Above and Beyond Expectations

Before recently I had never considered the complexities involved with the disposal of hazardous chemicals. Sure, I learned a little bit about the dangers of toxic waste being dumped into landfills in high school environmental science, but I definitely had not considered the fact that certain things contain these chemicals. I pictured hazardous waste disposal as barrels of chemical being dumped into the landfill, not fridges being dropped in there and leaking their coolant over time. However, it seems apparent to me now that the issue of getting rid of harmful chemicals is a multifaceted problem. For one thing, how do you determine what can and cannot be put into a landfill? If something contains dangerous substances, can you put it into a landfill intact and hope that it doesn’t ever rupture and allow its contents to infiltrate the groundwater? Certain chemicals can be deadly at or below concentrations of just a few parts per billion. It’s actually pretty scary to me to think about what type of substances could be present in my drinking water, or in the water that I use to shower, by carelessly disposed of waste.

It was reassuring to stumble across the article that motivated me to write this blog. The article talked about the dangers involved in disposing of old refrigerators that still contain their original coolant. Certain recycling companies have recently taken initiative to use robotic systems to “squeeze out” the excess coolant so that it can be disposed of separately and less environmentally harmfully. They have developed a technique in which they compress the insulation of the fridges into pellets which can be burned and used as fuel. These pellets do not release noxious gases or environmentally degrading chemicals. It makes me wonder how many fridges with these toxic substances have been disposed of in landfills already, and how much waste has made its way into the groundwater. I also wonder to what extent this technique of coolant wringing out will become popular, if any. I personally hope that it becomes more accepted, because I strongly dislike the thought of drinking water laced with trace amounts of fridge coolant.