ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

(ARC 1413/BLD 60203)

HAZARDOUS WASTE

GROUP MEMBER:

1)GOH YEN NEE (0315551)2)LEE YEN CHEI (0320568)3)SIEW JOHN LOONG (0315871)

TUTOR: MR. SIVARAMAN

Introduction

We are now living in a modern technological society that makes used of numerous substances that are mostly hazardous or toxic. The releasing of hazardous waste can be accidentally or purposely, but no matter how it happened, it has seriously contaminating the earth, which are the air, water and land. Tons of diseases or sickness cases are caused by this hazardous waste, like headache, nausea, cancers and birth defects. It even causes fatal to us in some serious manner. The action of releasing hazardous substances must be stopped as soon as possible or we as human beings will face the consequences and we will be some sort of destroyed by what we had created. So what exactly does it mean by hazardous waste? It is a container with skull and crossbones on it or an image of exploding represents a form of hazardous waste, which may be in liquid or solid form that is chemically reactive. For example, air pollution has affected our life seriously and it came by different sources, like in Canada.

General: (Environment Canada, 2002)

Hazardous Waste in Australia

The hazardous waste has affected the whole world and tons of hazardous substances are produced from time to time. Different territory produces different amount of hazardous waste, depending on how much resources the country has used. The table below shows the hazardous waste generated (tones) from respective territories of Australia from 2010-2011, which are Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. (Nature waste reporting 2013, 1 January 2013)

Jurisdiction Hazardous Waste Generated (Tones)

Table 1.0 (Nature waste reporting 2013, 1 January 2013)

From the table 1.0, at least 6.16 million tonnes of hazardous waste (comprising solid and liquid hazardous wastes) were generated in Australia in 2010–2011.Queensland has the highest waste movements which is 1 765 545 while Australian Capital Territory has the lowest waste movements which is 13 670.Most probably, people in Australian Capital Territory know how to manage their hazardous waste properly and the government has taken some actions on it. Meanwhile, people in Queensland has generated too much hazardous waste which will affect the environment and it will brings fatal to themselves if the pledge of hazardous waste comes to a critical situation. From the data report, the hazardous waste

generated in Australia is higher than it should be. We all know that the more advance the country is, the more wastage it produces. But at the same time, Australia supposedly to have gained control of their wastage with the technology they have. If the pledge continues to happen, it will directly affects the environment in Australia, as well as the economics of Australia. In order to handle the hazardous waste generated, a lot of money has to be spent on it. As the hazardous waste generated increases, the cost of handling those hazardous waste will increase too. (Nature waste reporting 2013, 1 January 2013)

Authorised movements of hazardous waste, 2009–2010 to 2011–2012.

Diagram 1.0 (Nature waste reporting 2013, 1 January 2013)

The diagram 1.0 shows the authorized movements of hazardous waste of Australia. The waste from Industrial Processes has the highest movements of hazardous waste which is 67 852 tons while clinical waste has the least which is only 270 tons. There is lots of Industry activities are been held in Australia and they provide a huge amount of waste products. They do not have a proper management of waste either. In another sides, clinical waste always

runs a good waste management protocol so that is why they have lower movements of hazardous waste. The government should take some drastic action in order to deal with those who involve themselves in high movements of hazardous waste such as the industrial Processes. They should have enforced the laws in taking action. For example, the government can set a law, saying that whomever that reaches the amount of movement of hazardous waste will be jailed or fined in certain amount of compensation. If not, the situation will get worse and the people in Australia will suffer much caused by the movements of hazardous waste , such as illness that can bring fatal. (Nature waste reporting 2013, 1 January 2013)

Local Case Study 1: Hazardous Waste Management of Lynas

Now we are heading to the biggest hazardous waste threats that we are facing in Malaysia, which everyone sure knows about it-- Lynas. Lynas Corporation is an Australian rare earths mining company. It has two major operations, which is a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Malaysia and a refining facility at Kuantan, Malaysia. The Lynas project troubles a lot of Malaysian, especially for those who stays in Kuantan because they don't have a proper waste management and it affects the health condition. For some serious case, it evens brings fatal to them. (Sou Jin Hou, 21 March 2012)

Waste Management of Lynas in Australia and Malaysia

AUSTRALIA MALAYSIABury the waste at Mt Weld where it came from. There is no accumulation of refinery. As soon as waste is produced, it is shipped for burial.

There is no permanent waste disposal plan and only temporary dump on site exists.

The distance between Mt Weld and refinery site is about 880km by road.

Raw materials are transported 1000km by land and 4000km by sea.

The nearest population centre is 35km away. Only 1500 inhabitants around.

Nearest population is within 35km. About 700 000 people is around.

Waste is diluted. Waste is not diluted at all and the radioactivity is higher.

There are impermeable ponds, progressively buried when full.

