Summary
Industrial processes generate a range of waste of a solid, pasty, liquid or gaseous nature, with corrosive, reactive, explosive, toxic characteristics that present potential risks to human health and the environment. These wastes can have different sources of generation and can be dangerous or not. Among these sources are industry, population, hospitals, commerce, mining, among others. Being the main generator of waste is industry, so it is necessary to make a proposal for the classification of waste that takes into account all current legislation related to this issue at the national and international level. In said classification, the origin, the physical-chemical characteristics, the degree of danger,possible treatment and thematic flow. This article aims to present definitions related to waste and a viable and easy-to-apply classification system in Cuba, aimed primarily at the industrial sector to determine the characteristics of the waste generated and the possible solution or treatment to be proposed.
Development
Proper waste management is an indispensable practice of corporate social responsibility and is also a tool that increases the competitiveness of companies in a globalization environment, improving their image and reputation, efficiency in production processes and lower costs.
Waste management is understood as activities aimed at giving waste the most suitable final destination according to its characteristics, including collection, sorting, storage, transport, treatment, recovery and disposal operations. It allows gradual progress towards continuous improvement and towards eco-efficient production systems.
Residue is all useless or unwanted material, originated by human activity, in any physical state (solid, liquid, gaseous, and their respective mixtures) and that can be released into any receiving medium (atmosphere, water, soil).
Among the activities of waste management, one of the most important is its classification and it is precisely the fundamental objective of this work, which is developed below.
Establishing a waste classification is complex because they are made based not only on their origin but also on their danger, composition or characteristics. In fact, one of the main problems when studying waste is its characterization.
Classification and segregation of waste
Through this activity, the aim is to identify hazardous and non-hazardous waste in order to design optimal strategies for mitigating its environmental impact and commercial use, in addition to taking into account its physical-chemical state, its thematic flow, its origin, and its possible treatment. For this, it is necessary to frame these waste groups within the classification characteristics in order to obtain the technical description of the material, industrial and environmental safety considerations for handling, and ecologically viable criteria for its final disposal. It is important to highlight here the need for identification of obsolete material and its better and prompt disposal, avoiding its accumulation and degradation, becoming waste, generating extra costs and loss of value.On the other hand, waste must be grouped and stored adequately to optimize its management according to criteria of compatibility and feasibility of reuse and recycling and to avoid cross contamination and degradation of waste and loss of possibility of value recovery.
The characterization and segregation of waste brings several advantages for the company, such as:
Reduce waste treatment costs by avoiding solutions at the end. Implementation of a classification system to identify opportunities for source reduction, reuse, and recycling.
Generation of added value to waste; separation and segregation of waste to achieve the highest possible value and facilitate its collection and handling.
Compliance with current environmental legislation and corporate requirements.
To carry out this work, the following methodology is recommended:
Identification of generic and specific waste according to their origin within the production system.
Identification and classification of waste according to national and international hazard criteria.
Evaluation of alternatives for segregation, storage and proper management of waste.
Identification of the potential for re-use, recycling to be marketed in waste bags.
Identification and application of standards for handling, storage, safe transport and labeling of waste.
Evaluation of disposal systems and / or final treatment if necessary.
Design of waste classification format.
Preparation of a control and monitoring program.
Preparation and delivery of the final report.
Classifying waste by its origin and by its dangerousness allows the development of management strategies adapted to the particularities of each type. Industrial waste is very different from agricultural or domestic, and gaseous or liquid wastes are totally different from solids, or radioactive.
Once the most important elements of waste management have been analyzed, a morphological analysis proposal is made for their classification, taking into account various criteria, which are reflected in Tables 1, 2 and 3:
For this classification it will be necessary to define each of the elements that are reflected in the tables, which will be identified below:
USW: Domestic garbage and the rest of the waste generated within a population.
RC: Waste generated in any commercial activity.
RI: Waste from industrial activities. Within this there are two large sections: assimilable to RSU, that is, they have the same characteristics (or are the same); and process residues, that is, all those wastes that are generated in production activities. The responsibility for its management rests with the producers. They have no value as merchandise, often because the applicable techniques to make them useful are expensive and economically unprofitable for the entrepreneur. Fortunately, the reuse of these wastes is increasing, often as raw material for other processes.
RA: Waste from agricultural and livestock activities. They come from agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry operations or the food industry.
