A Waste Stream With Nowhere To Go

During the 1980s, the Australian community came to understand that the industrial growth so welcomed in the post-war years had created pollution problems. Mining and agricultural wastes polluted land and waterways and in the cities, chemical factories, industries and householders dumped their wastes in rivers, bays and uncontrolled landfills. The waste dumping process reached its peak in the 1960s and '70s when the hazardous products of the chemical age were widely used by all sectors of society. They included PCBs and other halogenated compounds.

By the mid-1980s the issue of hazardous chemical wastes was high on the agenda of environmental organisations and governments were beginning to respond. There was talk of establishing a high temperature incinerator to deal with all of Australia's "intractable" chemical waste steam. However, when the government proposed that such a facility would best be placed in the small rural town of Corowa, the response was strong. The community did not want incineration. They were aware that burning dangerous chemicals like PCBs and HCB could create other dangerous compounds in the process and did not trust government to manage technical processes responsibly.

Locally, information on incineration processes was scarce. Strong campaigning by environment organisations brought new information to Australia and encouraged people to look overseas for information on health and environmental risks. Details about hazardous emissions from municipal and industrial incinerators in Europe and the USA focussed community concerns on the toxicity of hazardous compounds and discussed the implications of very "low level" residues of dioxins, PCBs and similar compounds in air, soils, food and water. At that time, there were no acceptable destruction facilities in Australia for hazardous chemical wastes and very little expertise on hazardous waste issues within government bureaucracies. There was much fear and suspicion surrounding the issue of hazardous waste management.

As part of the national debate, a report was produced called Conservationist's Perspectives on Hazardous Waste.ⁱ This 1987 document opposed incineration technology, recommending instead that "niche" technologies should be encouraged to deal with various elements of the hazardous waste stream. At that time, existing technologies like the incinerator ship, The Vulcanus had been rejected as unsuitable and Australia's hazardous waste stream, including thousands of tonnes of PCBs was either stored or dumped in landfills situated on the outskirts of major cities and regional centres.

The public opposition to the incineration proposal at Corowa put government under pressure and an Independent Panel on Intractable Waste was convened by the Commonwealth Government to work through the technical and management issues associated with Australia's hazardous chemical waste stream. Several years' work produced a strategy that identified a wide variety of waste streams, many of them able to be treated by a range of small, possibly relocatable, technologies that were soon to come on-stream.

However, despite the commercial potential provided by the existence of the hazardous chemical waste stream, there were no commercial technologies available on any significant scale available in the early 1990s. The problem of what do with Australia's hazardous waste, including PCBs remained unsolved. But it was not only the issues of waste destruction that was important. Waste transport and storage issues were considered very important in some quarters but they did not attract the same media interest as "dioxin" and "high temperature incinerators". This reduced the political pressure and these practical matters, so critical to public and worker safety remained unresolved for some years.

The Discussions and Decision Making Process Is Initiated

The Commonwealth Government's environment department had certain responsibilities for chemical wastes under international agreements. Through a regional cooperative body known as ANZECC (the Australia New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council) it established two committees to assist the implementation of a national strategy. The Scheduled Waste Management Group consisted of government officials and the National Advisory Body (NAB) comprised key stakeholders; environment groups, industry groups (waste holders and treatment technology holders), trade unions, local government, farmers and waste managers. The NAB was established to allow consultation with the wider community and provide essential feedback on community sentiment on various chemical waste issues. The two committees were assisted by the Waste Management Secretariat, part of Environment Australia (the Commonwealth Government's environment department)

Various activities were undertaken in the early-to-mid-nineties. In 1993 the two committees, on behalf of ANZECC and with the assistance of the Secretariat, produced a National Strategy for the Management of Scheduled Wastes. ANZECC endorsed the Plan the same year. The National Strategy required the development of a number of individual management plans for different organo-chlorine wastes. As a result over the next decade, Management Plans for organochlorine pesticides, and HCB and PCB wastes were developed and associated social risk and benefits issues were also addressed through the officially sanction public consultation programs.ⁱⁱ

During 1994, the Scheduled Waste Management Group and the National Advisory Body established a National Protocol for Community Consultation on Scheduled Wastes. It set out the aims and principles for high quality public involvement, which was seen by the environment community as an essential part of any solution to Australia's hazardous waste stream. Environment Australia itself was also involved and commissioned a series of review reports titled "Appropriate Technologies for the treatment of Scheduled Wastes'. The first was published in November 1994, the last in November 1997. During this period, a number of technologies were being put forward for various waste streams; they included Base Catalysed Dechlorination, Eco Logic, PCB Gone, Plasma Arc Centrifugal treatment and other "generic" processes like ball milling, catalytic treatments, steam detoxifyer and various molten metal, slags and salt processes.

The development of suitable processes and regulations to achieve the responsible destruction of PCBs and PCB wastes took time and involved three rounds of public consultation and a variety of technical papers and research. In 1994 a PCB Background Paper ⁱⁱⁱ was prepared by consultants. The Paper provided a wealth of detail on all aspects of PCB wastes, from toxicity and exposure pathways through to risk assessment, legislation and treatment technologies. At the same time, an Issues Paper^iv was also released for use in the PCP public involvement program. Public submissions were called for through national newspapers and a public involvement program followed.

