Hazardous waste management

Veolia, an expert in the field of hazardous waste management.

In China, Veolia plays a leading role in the field of hazardous waste management, operating and constructing more than 20 hazardous waste treatment projects across 13 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. By leveraging professional and advanced technology, and ensuring efficient and stable operations, it has effectively safeguarded the sustainable development of China's industrial sector.

Over40years of experience in hazardous waste management

Hazardous waste operations in 28 countries and regions

300 hazardous waste treatment and recovery projects worldwide

About 8 million tons of hazardous waste processed annually

 

Global leader in hazardous waste management

Veolia possesses a comprehensive management solutions for hazardous waste and is capable of handling industrial hazardous wastes from chemical, petrochemical, electronics manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, equipment and machinery manufacturing, and pharmaceutical sectors, and medical waste generated by the healthcare industry, and household hazardous waste, covering 45 categories of hazardous waste listed in the National Hazardous Waste List except for explosive waste. It also provides comprehensive solutions for environmental management including soil remediation and emergency response.

 

 

 

Veolia Hazardous Waste Operation in China 
 

 

  

Hazardous waste treatment process

Veolia’s hazardous waste treatment covers a range of processes, including incineration (rotary kiln, liquid incinerator), physical and chemical treatment, solidification/stabilization, secure landfill and rigid  landfill, medical waste treatment, sludge treatment and utilization, solvent recovery, etc.

 

Equipped with a variety of feeding devices to meet the feeding requirements of hazardous wastes with different packaging and components in different industries, Veolia's high temperature incineration facilities are capable of treating various forms of organic hazardous waste, including solid, liquid, and gaseous waste, as well as unpackaged and packaged waste. It has expanded the range of hazardous waste treatment and reduced operational risks, providing strong support to meet the needs of most waste-producing customers.

  • Pre treatment 
  • Waste pit crane feeding
  • SMP feeding system (shredder, mixer, pump)
  • Small package feeding
  • Waste hopper feeding
  • Waste liquid tank feeding
  • Direct feeding of special waste liquid

Physical and chemical treatment can treat inorganic waste liquid and low-concentration organic waste liquid, such as acid, alkali, wastewater from surface treatment, etc. The treatment process mainly includes oxidation, reduction, acid-base neutralization, metal precipitation, evaporation concentration and solid-liquid separation, etc. With the support of advanced technology and extensive experience from the group, Veolia projects are able to provide customized solutions for treating different types of waste and reduce the cost for customers as much as possible while ensuring the harmlessness of waste treatment.

As a leader in global ecological transformation, Veolia focuses on resource recycling as one of its main goals. Veolia is experienced in hazardous waste management and resource regeneration around the world and capable of regenerating valuable products from hazardous waste, including oil sludge management, recovering solvents, recycling waste acid and salt, and recovering catalyst, etc. The recycled high-value products can be returned to customers for reuse or sold in the market, helping customers save on raw material costs and external treatment expenses.

  • Oil sludge treatment
  • Solvent recovery
  • Recycling of waste acid
  • Recycling of waste salt
  • Catalyst recovery

Hazardous wastes that cannot be directly put into landfill must undergo stabilization/solidification before landfill and transform it into highly insoluble stable substances. These wastes can be sent to secure landfill sites for further disposal after testing and confirming that all indicators meet the requirements for landfill.

To ensure environmental safety, a secure landfill leakage prevention system typically incorporates a composite impermeable lining made of GCL (or clay) + HDPE impermeable membrane, a well-designed underground water drainage system, and a leachate export and storage system, as well as an advanced online monitoring system for detecting leaks in the impermeable liner.

Meticulous management of hazardous waste

Due to the special nature of hazardous waste, the entire process of its transportation, reception, storage, and disposal must be standardized.

Veolia has established a comprehensive operation and management system and standardized operating procedures for all treatment processes. Veolia has rich experience in the operation and management of its various projects, effectively achieving meticulous management of hazardous waste.

 

Veolia is one of the pioneering enterprises in China’s hazardous waste industry that have implemented information management. Veolia's independently developed Waste Information Management System (WIMS) includes all management modules for hazardous waste, covering the entire process from contract signing to final waste treatment, and enabling the full traceability of hazardous waste footprint with clear and user-friendly processes. Also, Veolia has adopted a comprehensive approach to refine its management using big data, which includes implementing customer service management, an RFID intelligent warehouse management system, smart menu of incinerators, real-time online monitoring of operation conditions, and full lifecycle management of assets.

