Innovative approach to multimedia waste reduction measuring performance for environmental cleanup programs

摘要

One of the greatest challenges we now face in environmental clean up is measuring the progress of minimizing multimedia transfer releases and achieving waste reduction. Briefly, multimedia transfer refers to the air, land, and water where pollution is not just controlled, concentrated, and moved from one media to another. An example of multimedia transfer would be heavy metals in waste water sludges moved from water to land disposal. Over two billion dollars has been budgeted for environmental restoration site cleanups by the Department of Energy for fiscal year 1994. Unless we reduce the huge waste volumes projected to be generated in the near future, then we will devote more and more resources to manage and dispose of these wastes.