Waste Transportation

For many people, the thoughts about how waste is transported begins and ends with the municipal truck that collects trash along residential streets and then disappears around the corner on its way to a local landfill. The broader reality, however, it that the methods used for for transporting the many types of wastes created worldwide is extremely varied. Every day, wastes are transported by trucks, semi-trailers, tankers, trains and other forms of specialized vehicles.

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The types of wastes transported can range from common household garbage to radioactive fuel by-products. Depending on the type of waste, there are many safety and handling regulations in place to assure public and environmental protection; especially for the transportation of hazardous and radioactive substances. But even with these regulations in place, there are still many concerns surrounding the human and environmental impacts associated with how waste is moved from one place to another.

The largest segment of waste transportation centers upon municipal household and business trash. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of vehicles are used daily for the collection, transport, processing, compaction and other steps necessary for moving trash from its source to a final disposal point like a landfill. All of these vehicles generate dust, carbon based emissions and noise pollution that can have adverse human and environmental impacts. Ironically, the increase of municipal, curbside recycling programs demanded by the public actually resulted in a net increase of waste removal vehicles required due to the additional, separate collection of recyclable goods. In order to reduce the negative impacts of waste collection and transportation vehicles, many municipalities are seeking ways to introduce more methane burning and gas/electric hybrid vehicles into their waste management fleets.

The increased amounts of wastes generated by humans and the shrinking availability of land available for landfills have also increased the distances waste must be shipped for final disposal. In example, the City of Islip, New York no longer operates its own waste disposal facility. All of the trash arising from the city is now shipped to remote sites, some as far away as North Carolina. This trend by many municipalities due to local landfill overcapacity has led to large amounts of trash now being transported by large semi-trailers, trains and barges over great distances. In addition to the pollutants these large vehicles generate, some people are concerned about the transportation of these high volumes of waste through their communities and the possible risks involved as the result of accidents or potential contamination of local water sources.

The transportation of hazardous and nuclear wastes are, by far, the biggest concern to both countries and the general public. Although this segment of the transportation industry is one of the most highly regulated, there has been a steady increase in the amount of accidents and spills involving hazardous waste vehicles as humans continue to generate more of these types of waste. Hazardous wastes are also much more expensive to dispose of or process. In the United States alone, it can cost over $2,500 per ton for the transportation and safe disposal of hazardous materials. These high costs have led to the practice of selling hazardous wastes to developing countries for disposal at much lower costs. Unfortunately, these developing countries often lack the resources needed for implementing and enforcing the necessary regulations for protecting the public and the environment from the adverse impacts these types of waste can generate.

As with most waste disposal challenges, decreasing the amounts of all types of wastes generated by humans is the best way for decreasing their negative impacts. This is especially true is relationship to waste transportation because it is the biggest contributor to both the cost and potential negative impacts of disposal methods.
 

Copyright Fell Environmental 2010