Demand for Commercial Stabilization Services Likely to Decline
Market Pressures on the Sector Continue to Mount
Contacts: Paul C. Evans 952/831-2473, ext. 12
Cary Perket 858/488-4760
April 16, 2001 — For Immediate Release
Edina, MN — The EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace, North America’s leading research service on hazardous waste management, announced the results of its annual survey of the commercial hazardous waste stabilization sector. The results indicate a universe of 37 commercial facilities offering the service in the U.S. and Canada, 22 of which are located at disposal (deep well or landfill) locations. In total, commercial facilities stabilize approximately 1.3 million tons of hazardous waste.
The report distinguishes stabilization facilities — those that process waste to reduce its leachability — into four distinct categories. "First, and the most easy to identify, are those facilities that offer the service at a final disposal location, such as landfill or deep well," says EI Analyst Paul Evans. "These commercial facilities stabilize approximately 1 million tons of hazardous waste. Second, there are commercial facilities that offer the service without the availability of a hazardous disposal location on-site. These stand-alone facilities, processing about 300 thousand tons of hazardous waste per year, may either dispose of waste at a nonhazardous landfill or transport waste to a third-party location."
In addition to commercial stabilization facilities, two kinds of captive stabilization facilities exist. "A set of stabilization facilities exists at commercial hazardous waste treatment facilities that are captive in the sense that it stabilizes its own waste as a result of other treatment methods, such as the stabilization of incinerator ash," explains Evans. "The fourth type of stabilization facilities is captive, non-commercial facilities. This universe is the most difficult to define, as many of these facilities incorporate ‘in-line process modification’ in lieu of traditional end-of-pipe stabilization treatment."
The EPA does not monitor the use of in-plant additions of chemicals to perform stabilization. Consequently, there are no volume statistics for the amount of hazardous waste stabilized captively at either commercial hazardous waste facilities or at manufacturing plants. From historical EI research, there are reasons to believe that the amount of hazardous waste treated at captive facilities is greater than the amount treated at commercial facilities.
"The stabilization that occurs at U.S. commercial hazardous waste stabilization facilities and landfills is required to meet certain EPA standards," says EI Senior Analyst Cary Perket. "Not many of the Canadian provinces have a definition of hazardous waste that is harmonious with the standards established by the United States, and even fewer have equivalent treatment requirements. On the positive side, some Canadian facilities stabilize all waste they receive to a level that exceeds US standards. On the other hand, it is possible for some hazardous waste that is generated in the U.S. to be disposed in Canadian nonhazardous waste landfills without prior treatment. This type of regulatory disharmony between the U.S. and Canada will cause some shifts in market share in coming years."
One regulatory factor that may benefit the commercial stabilization sector is the recently amended hazardous waste identification laws in Ontario. The province set new regulations on the definition of a hazardous waste,
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including several new wastes to its list of hazardous wastes. "With the newly listed hazardous wastes, early indications are that the rules will reduce the amount of wastes sent directly to nonhazardous waste landfills," forecasts Evans. "Rather, wastes will potentially either have to undergo treatment at a commercial stabilization facility or be sent directly to a hazardous waste landfill."
This report appeared in the EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace, a business research report published 10 times per year that covers hazardous waste management issues. Further information of the EI Digest can be found on ENVIROBIZ.COM (www.envirobiz.com), one of the Internet’s leading sites for proprietary and public environmental business information. Based in Edina, Minnesota, Environmental Information, Ltd. (EI) specializes in information and research on the environmental services and technology marketplace. EI provides original subscription-based research services. Among the services is the comprehensive compilation of the largest directory and database of environmental service firms, landfills and treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities in North America. For further information, contact customer service at 952/831-2473.
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