There is temporarily cover the waste with an ''unspecified'' method.

It is located in the dessert sway from the aquifer

It is located in reclaimed swampland. Annual rainfall is 2860mm and it easily getsflooded.

All wastewater evaporated and all residues is returned to Mt Weld.

All waste water is discharged into the South China Sea.

Table 3.0 (Sou Jin Hou, 21 March 2012)

From table 3, the difference of waste management of Lynas in Australia and Malaysia are stated clearly. Malaysia has suffered poor waste management waste compared to Australia. First, the waste is buried and there is no accumulation if refinery in Australia while there is no permanent waste disposal site in Malaysia. This will only lead to a downwards of health condition. People in Malaysia will suffer from diseases because they will get in touch with the waste easily as the waste is dumped on the site. Second, the distance between Mt Weld and refinery in Australia is shorter than Malaysia. Needless to say, it will require a higher cost to transport the raw materials and on the way to the side, it might pollute the environment as well. Third, the nearest population is 35 km away from the site in Australia but there is about 700 000 people is within the area. The people in Malaysia who stay within the side will sure get affected as they are too near to them compared to those in Australia. This irresponsible action of Lynas management department has just put 700 000 people life in danger without thinking about the consequences. Fourth, the waste is diluted in Australia but in Malaysia, it is not. Again, this has increased the chance of getting harmed by the waste product in Malaysia. The improper actions help Lynas to quicken their works, but at the same time, they also endanger Malaysian that live near to the site. Fifth, there is an impermeable ponds and it will be buried when it is full but in Malaysia, the waste is just temporarily covered with 'unknown' method. There is no action being taken by the management department for the waste management. For example, they may just throw the waste randomly without caring for the safety of others. This has just brought nightmares to those who are so unlucky to find out that there is such a waste in front of their houses. Sixth, the site is located in the dessert in Australia but in Malaysia, it is located in a swamp land which will most probably get flooded due to the high annual rainfall. Consequence, the waste will just flow with the water and it will just make its way to the river or the sea. And that will affect the aquatic living. Seventh, the waste water and residues are managed properly in Australia but in Malaysia, all the waste water is discharged into the South China Sea. This will seriously affect the sea condition and people life will get affected when they get in touch with the water. The pollution of Lynas may not happen yet, but when it does, we will be the one who suffer. As Malaysian, we can either stop it from now or we are going to be destroyed by what we have created.

(Sou Jin Hou, 21 March 2012)

Dioxins- Toxic substanceDioxins are known as a group of chlorinated organic chemicals with similar chemical structures and they are meant to be the most poisonous man-made chemical compound. Some could be have harmful properties but this depends on the position and amount of chlorine atoms that appeared in the chemical structure. They are not easily biodegradable which can be last for a long time in the atmosphere. (Sohn. J, (June 2, 2011))

Diagram 2.0 ( Sohn. J, (June 2, 2011))

Causes of dioxin found are mostly from the man-made activities such as waste incinerator, product formation from factories, incineration of plastics and PVC, volcano eruption, forest fire, and the releasing of thermal power generation plant include automobile. From the Diagram 1.0, you could know that dioxin is released and found in every single way that could not be seen and touch by us. ( Sohn. J, (June 2, 2011))

Diagram 3.0 Dioxin Emitted in 2004 to air by source (Source: EPA and National Academy of Science, 2003)

In Diagram 2.0, it shows that open burning is the largest source of dioxin released to the environment among other sources since the year 2004. (2003) Open burning also rarely happen in Malaysia which some people burn the forests for own purposes and benefits without taking good care of the environment and living things. Living things such as animals would lose their habitats and suffered without clean water and foods. This also increases the atmospheric temperature that makes the atmosphere become hot and thus melting the ice polar which could cause flood.

Diagram 4.0 Reductions in Average to Dioxins/ Furans/ PCBs over Time (Aylward& Hays (Mar. 21, 2001))

However, the toxicity of dioxins, furans and dioxin-like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) that emitted are getting reduced compare previous level during the year 2010 as shown in the Diagram 3.0 above (Aylward& Hays (Mar. 21, 2001). As a part of the world, people should take more concern on these cases even though the concentration of dioxin is getting lower. A little caring and concern from each people could change the world from a bad to a good and clean environment.

