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ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT<br />

account to qualify the significance of the possible impact of such a volume entering the waste<br />

stream. Even a small volume of a highly toxic compound may be of concern.<br />

Subsequently, in<strong>for</strong>mation on anaerobic degradation in l<strong>and</strong>fills or conditions simulating<br />

conditions in l<strong>and</strong>fills may indicate that further assessment may not be needed. Water solubility,<br />

adsorption/desorption in soil (under l<strong>and</strong>fill conditions) or if available from leaching<br />

experiments could also be included in the evaluation as an indicator <strong>for</strong> leaching potential.<br />

However, it is noted that even sorbed substances may leave the l<strong>and</strong>fill via particle transport<br />

with leachates.<br />

The substance may also leave the l<strong>and</strong>fill with the produced l<strong>and</strong>fill gas. The Kow <strong>and</strong> Henry’s<br />

Law constant as well as the tropospheric persistency may be used to indicate whether the release<br />

through l<strong>and</strong>fill gas may be of significance. A proposal <strong>for</strong> possible trigger values can be found<br />

in Danish EPA (2001).<br />

For incineration, inorganic substances are the predominant substances of concern. The concern is<br />

especially associated with possible leaching of such substances from incineration products<br />

whether l<strong>and</strong>filled or used e.g. <strong>for</strong> road construction. Furthermore, substances that contain<br />

halogens need special attention due to the possible <strong>for</strong>mation of hazardous substances during<br />

incineration.<br />

In order to evaluate whether emissions from incineration of a substance containing an inorganic<br />

substance of concern should be included in the risk assessment, the predicted occurrence of the<br />

substance in a waste stream should be compared with typical background-ranges. If a substance<br />

or a specific use of a substance may contribute unduly to the influent concentration further<br />

release calculation should be carried out.<br />

2.3.3.7 Delayed releases from waste disposal <strong>and</strong> dilution in time<br />

Releases from the waste life stage may occur several decades after production <strong>and</strong> processing of<br />

the substance under assessment. These delays are determined, inter alia, by:<br />

• the service life span of the substance as such, or in a chemical product or article;<br />

• intermediate storage after service life be<strong>for</strong>e waste collection (e.g. exhausted batteries);<br />

• exposure of residues from waste incineration to water. This source could be of particular<br />

relevance if the residues are re-introduced into the market as products (e.g. building<br />

material) exposed to water;<br />

• intensity of gas production in l<strong>and</strong>fills;<br />

• exposure of l<strong>and</strong>filled waste to water <strong>and</strong> deterioration of the l<strong>and</strong>fill bottom liner.<br />

The releases from l<strong>and</strong>fills <strong>and</strong> residues from waste incineration residues usually take place over<br />

a long time period. Hence the daily or annual release may result in a very small PEC. If<br />

available, monitoring data may be a valuable source of in<strong>for</strong>mation (see Section 2.2.1). The need<br />

<strong>for</strong> a long-term release assessment should be decided on a case-by-case basis, in particular <strong>for</strong><br />

metals or organic substances that are persistent <strong>and</strong> toxic.<br />

2.3.4 Characterisation of the environmental compartments<br />

In this section, the following parameters are derived:<br />

• definition of the st<strong>and</strong>ard environmental characteristics (Table 5);<br />

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