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Hazardous Waste

A hazard, in a technical sense rather than in day-to-day meaning, is the source of a potential harm, while a risk is the combination of the frequency of the hazard and the consequences of its occurrence. Hazardous wastes are broadly defined as those waste products that have a negative impact on human health and the environment when they are emitted or discharged into air, water, soil, food, and tissues. They are defined more specifically in the Basel Convention and in OECD Regulations for the Control of Transboundary Movement of Wastes Destined for Recovery Operations, agreed to by the OECD Council in 2002. According to the Basel Convention, the intergovernmental agreement administered by United Nations Environment Program, such wastes fall into the following categories: explosive, flammable liquids/solids, poisonous, toxic, ecotoxic, infectious substances. Other regulatory lists also act as national classificatory systems. For example, in the United States, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), passed in 1976 and amended in 1984, 1992, and 1996, established the authority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to control hazardous waste from “cradle-to-grave.” This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.

Risks Associated with Hazardous Waste

As global population grows, our economic development continues, and communication systems expand, environmental hazards have greater socioeconomic and biophysical impacts. Public opinion polls in the 1990s and early 2000s have shown that hazardous wastes are the most worrying of all environmental risks and hazards. They arouse most public controversy and challenge policy makers and the business and scientific communities alike to develop new ways of decision making to manage their storage, transport, and disposal. Researchers have found major differences between how the public, on one hand, and the scientific community, on the other, assess the risks associated with hazardous waste. Studies show that risks borne involuntarily, caused industrially, or that are difficult to pick up through our senses, such as nuclear irradiation, are perceived as higher. The question of acceptability of the risk goes back to trust in the organizations that produce, manage, and regulate the hazards.

The publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 marks public recognition of the persistent effects of hazardous or toxic substances on the biosphere. It was not until 1975, however, prompted by the notorious episode of Love Canal, a small canal near Niagara Falls in New York State, where the Hooker Chemical Company had dumped toxic chemical waste for a decade, that the impact hazardous waste can have on human health emerged as a specific policy issue and a political phenomenon, with potential impact on government credibility as well as corporate performance. In the decades since, environmental justice movements concerned with hazardous waste have both proliferated and diversified. These often intractable disputes represent the failure of traditional forms of authority and organization in dealing with these problems. In this way, hazardous wastes are emblematic of many of the environmental problems facing society and reflect the new environmental, social, and economic pressures facing organizations of all types.

Implications for Business

Proponents of the business case for corporate social responsibility argue that apart from reducing costs associated with compliance, there are business benefits in reducing the generation of hazardous waste. They include more efficient resource use, improved quality, higher reputation, increased innovation, and new niche markets. As a result, some voluntary business efforts are under way, often led by industry associations, such as the American Hospital Association's agreement that member organizations would eliminate hazardous wastes such as mercury.

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