What the EPA Has to Say About the Management of Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals

Hazardous waste is defined by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to be liquids, solids, gases or sludges. This blog will focus on the management of hazardous waste solids in the pharmaceutical industry. The EPA has a long-standing policy that non-prescription pharmaceuticals and other unsold retail items that have a reasonable expectation of being legitimately used/reused or reclaimed are not solid waste. This policy addresses the issues highlighted by a growing body of publicly available studies documenting the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking and surface waters as well as their negative impacts to aquatic and riparian ecosystems.

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Creating Sustainable Alternatives: About Waste-to-Energy

The excessive amounts of industrial non-hazardous waste is rapidly becoming an important issue for both developing and industrialized economic nations the world over. Countries are creating comprehensive waste management plans to help alleviate issues brought on by post-recycling, non-hazardous waste which would otherwise fester in landfills, causing ecological concerns. (more…)

Why You Need to Know Your Local Industrial Waste Regulations

If a business or manufacturing facility is going to work at peak functionality and still abide by all environmental laws endemic to its location, it is necessary to first be fully aware of local industrial waste rules regulations. In the United States, most states take their cues and guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which sets the standard for the country at large. Rules are also applied at the state and municipal levels to better regulate industrial and hazardous waste.

The EPA regulates household, industrial, and manufacturing solid and hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA’s goals are to protect communities and citizens from the hazards of waste disposal; conserve energy and natural resources by recycling and recovery; reduce or eliminate waste; and clean up waste that may have spilled, leaked or been improperly disposed of.

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Proper Intervals for Maintaining Your Industrial Trash Compactor

Every production facility needs an adequate commercial waste disposal system to provide and maintain a clean, safe working environment. The primary piece of equipment for proper waste management is the industrial trash compactor. These necessary machines are able to compress all manner of facility waste into smaller sizes for easy hauling to landfills or are able to compact the trash into easy-to-manage trash compactor bags for disposal. All of this necessitates a properly functioning industrial trash compactor. To keep your industrial trash compactor running at A-1 shape, routine maintenance is necessary.

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Your ROI: How Industrial Compactors Pay for Themselves

The two primary objectives of increasing a manufacturing facility’s ROI (Return On Investment) in regards to using an on-site industrial waste compactor are to reduce labor and hauling costs. When employing the optimal compactor for any specific application, a company can see an ROI in one to two years incorporating certain factors.

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The History and Evolution of Industrial Trash Compactors

The history of the baler begins in the mid-Nineteenth Century in agricultural applications. In the 1860s, mechanical cutting and mowing devices were being developed to improve crop gathering time at harvest. In 1872, a reaper that used a knotting device to bundle and bind hay was invented by Charles Withington. It was commercialized in 1874 by Cyrus McCormick. By 1936, an automatic baler had been invented that tied bales with twine using knotters from a John Deere grain binder. With such time-saving mechanical devices, farmers were able to more quickly and efficiently harvest and move hay and straw when reduced in size into compact bales. Mechanical improvements were continually applied to reduce both time and labor by tying bales with wire. This allowed for much easier transport and storage of the bales. Square or rectangular bales also provided a much more efficient use of space in that they were easier to stack and store.

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The Bright Future of Waste Management

Countries all over the world are looking into comprehensive waste management plans to help alleviate issues brought on by excessive garbage. For almost 35 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has tracked and reported on garbage statistics in the United States. The current rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) production is estimated by the government to be 292.4 million US short tons, or 4.9 pounds per person per day. Out of the MSW that was produced, about 69 million tons were recycled, and 25 million tons were composted.

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Understanding the EPA Guide for Industrial Waste Management

Through the Guide for Industrial Waste Management, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides guidance for facility managers, state and tribal regulators, the public, and others with recommendations and tools to better address the management of land-disposed, non-hazardous industrial waste.

The EPA defines non-hazardous industrial waste as “waste generated from processes associated with the production of goods and products, such as electric power generation and manufacturing of materials such as pulp and paper, iron and steel, glass, and concrete.” The EPA also proposes laws and regulations regarding industrial waste that stress the proper disposal of industrial waste.

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How Rotary Industrial Trash Compactors Save Labor Time

Industrial trash compactors are designed and built to save labor time. Reducing labor for the removal of trash materials from a facility can be realized by minimizing the volume of trash being transported and by reducing the distances the trash has to be moved to get from where it is produced to the trash compaction point. A trash compactor can immediately improve productivity, which is a huge plus. Using a mobile trash compactor can cut down on trash hauling by as much as twenty to thirty trips per week.

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