The PCB Consultation Panel held public information sessions in eight cities and towns. They travelled throughout Australia talking with the community, unions, and members of environment organisations and local industry. Major themes to emerge included the need for collection programs and the training of workers and management in safe handling of PCB-contaminated equipment, the need for a register of PCB stocks and the need to standardise methods of analysis and reporting formats for PCBs. Other themes included community participation in the licensing of technologies and community right to know on stocks, transport, treatment and disposal of PCB materials.

Following this consultation process, a Draft Final PCB Management Plan was prepared which contained significant revisions to the previous draft.^v Another round of consultation was undertaken in May and June 1995 and on 24 November 1995, ANZECC gave "in principle" endorsement to the Plan. It required that scheduled PCBs be removed from use within 13 years. Two important Guidance Notes were included: disposal of non-scheduled liquid PCB wastes and disposal of non-scheduled solid PCB wastes. Community concerns included time frames for decommissioning of PCBs-equipment still in service, emission limits from treatment facilities and the environmental impact of the landfilling of solid PCBs.

In December 1995, a report titled Impact Assessment of the Proposed PCB Management Plan was released. It aimed to assess the impact of the proposed PCB Management Plan by identifying possible social, financial and environmental costs and benefits as well as identifying those groups in the community "on which the Management Plan will have an influence". ^vi

By this time, several technologies were on-stream, including the "Ecologic" facility in Western Australia and the Plascon plant, located at the Nufarm factory in a suburb of Melbourne. Nufarm Chemicals had manufactured many pesticides at the plant including the organochlorine herbicide 2,4-D) and had a lot of waste to destroy.

In November 1996, the PCB Management Plan was finalised. It distinguished between different types of PCB material and PCB wastes and also classified various wastes as "scheduled" (requiring special treatment) and "non-scheduled". Non-scheduled liquid wastes were not recommended for landfill but solid PCB wastes were, subject to certain condition including a community involvement program. This decision was quite contentious. The date of 1 January 1996 was set for the implementation of the Plan.

The Plan included a review period of not greater than five years and in August 2001 a review was produced by the PCB Review Panel.^vii It noted that a revision of surface contamination standards had been made in 1999 (providing a greater safety factor for surface contamination) and reported on progress on destroying PCBs. Since the Management Plan was implemented, 5,000 tonnes of PCBs have been destroyed, 1700 tonnes are in storage waiting destruction, 3500-7000 tonnes have been lost to the environment, leaving 5000-9000 tonnes outstanding. Accurate date on volumes/mass and concentration of PCBs disposed of in Australia are not readily available with inadequately developed "PCB Registers". Improper and sometimes illegal storage still occurs from time to time.

Today's focus for PCB wastes is on manufactured articles rather than contaminated environmental media such as soil or sediments and much of Australia's PCBs have now been destroyed. Some stockpiles of various wastes remain and as well, Australian aid has been allocated for the import and destruction of organochlorine wastes from the South Pacific, including PCB wastes.

Import of PCBs

From 1930 onwards, 10,000-20,000 tonnes of PCBs were imported into Australia. Research indicates that 3500-7000 tonnes is now distributed through the environment. 2200 tonnes was identified as being contained within 18 million lighting capacitors, many of which are being progressively dumped in landfills. 700 tonnes have gone through electricity supply industry incinerators and 1000 tonnes were used by industries like mining. Imports of PCBs ceased in 1975.

Export of PCBs

Some PCB wastes were exported prior to the provision of waste destruction facilities in Australia. Approximately 700 tonnes was sent abroad for disposal in approved high temperature facilities.

PCB Use Pattern

The use pattern of PCBs in Australia is typical of uses around the world.

• Dielectric fluid for transformers, capacitors and other electrical equipment
• Hydraulic and cooling systems
• Heat transfer systems
• Pesticides, plasticisers in plastic paint, carbonless copy paper
• Fluorescent lighting capacitors
• Slide mounting for microscope slides
• transformers in electric trains
• site-based power generation by industry and mining facilities
• in-service items total 581,069;
• oil containing PCB wastes: 224 million litres
• PCBs 166.4 tonnes

Most PCB wastes are held by the electricity supply industry. They exist in equipment like distribution transformers, power transformers, oil circuit breakers and other miscellaneous items. PCB wastes also exist in as contaminants of oils and soils and there are PCB-contaminated concrete and caulking compounds in buildings and landfills. Although the precise quantities are unknown, they probably comprise many thousands of tonnes.^viii

Monitoring

The PCB Management Plan requires a nationally coordinated and statistically valid PCB sampling and monitoring program to determine whether concentrations of PCBs in the environment are decreasing with time. Monitoring was recommended for breastmilk and foodstuffs, sewage treatment plants and outfalls, landfill sites suspected of having received scheduled PCB wastes and "appropriate biological indicators, including wildlife". In September 1998, a report on the monitoring of PCBs was produced by the National Advisory Body (NAB) it found that the data was not comprehensive and for some media was "very patchy". However, it concluded that what data did exist did not indicate the need for further extensive monitoring other than that which was under taken on a routine basis. Some additional monitoring was recommended including breast milk and foodstuffs, sewage plants and outfalls and some landfill sites Sediment samples and fish taken from urban water courses and the marine environment indicated that there was a need for continued monitoring with monitoring of marine mammals assigned a high priority, as it is in many countries throughout the world.^ix

