Landfill as a future option for the disposal of treated electroplating chemicals such as metal bearing sludges and filtercakes in Ireland

Abstract

Currently the fifteen Irish electroplating plant that have applied for an IPC licence produce 394.6 tonnes/annum electroplating sludge and 33.6 cubic metres of waste solution. This electroplating sludge is exported for recovery, exported for disposal or landfilled in Ireland. Prior to the 4th of February 1998 the EPA had received sixteen Waste Licence applications for the operation of a landfill. Of these nine have applied to accept non hazardous industrial sludge but only four are containment sites, which are suitable for the acceptance of metal bearing electroplating sludge. Should electroplating sludge be categorised as hazardous this will pose special problems for the Irish electroplating industry if the European Commission Directive on Landfill is accepted, as Ireland presently has no hazardous waste landfill. The continuance of landfill as a disposal option for electroplating sludge in the short and intermediate term can be assured by recategorising electroplating sludge as non-hazardous using EWC/HWC codes and the use of solidification and stabilisation to produce a non-hazardous product suitable for landfill. The long-term continuance of landfill as a disposal option for electroplating sludge requires the urgent provision of an Irish hazardous waste landfill facility.