Waste and recycling industry - Disposal

Once recyclables have been removed from waste, any residual materials need to be disposed of. This is usually done via landfill or incineration.

Landfill

Landfill involves burying waste in quarries. The main health and safety risks to workers at landfill sites include:

• fire and explosion caused by uncontrolled ignition of landfill gas (largely methane) generated during decomposition;
• transport hazards caused by heavy earth-moving plant and vehicles.

Where inadequate maintenance or poor weather conditions have caused vehicles to become bogged-down, you may find some of the practices deployed by the forestry industry helpful.

• Debogging and recovery of forestry machines - AFAG 703 [PDF 144KB]

Incineration

A smaller quantity of waste is incinerated, the preferred option for disposing of some hazardous wastes. For example, clinical and chemical wastes require exposure to high temperatures to reduce or remove the hazards they pose.

Energy can be recovered by modern incinerators, eg to generate electricity.
You should carry out a risk assessment for handling and disposing of fly-ash following incineration and implement suitable control measures. Precautions should be taken to prevent ash from becoming airborne and subsequently inhaled, so far as is reasonably practicable.