Hazardous and Industrial Wastes Management: a Case Study of Khazra Industrial Park, Kerman

Background & Aims of the Study: Increasing hazardous industrial wastes and lack of necessary regulations for management of them have led to serious problems in some parts of Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the situation of collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal of hazardous industrial wastes in the Khazra Industrial Park of Kerman, Iran. Materials & Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was done using questionnaires and local visits during year 2009. In this questionnaire, some information about the industrial wastes, production, storage on site , collection, transformation, sorting, recycling, and disposal were recorded. Results:   In the Khazra Industrial Park, 71,600 kg/day of different industrial waste is produced. The biggest proportion of waste includes metals, and construction and demolition waste which are about 16,500 tons a year. The smallest proportion is non-iron metal waste, which is produced at a rate of 8 tons per year. 88.7 percent of the active industries at the Khazra Industrial Park produce solid industrial waste. Most of the industrial units do not use a united and coordinated system for storing waste and have no specific place for temporary storage inside the industrial park. The majority of industrial waste collection, which is about 59.8%, is done by private contractors. The industrial units transfer their waste separately, and just 9 industrial units recycle their waste. Disposal of these wastes is mainly done by selling to trading agencies. Each day, 3 tons of hazardous industrial waste is produced in this park. The highest production belongs to the oil factory (Keyhan Motor). Conclusions: According to the results, the Khazra Industrial Park needs a unified system for storing, transporting and collecting the sorted waste, and it also needs to have a transportation station with basic facilities. The wastes of most industrial units at the Khazra Industrial Park have the potential for recycling and re-usage in other industries. The best, most economic, and most environment-friendly waste management activity of the Khazra Industrial Park is prevention of production, increase in the potential of recycling, and reuse of material with emphasis on sorting at the production site, increase of mechanical sorting, and decrease in production of disposable waste.