- Hazardous waste requires specific handling.Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
The definition of solid waste is so complicated an issue that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created an interactive tool that allows organizations to properly define their solid waste. The Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) is available at the EPA web site. The EPA website says this tool is designed from a flow chart and allows you to define which type of solid waste you are dealing with, and find the right handling and disposal directions. For example, hazardous wast (a subcategory of solid waste) must be treated with utmost caution. - Most landfills have been closed by the EPA.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
Solid waste is rarely actually disposed of. In the past, a great deal of solid waste was actually just stored somewhere, usually in a landfill. Today, the environmental issues surrounding solid waste disposal mean that landfills are no longer an option. One major environmental issue of landfills is groundwater contamination. Groundwater is water beneath the earth's surface that is often our drinking water. Once groundwater becomes contaminated, it is very difficult (sometimes impossible) to clean up. Another problem with landfills is that they do eventually fill up. Once full, they are closed by the EPA. - Corrosion of toxic waste barrels causes leakage.Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
Solid waste handling and disposal issues are also important for communities. Improper solid waste disposal can cause human health risks like chemical burns, leukemia and even birth defects. One striking example is Love Canal, a residential community near Niagara Falls, NY. The EPA says that during the 1920s this area was used as a municipal and industrial dump site. In 1953, the dump site was covered and sold to the city. One hundred homes and a school were built on the property. In 1978, record rainfall caused the hazardous waste to leach out and contaminate the area. Eckhart C. Beck of the EPA wrote at the time that rusting waste-disposal drums could be seen breaking up through backyards. Beck goes on to say that "Trees and gardens were turning black and dying... Puddles of noxious substances were pointed out to me by the residents." Disturbingly, children returned from playing outdoors with chemical burns on their hands and faces. This was not the whole tragedy of Love Canal, though. An alarmingly high number of babies were born with birth defects in this tiny community of 100 houses. - The most obvious issues associated with transportation of solid waste is a reliance on fossil fuels for transportation vehicles, and the emissions these vehicles create. Legal issues abound, however, as interstate regulations on solid waste transportation, handling and disposal vary among the states. In short, states that have recycling laws often protest solid waste coming into landfills from non-recycling states. The National Solid Waste Management Association (NSWMA) notes that the U.S. Supreme Court regularly gets involved in these cases.
