3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 77

Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

Challenges and opportunities for beneficial reuse of large volume wastes in

the USA

W. Lee Daniels
Dept. of Crop & Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT maximum soil contaminant levels (e.g. total As

at 0.39 mg/kg) that are considerably below natu-
Large volumes of residual wastes such as coal ral soil and sediment background concentrations
combustion products (CCP’s), dredge sediments (5 to 8 mg/kg). Historically, up to 50% of mu-
and sewage sludge (biosolids) are available for nicipal sewage sludge (biosolids) generated in
beneficial use as soil amendments, manufac- the USA has been land-applied to agricultural
tured soil components or structural fills in the lands. However, similar to CCP’s, mounting
USA, but their utilization is being increasingly public concerns over pathogen regrowth follow-
challenged by a combination of regulatory and ing application, trace organics with hormonal
public acceptance barriers. Over 100 M tonnes activity, and loss of bioaerosols are limiting
of fly ash + flue gas desulfurization (FGD) land application in many states. Interestingly, all
sludge are produced annually and over 40% of of three of these large volume residuals have
the fly ash is recycled annually into cement or been used with great success alone and in vari-
block while over 30% of the FGD is converted ous combinations for mine reclamation and for
into wallboard. Over the past decade, increasing remediation of a wide array of contaminated
amounts of both materials have also been recy- lands. For a combination of reasons, including
cled as structural construction fills and for mine the presence of established monitoring arrays,
reclamation. However, mounting public and potential for large volume applications, and bet-
agency concerns over the potential release of ter public acceptance, these disturbed areas are
toxic elements to the environment is currently emerging as the preferred utilization environ-
reducing recycling efforts and beneficial use. ment for all of these wastes.
These concerns have been amplified by a series
of highly publicized issues including a fly ash
retention dam failure, alleged water quality
damage from structural fills and gaseous H2S
emissions from imported drywall products.
Similarly, over 200 M m3 of dredge sediments
are removed from USA waterways annually and
less than 5% are used beneficially. This is de-
spite that fact that major projects in Illinois and
Virginia have recently clearly demonstrated the
potential of dredge sediments for use as soil
covers at former industrial sites and degraded
mines. One major issue is the almost complete
lack of state regulatory programs and standards
for such uses. Other major constraints include
current federal health based risk screening crite-
ria for soils at remediation sites that specify