Screening hazardous wastes in solid waste landfills

The presence of hazardous wastes in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream has become a well-recognized waste management issue. Recognition of the issue has been brought about by a variety of factors including the results of environmental monitoring at landfills; the increased sensitivity of laboratory instrumentation; the results of solid waste characterization studies; observations made in load-checking programs at MSW landfills; and hazardous incidents involving refuse workers and equipment. Concern over problems that can occur from hazardous waste in MSW has led to the development of such alternative hazardous waste management programs as household hazardous waste (HHW) collection programs and small-quantity generator (SQG) management programs.