Thesis (M.Sc. (Geography)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Hazardous wastes (HW) refer to wastes that may or tend to cause adverse health effects on the ecosystem and human beings. These wastes pose present or potential risks to human health or living organisms, due to the fact that they are: (i) non-degradable or persistent in nature, (ii) can be biologically magnified, (iii) are highly toxic and even lethal at very low concentrations. Various types of production activities in South Africa generate many by-products, which are usually discarded but often turn out to be sources of acute environmental hazards. If not contained and handled appropriately, waste, including HW can cause significant problems. Unattended HW lying around leads to unhygienic conditions resulting in health problems. Increasing population growth, accompanied by rapid urbanization and industrialization, increases the volume of HW generated in the country. Improper waste management is aesthetically unattractive and impacts negatively on tourism by creating blight on South Africa’s beautiful landscape. The aim of the study is to assess how HW is discarded across different land use zones in the Musina Local Municipality in order to reduce and manage the negative impacts that they exert to the environment and human health. The objective was to: (i) analyse the state and management of hazardous waste discarded by beauty salons of the central business district of Musina; (ii) Elucidate the state and management of hazardous waste discarded by households located in the suburbs of Musina; (iii) Document the state and management of hazardous waste discarded by automotive workshop located in the Industrial zone of Musina and (iv) Develop tailor-made recommendations for the safe management of hazardous waste in the town of Musina, Limpopo Province, South Africa The study was conducted in Musina Local Municipality in Limpopo province, South Africa. Musina is the northern town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study sites were divided into three land use zones; central business district (CBD), suburban area, and industrial zone. In terms of methodology observations, a datasheet and a semi-structured questionnaire were used to collect data on HW management across three different land use zones. A total of 73 semi-structured questionnaires (55 in suburban area and 10 in industrial zone and 8 in the Central Business District) were employed to document quantitative and qualitative data. Observations were used to identify the types and document quantity of HW discarded by all participants. The researcher opened the weekly municipal refuse bags that stored discarded products to list and count HW products. The information was captured on a datasheet, which recorded data on type, quantity and separation of hazardous waste from general waste. Data was analysed via descriptive statistics. Results from Central Business District (Salons) shows that nail varnish bottles were the most discarded HW product with 250 discarded per week by all eight salons. Other HW products discarded include artificial nails, hair dye containers, plastic combs, vinyl gloves and disinfectant containers. All salons practice the same disposal method; making use of municipal refuse bags for temporary storage, which is then transported to the municipal landfill site for final disposal. None of the participants separate waste; reasons being lack of awareness of separation management. Shop owners and employees’ attitude towards HW management was neutral while their level of knowledge on the environmental and human health impact was rated low. Seventy-five percent of the respondents were not aware that the products they discard are hazardous. Results from Suburban area (household hazardous waste) shows that home cleaning products were the most discarded Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) product with 237 discarded per week by all 55 sampled households. Other HHW products discarded include personal cleaning products, miscellaneous items, automotive maintenance and gardening products. The 50 households practice the same disposal method; making use of house bin (usually pedal bins). Once the bin is full, they dispose it to the outdoors wheelie bins. The remaining five household dispose of their waste directly to the outdoor bin. None of the participants separated waste; main reasons being lack of awareness of separation management. Participants’ attitude towards HW management was neutral while their level of knowledge on the environmental and human health impact was rated medium. Seventy-three percent of the respondents were aware that the products they discard are hazardous. Results from Industrial Zone (hazardous waste) shows that plastic components were the most discarded hazardous waste (HW) product with 31 discarded per week by all 10 sampled automotive workshops. Other HW products discarded include lead-acid batteries, automotive used oil and paint containers. Automotive workshops practice different storage and disposal method; making use of drums, large containers and old scrap car as a temporary storage place. Once the temporary storage is full, 50% opted for recycling while 30% dispose of their waste to the landfill site; the remaining 20% burn their waste in their premises. A large majority (80%) did not separate their waste; main reasons being a lack of awareness of separation management. Participants’ attitude towards HW management was positive while their level of knowledge on the environmental and human health impact was rated low. Half of the respondents were aware that the products they discard are hazardous. Many studies have looked at the comparison between wastes discarded in the rural versus urban area with little attention on specific enterprises. It is more realistic to consider other enterprises because different activities generated different waste. This study was able to assess how waste is discarded in different enterprises such as salons and automotive workshop with an addition of residential waste. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study of this kind. Future research can look at other enterprises such as HW from restaurant or as far as HW discarded by mining sector. The study recommends that the salon enterprise obtains a HW certificate prior to operating a salon, this will increase awareness and make employees more knowledgeable on issues relating to the management of HW. Most of the wastes discarded by sub-urban area were recyclable materials. The municipality can look into collecting recyclable materials separately and taking it to the recycling facilities. It was shocking to find out that there are automotive industries that burn their waste (without even separating). This poses a serious danger in terms of air pollution and the possibilities of containers exploding; therefore, there is an urgent need to educate people in the automotive industry. Keywords: Hazardous waste, Household Hazardous Waste, Musina, Central Business District