Veolia China continuously promotes Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) in all of its hazardous waste projects, which conducts design reviews of the safety and operability of the entire operation process aiming to identify potential issues, their causes, potential consequences, and the necessary improvement measures to ensure the project operates in the safest environment possible. After periodic comprehensive HAZOP evaluations of each project, appropriate enhancements have been made in terms of equipment and facilities, operational procedures, and safety management. Currently, the average number of process improvements for each project has exceeded one hundred.

 

The safety of operation and production is the priority of the hazardous waste treatment centre. Standardized and strict management must be applied to the entire process of hazardous management, from pre-reception, transportation, storage, pre-treatment, to final treatment. For each hazardous waste project, Veolia has developed detailed instructions of standardized operation and operation procedures of equipment safety, as well as risk identification and evaluation, in the work areas and operational processes, and established appropriate guidance and control measures based on risk levels.

Emergency response and risk control

When hazardous chemicals-related leaks, vehicle accidents, fire accidents, explosions and other environmental safety incidents and public health crises occur in the city, Veolia's related hazardous waste projects will quickly cooperate with relevant authorities to provide an urgent response, deploying specialized emergency teams to participate in environmental rescue and management.

  • Fire accident in companies of hazardous chemicals
  • Environmental emergency rescue at explosion sites
  • Leakage of hazardous chemicals
  • Environmental emergency rescue for accidents involving hazardous chemical vehicle
  • Unclaimed waste collection/treatment

On-site management services for hazardous waste

Veolia’s professional technical team also has extensive experience in providing on-site services to public and waste-producing companies. Based on client needs, Veolia can provide on-site services to various sites, including enterprises, chemical industrial parks, hospitals, and universities, to provide targeted on-site waste management consulting services, and guide industrial companies to conduct scientific classification, packaging, storage, transportation, and resource recycling of hazardous waste in a comprehensive manner, which not only reduces safety hazards, but also alleviates the burden of subsequent treatment and saves environmental risk investment for clients.

 

Assist clients in identifying the type and amount of waste generated, answer questions about packaging, storage and treatment of waste.

Provide comprehensive technical services such as on-site classification, collection and packaging of hazardous wastes (including chemical reagent classification, professional hazardous waste label identification, scientific storage, packaging accessories, packaging equipment, etc.).

Dispatch technical personnel to assist customers in standardized management of hazardous waste (including management of identification signs, hazardous waste planning, ledger management, storage management, declaration and registration, source classification, transferring manifest, emergency plans and drills, services training, and management and implementation of transportation compliance with laws and regulations).

Lagoon and oil sludge cleaning, soil and site remediation services, etc.

The difficult pollution treatment

Veolia’s professional technical team also has extensive experience in providing on-site services to society and waste-producing units. Based on customer needs, Veolia can establish operations in various service sites, including enterprises, chemical industrial parks, hospitals, and universities, provide targeted on-site waste management consulting services, and guide industrial enterprises to conduct scientific classification, packaging, storage, transportation, and resource recycling of hazardous waste in a comprehensive manner, which not only reduces safety hazards, but also alleviates the burden of subsequent treatment and saves environmental risk investment for enterprises.

Veolia applies strict and specific protocols to managing difficult pollutions depending on its nature. This is to ensure that it no longer poses a threat to people or the environment, while recovering and recycling it where possible.

Tianjin Hejia Veolia Environmental Service Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Veolia, is one of the few projects in China that can offer PCB waste treatment services. Since 2009, it has undertaken 16 PCB waste treatment projects in different regions of China.

Veolia is the only company worldwide that can offer the complete chain of service in the field of nuclear decontamination, covering the dismantling of nuclear facilities and the disposal of low- to intermediate-level radioactive waste. Its services include safe access to contaminated areas, waste characterization and measurement, classification and separation, transportation, cleanup, and stabilization.

Veolia uses a variety of effective pretreatment methods and scientific compatibility to effectively reduce the damage to rotary kiln equipment caused by high-salt and highly corrosive waste and ensures that flue gas emissions meet the standards stably and continuously.

 

HOW&WHY video: Treatment and recovery of hazardous waste