RCD: Its origin is all the activities linked to the construction and demolition of buildings and infrastructure.
RT: Waste generated in any sanitary activity. Waste from veterinary activities is also often included. Incorrectly, sometimes they are only associated with two specific flows –biocontaminated1; cytostatics2-, when the concept encompasses the various types of waste generated in a health / veterinary (assistance) center.
RM: Waste generated in extractive activities.
RS: Solid waste that is generated regardless of its origin.
RL: Waste in a liquid state regardless of its origin.
RLF: waste generated in the form of sludge and sludge.
RPS: Waste generated with a pasty nature.
RR: Materials that emit radioactivity. They are very dangerous.
RG: Wastes that whatever their origin are in a gaseous state.
RP: Waste generated in industrial activities that present characteristics or substances that make them toxic to people or to the environment. Within these residues, a specific current can be established referring to domestic toxins when they are generated in the domestic environment.
RI: Waste that does not present any physical-chemical activity that allows the release of contaminants to the environment to be appreciated.
RB: Wastes whose main polluting load is the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms (they can cause damage or disease).
RNP: Wastes that initially do not have any dangerous characteristics, although they cannot be considered inert.
RF: All those organic wastes that can be treated through some fermentation process.
RC: All those wastes that can be recycled (reintroduced into the production system), or in on-site processes (in the same production process that generates them), or in some recovery activity that allows their material use in new production processes.
RIT: Those wastes that through some physical-chemical process can lose, or neutralize, their dangerous characteristics.
RUT: Waste that is generated at the end of the useful life of a device, product or article, but can be used for the same purpose that they were conceived.
RD: Waste that cannot be used in any production process or as part of another article.
REE: Waste generated when this equipment reaches the end of its useful life.
VFU: Waste generated at the end of the useful life of a vehicle.
REEN: Waste that is generated once the article, product or merchandise was used as long as it contains a container or package.
RPVC: Waste generated once the article, product or merchandise was used, provided it contains a container.
The application of this morphological analysis in Cuba can be seen in several examples:
The Union of Raw Material Recovery Companies (UERMP) is the guiding center of the recovery and recycling activity of the waste generated in the country, an example of this is beer bottles that in this case can be classified as following way:
Based on its origin: RI
Based on its physical-chemical characteristics: RS
Based on the degree of danger: RPN
Based on possible treatment: RC
Based on the thematic flow: REEN
In the Pharmaceutical Medical Industry, residues of pharmaceutical products are generated, which can be classified as follows:
Addressing their origin: RI
Addressing their physico-chemical characteristics: RS
Addressing the degree of danger: RP, Concentration of a certain component that makes them dangerous, residues of pharmaceutical and clinical products
Addressing the possible treatment: RD
Addressing the thematic flow: RPVC
At Almacenes Universales, SA (AUSA) it is a logistics operator and generates waste, such as plastic containers for soft drinks, which can be classified as follows:
Based on its origin: RI
Based on its physical-chemical characteristics: RS
Based on the degree of danger: RPN
Based on possible treatment: RC
Based on the thematic flow: REEN
Table 1. Waste classification for management.
Table. 2. Hazardous waste classification
Table. 3. Classification for REE
Conclusions
The classification of waste is a complex process because it takes into account many elements and due to the variety in the composition of each of the waste and residues that are generated, mainly in the industrial sector.
For the classification of waste, it is necessary to take into account several aspects, among which are: physical-chemical state, degree of danger, origin of its generation, treatment proposed to be followed, and other aspects are taken into account within them.
This proposed classification can be used in the industrial sector and it is necessary to continue deepening its studies for all the current development that is achieved in this sector.
Bibliographic references
1) Resolution 87/99: Hazardous waste and other wastes, CITMA, 1994.
2) Directive 91/156 / EEC, European Waste Catalog (CER) with 16 categories, 2000.
3) http // www.ingurumena.ejgv.euskadi.net. Monograph on Electrical and Electronic Devices, 2000.
4) http: // www.logispilot.com
5) García Olivares, Arnulfo Arturo: Tactical-operational recommendations to implement a Reverse Logistics program, edited by eumed. Net.México, 2004
6) Capuz Rizo, Salvador, 2002: Ecodesign, "Life cycle engineering for the development of sustainable products", Editorial U: PVMadrid, Spain ISBN 84-9705-191-2