Legislation

The export and import of PCB wastes is regulated by the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989. This law implements the Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. In Australia's federal system of government, however, the main controls over hazardous chemicals are exercised at the state level. It is exercised through various acts and regulations. There are "Chemical Control Orders" in NSW, "Controlled Waste Regulations" in Western Australia and "Notifiable Chemicals Orders" in Victoria. These controls are generally exercised through environmental legislation generally and there are also other laws that apply to PCB wastes: for example laws for the control of workplace substances, dangerous goods, contaminated lands and landfill management. Various guidelines also exist and others are in the process of development. For example, the Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines 2000 contain values for total PCBs. These guidelines are important in the protection of marine biodiversity in coastal zones. They have been accepted by Commonwealth Government and are now being considered at state level.

The Stockholm Convention

Australia signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants on 23 May, 2001. The August 2001 review of the PCB Management Plan noted some differences, mostly regarding some greater detail provided in the Australian PCB Management Plan regarding treatment standards and site clean-up issues.

Waste Stream Variation and Technology Choice

It is critical to cost-effective and responsible PCB waste management that the character of the waste stream be considered the primary determinant of the technology choice

In most cases it is the physical form of the waste rather than the scheduled waste constituent which determines the applicability of a particular treatment technology. Contaminated soils are different to aqueous wastes and sludges, irregular larger inert solids very different from organic low volatility liquids that are free of coarse solids; then there are the solid and semi-solid process materials and wastes containing high volatility liquids.

Example: PCB capacitors can be treated directly with Eco Logic but cannot be directly treated with the BCD process. Capacitors require pre-treatment prior to the application of the BCD process.

Costs

• of concentrated scheduled wastes typically between $2000 to $8000 per tonne (1997 figures)

Existing/Succesful Treatment technologies

• The Ecologic treatment process in Western Australia has ceased operations after operating satisfactorily for some years. it has been purchased by Toxfree and is expected to resume operations. The Ecologic plant commenced operations in January 1996 and treated aqueous wastes, liquids and some equipment containing scheduled PCB wastes.
• Base Catalysed Dechlorination. This process has been used by two companies. The major operator is BCD Technologies near Brisbane and this company is still operating. The smaller plant in Victoria (HazWaste Services) is no longer operating following improper private operations and illegal storage. The Victorian Government has now taken responsibility for this stored waste following the closure of the private facility.
• Other technologies: A range of technologies are now on-stream including plasma arc (Plascon), Fluidex (relocated to New Zealand), ADOX process (used to treat scheduled chemical waste at the Sydney Olympic site and now proposed for a site in Newcastle and on the Rhodes Peninsula at the former Union Carbide site.)

Occupational Health and Safety

Whilst the protection of air, soil and water quality is important, the human health risks arising from incorrectly stored and transported PCBs is an immediate and real risk that requires active management. Stored PCB wastes and the identification of high-risk equipment were the main focus of action for the first few years of the Plan.

• See Identification of PCB-Containing Capacitors: AN Information Booklet for Electricians and Electrical Contractors. Australia and New Zealand Environment Council (ANZECC) 1997.

World Wide Web Resources

PCB Management Plan; assorted documents. See www.ea.gov.au and follow the prompts.

National Environment Protection Measures (Movement of Controlled Wastes and Community Consultation). See www.ephc.gov.au

Background on hazardous waste issues and the Sydney 2000 Olympic experience
See www.oca.nsw.gov.au/ecology and www.sopa.nsw.gov.au

ⁱⁱ For example. Summary Report of the PCB Consultation Panel on Major Outcomes from the PCB Public Consultations; 18th May to 7 June, 1995 and Summary Report of PCB Consultation Panel on Major Outcomes from PCB Public Consultations: 29 November to 15 December 1994. PCB Consultation Panel supported by the Waste Management Secretariat. Published December 1995 and April 1995 respectively.

ⁱⁱⁱ Sinclair Knight Merz Pty Ltd for National Advisory Body and Scheduled Waste Management Group. November 1994

^iv CMPS&F Environmental. Issues Management Paper for the PCB Management Plan. For the Scheduled Waste Management Group. November 1994

^v Polychlorinated Biphenyls Management Plan. Draft Final. Scheduled Waste Management Group. April 1995.

^vi Atkins, A.S., Evans D.G and Ross, S.D. Impact Assessment of the Proposed PCB Management Plan. Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. University of Melbourne. December 1995.

^vii Review of PCB Management Plan; Discussion Paper. National Advisory Body on Scheduled Wastes, Schedule Waste Management Group. PCB Review Panel. 31 August 2001.

^viii The information provided above is derived in the main from the Environmental. Issues Management Paper for the PCB Management Plan. See iv) above

^ix Monitoring of PCBs in Australia. NAB. September 1998. Available via the worldwide web. See web resource