4.3 Solid and Hazardous Wastes

• Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, otherwise known as Republic Act No. 9003
• Solid waste shall refer to all discarded household, commercial waste, nonhazardous institutional and industrial waste, street sweepings, construction debris, agriculture waste, and other non-hazardous/non-toxic solid waste.
• The term “solid waste” as used in this Act shall not include:

  (1) waste identified or listed as a hazardous waste of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous or semisolid form which may cause or contribute to an increase in mortality or in severe or incapacitating reversible illness, or acute/chronic effect on the health of persons and other organisms;
• Solid waste does not include

  • Infectious waste from hospitals such as equipment, instruments, utensils, and fomites of a disposable nature from patients who are suspected of having or have been diagnosed as having infectious diseases and must, therefore, be isolated as required by public health agencies
  • Laboratory wastes such as pathological specimens (i.e., all tissues, samples of blood elements, excreta, and secretions obtained from patients or laboratory animals)
  • Disposable fomites that may harbor or transmit pathogenic organisms
  • Surgical operating room pathologic specimens and disposable fomites attendant to that
  • Similar disposable materials from outpatient areas and emergency rooms
• The term “solid waste” as used in this Act shall not include:

  (3) Waste resulting from mining activities, including contaminated soil and debris.
• Hazardous waste includes toxic chemicals and substances that may be flammable or radioactive.
• Hazard Wastes includes industrial wastes coming from sources like chemical plants or nuclear reactors, wastes coming from agricultural activities like pesticide and fertilizers, residues from medical hospital facilities, and debris from toxic paints and solvents.
• Based on estimations, about 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are generated annually.
• Any form of dealing with hazardous wastes such as utilizing, storing, transporting, and disposing of threatens the environment and human health. It poses a severe threat to humans as even light exposure can cause serious illnesses such as cancer, congenital disabilities, and the worst extent, death.
• Chernobyl Disaster. One of the most famous tragic nuclear accidents had wiped out 31 lives; 200,000 people suffered. They were forced to evacuate and released radioactive material in the atmosphere that reached neighboring countries as far as Norway and the United Kingdom
• Long before Minamata bay incidence was discovered in the 1960s and 1970s, hazardous wastes were known to be disposed of legally in landfills and different bodies of water
• People are concerned about hazardous wastes that are radioactive coming from industries that create nuclear power and weapons. Even now, there is still no known method of safe and permanent disposal. The most way that is applied in dealing with this type of waste is usually by keeping it in storage facilities located at the same sites they were generated
• Sources of Hazardous Wastes:

  Developing countries have used more hazardous waste for production and consumption (chemicals and materials) than in developed countries.
• Sources of Hazardous Wastes:

  Most industries in developing countries use outdated and banned technologies that operate poorly and produce hazardous wastes

   
• Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990 RA. 6969