Transporting hazardous waste

This page was prompted by a request from some University students in The Netherlands.

It is intended to give a little help in how you might approach an invetsigation of the issue of transporting hazardous waste.

I do not have the time, nor the space, to provide masses of information, which is already available elsewhere, on my web site. The site is intended to encourage students (mainly of school age) to do their own research. It also suggests effective ways of organising systematic enquiry before making wise decisions and taking responsible action.

While the examples mentioned here relate to hazardous materials the approach can be adapted to the study of any issue.

Hazardous Materials -
Production, Transport, Storage and Disposal

Transporting hazardous waste is a sub-set of the study of hazardous materials and their production, transport, storage and/or disposal. Hazardous wastes are usually by-products of the production or use of goods (which may or may not be hazardous). Transport is only one of the processes.

Many of the same principles and issues apply to each (materials and waste; production, transport, storage and/or disposal). Things that apply to the transport of a hazardous product like gasoline may also shed light on the transport of a waste like spent chemicals. many of the issues raised will be similar. For instance suburban residents may not want the carriers of either cargoes to pass by or park near their homes and local government may have by-laws prohibiting such activities.

Issues

Issues arise whenever their is a difference of opinion about something, e.g. transporting hazardous waste. This means that it is essential to canvass the opinions of all parties involved in an issue. For example the local residents, Greenpeace, local government and a chemical industry may have each have a different view on transporting drums of chemical waste on a local canal.

When it comes to the environment's interests we need to discover who speak for the various elements of the environment and include those opinions in our decision-making. Although you seem to need to distinguish between hazardous waste and hazardous materials in your paper you may get good leads from considering the latter. Just be careful not to imply that petroleum on a supertanker is hazardous waste.

The study of an issue like this, and I guess you have to use an example or two (e.g. local and international), means you should have:

• a model for examining hazards,
• a model to organise your enquiry and decision-making, and
• a strategy for finding useful information.

Studying hazards

You may be able to find in your library or bookshop our book for secondary school students which is called Hazards, (details can be found at http://www.mcelroy.com.au/cup/hazard/hazbk.html ). In this we suggest a few essential aspects to be discussed. These are:

• risk posed to people and/or environment.
• vulnerability of particular groups or environments.
• clearly distinguish between hazards and the disasters that may (or may not) result from them.

What are the risks? Where are the risks? What causes the risks? How can the risks be minimized? etc.

Who or what is most vulnerable? How can they be made less vulnerable?

A model for examining and responding to hazard is based on those by Kates, Burton and White. It can be found in the book and on the web pages at:

http://www.mcelroy.com.au/cup/hazard/haz1.html

http://www.mcelroy.com.au/gaw/99c1.html

Enquire, Decide, Act

In our series of books and the paper for Geography Action Week 1997 we suggest a thorough strategy for enquiry, decision and action. See an introduction at:

http://www.mcelroy.com.au/cup/hazard/haz1.html

For Geography Action Weeks 1998 and 1999 we recommended a simpler enquiry approach for younger students. See the following pages:

http://www.mcelroy.com.au/cup/coast/cst1.html

http://www.mcelroy.com.au/gaw/99c1.html

Some version of these approaches may be useful for your paper.

Who is concerned in the issue?

To properly assess the information you gather it is important to know who provided the data and what they believe about the issue. Ask yourselves, "Who is is involved in this issue?"; "Who has a legitimate interest in the outcome?"; "Who stands to profit or lose from a particular resolution?"; "Who has the greatest influence on the decision-making process?"; "How does each group or person's position affect their view?".

Some of those affected by this issue may include those who:

• generate the waste (eg farm chemical industry).
• transport the waste (eg carrier firms and truck drivers).
• live along the chosen routes and so may be at risk (eg residents).
• speak on behalf of the environment (eg aspects like soil contamination, heavy metals and marine life).
• regulate the movement of hazardous materials and waste in particular.
• would have to repsond to any disaster resulting from the an accident (eg oil spills, gas leaks, BLEVES) in transporting hazardous waste. (eg emergency services like fire fighting services).
• have organised to lobby and warn companies, transport authorities and governments about the dangers of transporting particular hazardous waste.
• report these risks, disasters and issues in the media.

Finding information

None of the above means much unless one can find a rich variety of sound information. I recommend searching a broad range of media using all of the resources available.

• The best place to begin is , of course, one's library. Librarians are trained to find information and can help one do this very effectively.
• Hunt the popular media, especially the better quality news media. Newspapers, journals, radio and television all have much to offer.
• Specific publications by some of the parties concerned can provide great insights. (eg Find out what the nuclear industry says and what Greenpeace says.)
• Publications on the World Wide Web provide a quick source. But be discerning. Use good Search Engines with carefully framed questions. Be very selective in what you use to avoid weakly argued cases. Some useful search engines can be found on this site on the pages listed below.

For a broad spread and quick searching try a couple of sites which provide simultaneous searching by several engines. Two you may like to try are:

• Dogpile which, despite its name, is a splendid site.

  and

• Web Search from this Geography-Environment-Society site.
  

Try a range and combination of appropriate keywords. For a start try +hazardous +waste +transport. I got very useful information from this. Later try other words to elicit specific data not originally found.

For your first search (very fast) you may like to try the search engine provided below.

For FAST searches.

• Click here for a list of links to a few more search engines

A few useful links to environmental organisations.

• Greenpeace International
• The Information Center For the Environment (UCD's)
• World Wildlife Fund

A few sites found during a 2 minute search

• The Basel Convention The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1989)
  
• Click Here to See the ENTIRE Basel text.
• WA-137 Transporting Hazardous Waste Regulations for ...
  
• The Law of Treaties and the Export of Hazardous Waste  UCLA J. Envt'l L. & Pol'y article on the international law of treaties, the Basel Convention, and the transboundary transportation of hazardous waste.
  

Good luck!

You should find that a similar approach will work for any issue.