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Hazardous waste means any waste, which by reason of characteristics, such as physical, chemical, biological, reactive, toxic, flammable, explosive or corrosive, causes danger to health, or environment. It comprises the waste generated during the manufacturing processes of the commercial products such as industries involved in petroleum refining, production of pharmaceuticals, petroleum, paint, aluminium, electronic products etc. As per the information furnished by CPCB in the year 2015, the total hazardous waste generation in the country is 7.46 million metric tonnes per annum from about 44,000 industries.
Unscientific disposal of hazardous and other waste through burning or incineration leads to emission of toxic fumes comprising of Dioxins & Furans, Mercury, heavy metals, causing air pollution and associated health- related problems. Disposal in water bodies, or in municipal dumps leads to toxic releases due to leaching in land and water entailing into degradation of soil and water quality. The workers employed in such unscientific practices suffer from neurological disorders, skin diseases, genetic defects, cancer etc. Hence, there is a need for systematic management of hazardous and other waste in an environmentally sound manner by way of prevention, minimisation, re-use, recycling, recovery, utilisation including co-processing and safe disposal of waste.
Scientific disposal of hazardous waste through collection, storage, packaging, transportation and treatment, in an environmentally sound manner minimises the adverse impact on human health and on the environment. The hazardous waste can be disposed at captive treatment facility installed by the individual waste generators or at Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs).
For the first time, Rules have been made to distinguish between Hazardous Waste and other wastes. Other wastes include: Waste tyre, paper waste, metal scrap, used electronic items, etc. and are recognized as a resource for
recycling and reuse. These resources supplement the industrial processes and reduce the load on the virgin resource of the country.