Earlier this month, a video surfaced online that claimed to show factory workers dumping chemical sludge or acid onto the ground somewhere in the western U.S. In the video, the workers claimed that they were being forced to dump the chemicals and that they believed the act to be wrong and illegal. They did not name the chemicals being dumped, nor did they name the company for which they worked. After the video went viral, a company in Nevada came forward to acknowledge that it owned the factory depicted in the video, reported the Reno Gazette-Journal. There has been no word on whether the claims made in the video are true as of yet, though the Nevada Division of the Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the matter.
What kind of chemicals were being dumped?
The video does not clearly show what kind of chemical was being dumped or even if all of the barrels contained the same substance. The men in the video only refer to it as sludge or acid. The Huffington Post reported that label seen in the video indicates that it could be a machining and grinding fluid – though the barrel could be filled with an unrelated substance.
In the video, one of the men says, "This is all the sludge out of our parts wash machine."
If it the substance does turn out to be a grinding fluid, it could have potentially damaging environmental effects. While the video leaves many questions unanswered – and has since been removed from YouTube – it does raise the issue of whistleblowers, which are protected under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Chemical disposal should be taken very seriously and it's important that people speak out when protocol and laws are not being followed.
How should industrial chemicals be disposed?
Factories that work with hazardous chemicals should have a system in place for disposing of those substances before they even begin work. There should be safety measures in place to protect employees while chemicals are being used, and a thoroughly documented procedure for what to do with chemicals after they have served their purpose.
Typically, a factory will hire a waste company to handle the waste chemicals. In many cases, the chemicals are removed to another location, such as a secure landfill where they are disposed of well away from any drinking supply. As long as hazardous chemicals are treated with respect and proper safety procedures are followed, there won't be any problems with their use in an industrial setting.
