Industrial Waste

Industrial waste is waste from industrial production and manufacturing. Industry covers many industrial sectors and within each sector large variations are found in terms of which raw materials are used, which production technology is used and which products are produced. Available data on unit generation rates and material composition as well as determining factors are discussed in this chapter. Characterizing industrial waste is faced with the problem that often only a part of the waste is handled in the municipal waste system, where information is easily accessible. In addition part of the industrial waste may in periods, depending on market opportunities and prices, be traded as secondary rawmaterials. Production-specificwaste from primary production, for example steel slag, is not included in the current presentation. In some countries industries must be approved or licensed and as part of the system industry has to inform at the planning stage and afterwards in yearly reports on their waste arising and how the waste is managed. If available such information is very helpful in obtaining information about that specific industry. However, in many countries there is very little information available about industrial waste – maybe also influenced by the policy of the industry as to making information publicly available. The data presented in this chapter is scarce and maybe not fully representative for the industrial sectors and hence should be used with caution only.