Dust, especially that derived from fermentable materials, is perfectly capable of transporting, sometimes very far. The other waste substances are mainly metals: cadmium, mercury, lead, thallium, arsenic, boron, aluminium, chromium, manganese, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, zinc.

Also found, and especially around incineration plants, are various gases such as sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, dioxins and furans, different volatile organic compounds mainly from incomplete combustion (cyclic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, ketones, acids, PAHs, etc.), phenols, cyanides, etc. With the Best Sink Disposals, the deals are there now.

Finally, exposure to a phenomenal amount of substances suspected to be nephrotoxic is constant around the waste. These are primarily pesticides, but also synthetic hormones and many other endocrine disruptors.

• Therefore, waste treatment and storage facilities, including non-hazardous waste, operate either under the reporting regime or the authorisation scheme. They require, for their opening and operation, an impact study with the public inquiry, a hazard study, a health and safety notice have been made and published. At the level of the department, various decentralised administrations (DDAF,DDE,DDASS), as well as the departmental council of hygiene are consulted by the Prefect for the opinion on the establishment.

A waste treatment establishment cannot be opened unless it can provide specific financial guarantees.

The transport of waste

• The legislation on the transportation of waste is quite abundant. This is easily explained by the fact that many of these products are dangerous and that it is better to guard against possible accidental or malicious dispersions or dispersions.
• Usually, transfers of waste from the community to other countries are forbidden except bilateral agreements or if countries have ratified the Basel agreements. Many other things are prohibited, such as the export of waste for recovery (asbestos,electronics, radioactive waste, etc.), but here again bilateral agreements allow practically everything.
• Typically, waste resulting from the normal operation of ships is excluded from this “transport of waste” field. Also eliminated are radioactive waste, civil aviation waste and those generated by off-shore platforms.

Treatment of ferrous metals (ferrous scrap), non-ferrous metals and precious metals

In the field of recycling, an area which one might think is relatively recent considering the media impact that this concept has taken in past years, those ferrous or non-ferrous metals, is very old and was undertaken by profession (scrap metal, metal recovery) whose characteristics have long characterised certain social groups. The very recent surge in metal prices has probably made this activity even more profitable than it already was, but certainly no less risky. This flight has unfortunately resulted in a significant increase in the theft of these metals and by substantial damage due to some of these looting.