Hazardous Waste requires special care
Hazardous Waste Treatment
Hazardous waste is much lower in volume than non-hazardous waste, but is potentially much more harmful to human health and/or the environment. It therefore requires special care.
Hazardous Waste Incineration (HWI) is the best option in most cases, since it ensures complete burnout and destruction - thanks to the combination of time, temperature and turbulence. HWI also offers advanced flue gas cleaning systems, by which hazardous components are either destroyed (broken down to harmless materials) or captured and then immobilised and safely stored.
All facilities dealing with hazardous waste are subject to strict regulations. They need special licenses and special procedures, they also receive regular inspections from the authorities.
Hazardous waste treatment is more expensive than non-haz treatment, due to the special procedures that need to be followed and due to the high maintenance cost of the facilities.
- HWI is therefore only used for hazardous and special wastes for which there are no other options (e.g. recovery) available.
- HWI is mostly used for critical wastes that need to be taken out of the environment or material cycles, either for their adverse impact on health or environment or for reasons of quality, safety and reputation.
