire in 2018 when they mixed chemicals together in direct violation of orders of compliance from the state. The agency also reported that employees were improperly trained and did not follow procedure.

 

Near Winona, Texas, Gibraltar Chemical resources operated two injection wells and a hazardous waste fuel blending operation. In addition, they also ran a solvent recovery and recycling business at the same location. Over 17 years, people in the area suffered a range of negative health consequences. Investigations by the EPA confirmed chemical releases at the facility caused nearby residents to continuously have dizziness, nausea, and respiratory problems tied to the releases. Documentation showed multiple explosions, fires, chemical releases, and spills occurred. At one point the operation was closed down when the EPA discovered one of the injection wells was missing 800 feet of required concrete casing. 

 

In Detroit, Michigan, a hazardous waste processing plant has received approval from the state to expand its operations. In spite of U.S. Ecology racking up over 150 citations for discharging excessive amounts of cyanide, mercury, arsenic, and additional toxic chemicals into the wastewater, the company will now be allowed to store up to 677,000 gallons of toxic waste onsite at one time. Previously, they were limited to 76,000 gallons. Revenues for U.S. Ecology was over $167 million in 2019. 

 

Every company who wants a piece of the hazardous waste business finds a way to get some action. Some even do it illegally. Down in Houston, Texas, mixed in with oil refineries, chemical companies, and numerous places producing hazardous waste is a company called Wright Containers. They offer customers used empty plastic containers that can hold several hundred gallons of hazardous liquids. Apparently, they were caught telling employees to empty any remaining hazardous liquids from old ones down a concealed storm drain in the warehouse. 

 

The business of hazardous waste management is lucrative. Estimates put the 2020 market at over $13 billion. With that much money available to companies in the business, there are some prominent players and millions of dollars being spent to keep the rules of the game in favor of the industry. Billion dollar companies own and operate many of the disposal facilities and transport companies involved in hazardous waste disposal, and they’re doing everything they can to keep it that way. 

 

The operation of these facilities has always been questioned by people doing research into the risks associated with hazardous waste disposal, especially incineration. The chemicals being released regularly are not fully known and therefore unable to be fully monitored for. There are too many negative incidents related to these facilities of people experiencing adverse health effects to take a chance.

 

A hazardous waste incinerator or landfill is one type of facility that everyone should avoid living anywhere near. Long-term exposure to these facilities and their emissions are suspected of causing all types of cancer, diseases, and birth defects. These companies handle the most toxic substances known to man, and in many cases also dispose of the waste from Superfund sites. Hazardous waste is shipped to these facilities from all over the region, and, in some cases, the country, depending on who offers the cheapest disposal price.

 

Any industrial operation that deals with the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes is a danger. Transportation companies who move the waste around also have hazards associated with their places of work. There is not one positive feature of the entire industry. If so much hazardous waste was not permitted to be made in the first place, there would be much less need for the industry. Ending the creation of hazardous waste is not a hopeless goal, but it does not appear that it will happen for the foreseeable future. 

 

It would be prudent to leave a two miles buffer between you and any type of facility involved in transporting or repacking hazardous waste. Disposal facilities especially present a wider-reaching danger zone, and a minimum of four to five miles would be the minimum we would even suggest. In addition, regular testing of your water supply especially if using well water should be done annually.