Local Case Study 2: Dioxin incinerator in Bukit Nanas, Malaysia In Malaysia, there is an incident that gets a lot of attentions, as it is a serious issue that may influence human health. Democratic Action Party which is known as DAP has commended the government to announce publicly about the detailed information on the levels of toxic substances that emitted by the hazardous waste incinerator which located in Bukit Nanas, Negeri Sembilan.(Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

The Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment had stated that the measurements of the dioxin levels of the hazardous waste incinerator in Bukit Nanas, Negeri Sembilan was done once for a month. However, the level of dioxins at incinerator plants was only measured and noted once a year rather than measuring once for a month. This is totally

different and conflicted between the two explanations from the Deputy Ministry although the Deputy Ministry had responded about this conflict based on his experiences to the Kuching hazardous incinerator. This made the Serdang Member of Malaysian Parliament getting more concern and worry on this issue as the level of dioxins at incinerator plants is getting serious without a detailed measurement information. (Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

Table 3.0 Stack Emissions Monitoring 2012 Report (Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

The table above shows the analysis of stack emissions monitoring results from UEM Enviro’s 2012 Environmental Sustainability Report. However, there is no measurement for the level of dioxins and furans listed in the report above.(Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

Table 4.0 Stack Emissions Monitoring 2011 Report (Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

There are also some similar problems that happened in the results of stack emissions monitoring from UEM Enviro’s 2011 Environmental Sustainability Report as shown on the table 2 which the level of dioxins and furans are not published but had noted in the hazardous gases list.(Kian Ming .O, 2014, April 5)

Emissions of dioxins and furans to the atmosphere environment could bring numerous of bad effects to the human being. According to the research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), highly toxicity of dioxins and furans in human health would damage the immune system, change in hormone system, and cause the reproductive problems, cancer and skin disease. They can enter our bodies by inhaling contaminated air, eating contaminated food that mostly come from the fatty tissues of animals, or even drinking contaminated water. The Department of Environment should take responsible and be alert on these serious issues so the environment can be avoided from getting polluted with dangerous hazardous gases such as dioxins and furans thus affected the human health. They should provide more detailed information and analysis on the hazardous waste incinerator before announcing to the public. Apart from that, they also have to be more aware of doing measurements on the level of both hazardous gases for every month and not just once a year. This can ensure people to stay in Malaysia which has a safe and clean environment to live with.

Local Case Study 3: Radioactive issue in Bukit Merah

The ARE plant, run by Japanese company Mitsubishi Chemicals from the 1980s to the early 1990s, is blamed for spreading radiation poisoning in Bukit Merah due to what is claimed to be its poor management of radioactive waste generated from processing tin tailings to extract rare earth. The aftermath of the factory’s operations has been one of the largest radioactive waste clean-ups in Asia, with a permanent site set up at the foot of nearby Kledang hill. (Faiz, 2012)

The Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE) is incorporated to extract yttrium (a rare earth) from monazite. The major shareholders are the following: Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Ltd (35%), Beh Minerals (35%), Lembaga Urusan dan Tabung Haji or the state-owned Pilgrims' Management Fund Board (20%) and other bumiputra businessmen (10%). ARE seeks the advice of the Tun Ismail Research Centre (Puspati) of the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry about radioactive waste produced by processing monazite. It is decided that the waste, the property of the Perak State Government, will be kept in view of its potential as a source of nuclear energy. (Faiz, 2012)

The Bukit Merah case is little known even elsewhere in Malaysia, and virtually unknown in the West, because Mitsubishi Chemical quietly agreed to fix the problem even without a legal order to do so. Local protesters had contacted Japanese environmentalists and politicians, who in turn helped persuade the image-conscious company to close the refinery in 1992 and subsequently spend an estimated $100 million to clean up the site. (Stanley Koh, 2012)

The residents had no clue on the radiation exposure until they found out that the radioactive waste was endangering their lives.  When the Mitsubishi joint venture plant opened over 1982, the villagers soon began complaining of the factory's stinging smoke and bad smell which made them choke and cry. Worse was to come. Their health began failing, indicated not only by frequent bouts of coughs and colds, but a sharp rise in the incidence of leukaemia, infant deaths, congenital disease and lead poisoning. (Consumers Association of Penang, 2011)

Eight men -- a welder, a shoemaker, a general worker, a pensioner, a barber, a tractor driver, a crane-operator and a cancer victim were dead and were strongly believed is from the impact from the radiation from the hazardous waste ( Consumers Association of Penang, 2011)

In general, low-level radiation can be hazardous because it attacks the human body cell. When it is irradiated, bone marrow is affected which results in the lowering of resistance to disease as the immune system is depressed. Radiation exposure can also lead to cancer and genetic damage which is passed on as birth defects or cancer in the next generation. The most common form of cancer is leukaemia but radiation-induced cancers can also develop in the pancreas, brain, lung, kidney and large intestines — that is, the soft organs. Blood disorders like aplastic anaemia, benign tumours, cataract, rapid aging and lowered fertility are the other effects. It can also cause spontaneous abortions and stillbirth, as well as increased chances of getting heart disease, diabetes mellitus, arthritis, asthma or severe allergies.  (Consumers Association of Penang, 2011)