On August 31, 1992, Quality Printing Circuits, a circuit board manufacturing plant in Phoenix, Arizona, burned to the ground. The fire lasted approximately eight hours, creating a thick, black smoke that blew into the surrounding community. Emergency evacuation was erratic and since no air samples were taken during the fire, community exposure levels were unknown. Immediately afterwards, residents reported health problems but government studies on the community were unable to link reported health problems and the fire. Eight months after the fire, a local advocacy group performed a health study on the community. The 690 people surveyed reported symptoms such as asthma, blurred vision, vomiting, hair loss, rashes, and extremity numbness. The survey was never analyzed and the case was closed. Community members continued to report health problems and five years after the fire, the US Environmental Protection Agency reopened the case. They performed two sampling studies but results found that chemical levels were below allowable exposure levels. This thesis contains three chapters that investigate the political, health, and scientific issues related to the QPC fire. The scientific chapter uses the EPA's ISCST3 dispersion model and a mixed-box model, to approximate community exposure concentrations and compare them to allowable human exposure levels. Results of the ISCST3 model show that four (hydrogen chloride, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Acrolein, and naphthalene) of the twenty chemicals modeled were above government allowable concentrations. Inhalation exposure to these chemicals causes similar symptoms as those reported by residents. The health-focused chapter characterized health symptoms reported in the 1993 health survey. Results found that symptoms experienced by residents were similar to those documented in other studies of exposure to chemical smoke. The study also found that residents living closest to QPC reported a greater number of symptoms than residents living further away. The political chapter analyzed the debate as to whether QPC officials and government agencies took the steps needed to protect the exposed community during and after the QPC fire. What became evident was that a significant conflict existed between the interests of residents involved in the QPC fire and the government agencies responsible for protecting them. / Graduation date: 2004

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2000. / Submitted to the Dept. of Chemistry. Adviser: Albert Robbat, Jr. Includes bibliographical references. Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Maryland at College Park, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-147).

Thesis (LL. M.)--Dalhousie University, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-260).

Thesis (MA)--University of Montana, 2009. / Contents viewed on April 30, 2010. Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

Hazardous materials data from business and industrial chemical information and incident databases were analyzed to study the types of chemicals located in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties, Oregon. Federal and Oregon Department of Transportation data were analyzed to study traffic patterns and truck and railroad traffic levels. Results indicate more than 2,000 chemical products are reported by businesses and industries in the three counties, with about 1,000 hazardous ingredients. The primary hazard Classes for these chemicals are flammable fuels, corrosives, and poisonous materials. Diesel, heating fuel, gasoline, and related fuels comprised more than 50% of the materials transported in the study area. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to input industrial and business locations of hazardous materials, historic hazardous materials incidents, traffic densities, population centers, and traffic network intersections. These metrics were modeled as risk factors for potential hazardous materials transportation risks. For Benton County, these factors were combined with population density and critical facilities themes to provide the basis for overlay and proximity analysis for the purpose of facilitating emergency planning and to foster public awareness. Located on the Interstate 5 corridor, Linn County uses and transports a greater variety of hazardous materials than Benton or Lincoln Counties. For example, fifty-one of fifty-five extremely hazardous substances found in the three county area were reported in Linn County, with 24 reported in Benton County, and 6 reported in Lincoln County. Data from Oregon Department of Transportation were extracted to assess accident and traffic patterns and integrate these risk factors with hazardous materials information. One federal and one state database reporting hazardous materials incidents were analyzed. Although traffic increased on study area roads more than 25% in the last decade, two hazardous materials incidents databases did not indicate an increasing number of emergency spill responses. The Oregon State Fire Marshall's incident database indicated an average of 34 per year between 1988-1997. Linn County averaged 18 per year during this time period, Benton County averaged 13, and Lincoln County averaged 3. Fuels were the primary chemical type responded to. The federal Hazardous Materials Information Reporting System database reported 40 incidents in the highway category and 11 railway incidents. Both types of incidents were dominated by corrosive materials in this database, which does not include fuels as defined hazardous materials. Traffic data on the roads used for hazardous materials transport show much higher traffic densities near intersections with other major roadways and in urban areas. Incident reports followed this pattern, primarily occurring in the major cities and towns of the three counties. Estimated daily numbers of trucks carrying hazardous materials ranged from 6 per day on the coastal portion of Oregon 34, to almost 700 on the section of I-5/99E between Albany and the Linn-Marion County border. Rail data studied indicate the highest quantities of materials designated hazardous were also transported on the main north-south corridor of Linn County, implicating this central area in the three counties has the highest density of the risk factors studied. / Graduation date: 2000

Graduation date: 1996

In this study, Hazardous Waste Production potential for the selected priority sectors in OSTIM Organized Industrial Zone (OIZ), Ankara is investigated. A general inventory study is conducted based on both absolute and minor entries in Waste List of Regulation on General Principles of Waste Management, Annex 4. Processes included in priority sectors are identified / moreover, each process is analyzed in terms of inputs entering and outputs leaving. Generated hazardous wastes from each sector are classified as process based, side processes based, and non-process based. After determination of codes and amounts of wastes, hazardous qwaste generation factors are generally calculated as &quot / kg of waste generated per ton of product or raw material processed&quot / . Calculated hazardous waste generation factors are compared with the estimated ones in literature if there is any and a specific range is determined for each waste factor. By use of sector specific hazardous waste generation factors and total capacity values sectoral hazardous waste generation amounts are calculated for OSTIM OIZ. The most crowded and potentially polluter sectors are determined from 14 main producer sectors of OSTIM OIZ. Accordingly, machining, casting of ferrous metals, treatment and coating of metals, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and manufacture of rubber products are selected priority sectors studied in this thesis study. It is observed that among selected priority sectors highest generation occurs in machining sector, which involve high amounts of 12 01 coded HWs as metal grindings and waste oil mixtures. In addition, manufacturing of rubber products sector has no significant hazardous waste generation.