Examples of Inventive Approaches in Hazardous Waste Treatment in Bulgaria
Based on their nature of generation, hazardous wastes can be divided in two major groups: waste with historical background and waste currently generated from economic activity. Those two groups of waste require very different approaches considering their proper treatment both from environmental and economic point of view. Why? Historically generated hazardous wastes are obsolete products or resulted from entering into force and later amendments of specific legislation (such as POPs – DDT, PCBs, etc.) or more stringent requirements towards industrial ac-tivities. The second group of wastes – currently generated by economic activities have two main sources - industry and households. Both subgroups differ, depending on quantity, conditions, availability of funds to cover the treatment costs, and public perception.
Scarcity of resources requires inventive approaches towards waste management practices. Doing something simply because it's green is in the past. Hazardous wastes require interdisciplinary approaches in order to apply economically viable and at the same time envi-ronmentally sound solutions. This article presents two examples of such inventive approaches. The first is developed and realized while Bulgarian economy was still in transition, while the second is quite recent it started in 2012. Both projects can be implemented with very low budg-et, but have a substantial environmental effect. They are a result of the specific approach to-wards management of waste flows, considering among other issues the historical origin of the wastes. Based on their nature of generation, hazardous waste can be divided in two main groups: waste with historical background and waste currently generated from economic activity. Those two groups of waste require very different approaches considering their proper treatment both from environmental and economic point of view. Hazardous waste from household is at-tracting public attention as a result of the pursuit of safer lifestyle and understanding the mis-takes made in the past.