Hexavalent Chromium the Threat to the Environment and Human Health

One of the actual global problems is an issue of waste, its formation, disposal and possible secondary processing. Another closely related issue concerns hazardous waste which represents a potential threat to environment and human health. This paper is focused on an area of waste containing hexavalent chromium arising especially from leather industry. Hexavalent chromium is classified as a carcinogen and its repeated exposure to human organism have hazardous impact. A new possible risk connected with the use of disinfectants on shoes containing oxidizers is presented. It is based on the known possibility of conversion of trivalent chromium to hexavalent chromium. The oxidation is supported by experimental data gained by UVvisible spectrophotometry. An innovative method Raman spectroscopy is proposed for identification of the valence state of chromium contained in investigated material. The process of collagen protein hydrolysis gained from tannery wastes for the purpose of production inducers of resistance for crop plants is introduced. Key-Words: waste, leather manufacture, tannery wastes, hexavalent chromium, hazardous materials, closedloop technology, protein hydrolysis