Proper treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDF's) form the centrepiece of this authoritative book on hazardous waste. Records of public hearings show increasingly organized and sophisiticated opposition by citizens and local officials to waste disposal siting the 'not in my backyard!' (NIMBY) reaction. This NIMBY-attitude has historically been stimulated by bad experiences, the result of improper waste treatment. This book urges local authorities and facility-planners to do their jobs meticulously when working with the public.
The book opens with a broad analysis of the evolution of the hazardous waste disposal problem, with many historic and anecdotal footnotes on developments in the USA. It also sketches the problems related to the handling of such substances as: asbestos from pipe wrappings, sprayed insulations and waterpipes; PCB's in insulating fluids of electric transformers; and the drums used to contain industrial wastes. Management problems are viewed from four different angles: the consumers, the developers, the taxpayers and municipal and commercial interests. A great concern of the authors is that most insurers are now shunning pollution of all kinds-fast, slow, accidental or deliberate. This puts chemical handlers in an even worse bind: laws still require them to buy insurance, but the insurance companies won't sell it.
The fact that the regulatory term 'hazardous waste' is not interchangeable with phrases such as 'chemical waste' or 'wastes that have chem-