How can we dispose of industrial and hospital waste?
There are a few options. Some is disposed in modern landfills designed to minimize leaks. The old days of open dumping of industrial waste or using ravines and swamps are largely gone. This works for certain solids materials that are not amenable to incineration. Other materials, such as hospital waste and some hazardous waste can be incinerated. These incinerators are specifically designed for this waste and are not quite the same as the usually larger trash incinerators. Then there are some cement kilns that can take a limited amount of waste, usually liquid hazardous waste, but it usually needs to have a high energy content. All of these places operate under very strict regulations now. There have been many improvements in waste management although lots of challenges still exist and no system is perfect.
