Chemical waste
Chemical waste is any excess, unused, or unwanted chemical. Globally, there are about 350,000 officially registered chemicals. Of those, about 7,000 are designed to have biological activity: roughly 4,000 pesticides and 3,000 pharmaceuticals. Around 300,000 industrial chemicals are not designed for a biological activity, but may still have biological effects.
Chemical waste may be classified as hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste, universal waste, or household hazardous waste, each of which is regulated separately by national governments and the United Nations. Hazardous waste is material that displays one or more of the following four characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. This information, along with chemical disposal requirements, is typically available on a chemical's Safety Data Sheet. Radioactive and biohazardous wastes require additional or different methods of handling and disposal, and are often regulated differently than standard hazardous wastes.
Laboratory chemical waste in the US
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prohibits disposing of certain materials down drains. Therefore, when hazardous chemical waste is generated in a laboratory setting, it is usually stored on-site in appropriate waste containers, such as triple-rinsed chemical storage containers or carboys, where it is later collected and disposed of in order to meet safety, health, and legislative requirements. Many universities' Environment, Health, and Safety divisions/departments serve this collection and oversight role.Organic solvents and other organic waste is typically incinerated. Some chemical wastes are recycled, such as waste elemental mercury.
Laboratory waste containment
Packaging
During packaging, chemical liquid waste containers are filled to no greater than 75% capacity to allow for vapor expansion and to reduce potential spills that can occur from transporting or moving overfilled containers. Containers for chemical liquid waste are typically constructed from materials compatible with the hazardous waste being stored, such as inert materials like polypropylene or polytetrafluoroethylene. These containers are also constructed of mechanically robust materials in order to minimize leakage during storage or transit.In addition to the general packaging requirements mentioned above, precipitates, solids, and other non-fluid wastes are typically stored separately from liquid waste. Chemically contaminated glassware is disposed of separately from other chemical waste in containers that cannot be punctured by broken glass.
Labelling
Containers may be labelled with the group name from a list of chemical waste categories, along with an itemized list of the contents. All chemicals or materials contaminated by chemicals pose a significant hazard, and as such regulations require that the identity of the chemicals in a waste container is obvious.Storage
Chemical waste containers are kept closed to prevent spillage, except when waste is being added. Suitable containers are labeled in order to inform disposal specialists of the contents as well as to prevent the addition of incompatible chemicals. Liquid waste is stored in containers with secure screw-top or similar lids that cannot be easily dislodged in transit. Solid waste is stored in various sturdy, chemically inert containers, such as large, sealed buckets or thick plastic bags. Secondary containment, such as trays or safety cabinets, are used to capture spills and leaks from the primary container and to segregate incompatible hazardous wastes, such as acids and bases.Chemical compatibility guidelines
Many chemicals react adversely when combined. Incompatible chemicals are therefore stored in separate areas of laboratories.Acids are separated from alkalis, metals, cyanides, sulfides, azides, phosphides, and oxidizers, as when acids combine with these types of compounds, violent exothermic reactions can occur. In addition, some of these reactions produce flammable gases, which, combined with the heat produced, may cause explosions. In the case of cyanides, sulfides, azides, phosphides, etc. Toxic gases are also produced.
Oxidizers are separated from acids, organic materials, metals, reducing agents, and ammonia, as when oxidizers combine with these types of compounds, flammable and sometimes toxic compounds can be created. Oxidizers also increase the likelihood that any flammable material present will ignite, seen most readily in research laboratories with improper storage of organic solvents.
Environmental pollution
Pharmaceuticals
PPCPs
River pollution
Textile industry
The textile industry is one of the largest polluters in the globalized world of mostly free market dominated socioeconomic systems. Chemically polluted textile wastewater degrades the quality of the soil and water. The pollution comes from the type of conduct of chemical treatments used e.g., in pretreatment, dyeing, printing, and finishing operations that many or most market-driven companies use despite "eco-friendly alternatives". Textile industry wastewater is considered to be one the largest polluters of water and soil ecosystems, causing "carcinogenic, mutagenic, genotoxic, cytotoxic and allergenic threats to living organisms". The textile industry uses over 8000 chemicals in its supply chain, also polluting the environment with large amounts of microplastics and has been identified in one review as the industry sector producing the largest amount of pollution.A campaign of big clothing brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma to voluntarily reform their manufacturing supply chains to commit to achieving zero discharges of hazardous chemicals by 2020 appears to have failed.
The textile industry also creates a lot of pollution that leads to externalities which can cause large economic problems. The problem usually occurs when there is no division of ownership rights. This means that the problem of pollution is largely caused because of incomplete information about which company pollutes and at what scale the damage was caused by the pollution.