New opportunities in industrial waste management

摘要

Industrial waste, according to the traditional definition, is represented by unwanted and residual materials generated by industrial activities (manufacturing, mining, control and treatment of process emissions, etc.). Compared to municipal solid waste (MSW), significantly larger quantities of industrial wastes, which include an extensive variety of substances (chemicals, exhausted sand, slag, sludges, etc.) are produced. Due to the ample spectrum in quality and composition industrial waste management may therefore be considerably more problematic and less predictable than management of MSW, particularly as industrial waste may contain and release pollutants that are potentially harmful to the environment, and result in classification of the specific waste concerned as hazardous waste. It is also worth to say that in many cases industrial waste display less critical properties than MSW.