Industrial Waste Management

Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, industries, mills, and mining operations. It has existed since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Toxic waste, chemical waste, industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste are designations of industrial wastes. Sewage treatment plants can treat some industrial wastes, i.e. those consisting of conventional pollutants such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Industrial wastes containing toxic pollutants require specialized treatment systems. Waste Management has extensive experience in industrial and hazardous waste management. Thousands of small scale and bigger industrial units simply dump their waste, more often toxic and hazardous, in open spaces and nearby water sources. Over the last three decades, many cases of serious and permanent damage to environment by these industries have come to the fore. Rapid industrialization has resulted in the generation of huge quantity of wastes, both solid and liquid, in industrial sectors such as sugar, pulp and paper, fruit and food processing, sago/starch, distilleries, dairies, tanneries, slaughterhouses, poultries, etc. Despite requirements for pollution control measures, these wastes are generally dumped on land or discharged into water bodies, without adequate treatment, and thus become a large source of environmental pollution and health hazard. Industrial waste management or waste disposal is concerned with all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things, collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling etc.