Mitsubishi Chemicals closed the plant in 1994 after a mounting public outcry, but the government has neither admitted nor denied radiation poisoning in the village. There is still at a hazardous level after the factory closed 18 years ago. This disturbing finding was recorded by anti-Lynas group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) during a fact-finding visit to Perak over the weekend. According to SMSL chairperson Tan Bun Teet, his members armed with radiation reading devices were not allowed to enter the plant and dumping sites, but the radiation readings around both locations showed worrying results. (M. Jegathesan, 2012)

The refinery processed slag from old tin mines — material rich in rare earth ore. The company and Malaysian regulators said that it was statistically possible that the leukemia cases were a coincidence because tin mining towns tend to have above-average levels of background radiation. But an academic study of another tin mining town suggested that communities of Bukit Merah’s size should only have one leukemia case every 30 years. (K. Bradsher, 2011)

Government did not follow up on the health conditions of residents in that area. They did not trace the background of cancer patients over the years to determine whether they were from the affected areas. This matter was conveyed by Dr Chan Chee Khoon, an epidemiologist from Universiti Malaya, who has been following the issue and has had discussions with the medical personnel of Ipoh Hospital. (M. Jegathesan, 2012)

Pictures from Bukit Merah:

Picture 1.0: Lai Kwan’s son was born with severe mental disabilities due to radioactive exposure while she was working in Bukit Merah. 

(Rahman Roslan, The New York Times)

Picture 2.0: Panchavarnam’s daughter Kasturi, was suffering from leukaemia had constant, splitting headaches, which came with heavy nose bleeds and even, fainting.

(M. Jegathesan, 2012)

Pictures from global (cases that may happen in Malaysia due to radioactive):

Picture 3.0: Human Deformations, the effect of radioactive Isotopes from nuclear fallout from Chernobyl, Iraq, The Middle East and World Wide Nuclear Facilities

(Dr. Colette M. Dowell, 2012)

Picture 4.0: Child with spina bifida, Basrah due to effect of uranium use in weapon systems of Basrah.

(Jenny Matthews, 2004)

Picture 5.0: Boy with rare kidney and liver failure due to radioactive use of uranium in Baghdad.

(unknown, 2003)

Diagram 5.0 Radiation effects (unknown, 2008)

I think this case should be taken serious as it does not only affect the site, it is about the lives of our own people, the Malaysians especially the residents of the affected area and the innocent workers who were just looking for jobs. Government should look into it as in investigating the cases of death of the residents, whether it is really affected by the rare earth events. If yes, they should let the public know about this and make apology. The case shouldn’t hide from publicity, especially its people. Whether it is real safe or not, they should let the people to know the truth. No matter what, lives of people shouldn’t be taken easy especially they are your citizens. They should take the case that happened in Bukit Merah as a lesson and show their responsibility towards the consequences. In future, the government should really make considerations before making a decision that might bring tremendous effect to the country instead of just concerning on the economy part. Life is precious, the government and authorities should work along together in order to create a harmony and peaceful world for the young generation, our nation, and the mother earth.

Conclusion

In a nut shell, the impact come from the hazardous waste are strongly harmful to humans, not forgetting other living things such as animals, and plants if they encounter these toxins buried in the ground. There are great impacts to human health. For instance, chemicals that are carcinogenic, which means it might cause cancer on the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, skin, reproduction and other parts. Chemicals such as dioxins and organochlorines may be lipophilic and accumulate in fat-rich tissues and have been associated with reproductive or endocrine-disrupting endpoints.

The methods of the waste management are including recycling, composting, sewage treatment, incineration and landfill. Ideally, hazardous waste is reused or recycled. If this is not possible, hazardous waste is safely contained while it is stored, transported, and properly disposed of to prevent an accidental release into the environment. However, even when used properly, many chemicals can still bring health risks to the human and destroy the environment. Unfortunately, many people choose to throw away waste that contains hazardous substance such as batteries out of convenience

Everyone should take responsibility about the hazardous waste management. It is not only matters on factories or affected areas that too far to get to you. As hazardous wastes are released in the air, water, or on the land they can spread, contaminating even more of the environment and posing greater threats to our health. The exposure of hazardous waste that bring to us can be through inhalation, ingestion, or dermal exposure. Take for an example, the water that you take for your shower can be from hazardous liquids or the contaminated water, and you inhale the harmful vapours. Other than this, the fish that you are eating might be the one came from the affected areas, as fish swims in the ocean.

The range of the hazardous waste is really wide. It can be the chemicals that inside your lithium batteries of your Iphone, to the powerful radioactive that released from the rare earth plants. This radiation waste is like the serial killer, you will not be able to see, to smell, to touch, or even to feel it. It just come to you quietly and destroy your body unwittingly. They are even able to mutate your genes and affect the offspring.

Furthermore, there are already cases that happened in Malaysia. So, people, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the serial killer or are you going to exterminate the serial killer? The choice is in your hand.

References

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