On Burning Hazardous Waste in Cement Kilns

Approximately 60% of all commercially incinerated hazardous waste is burned in cement kilns. Although small amounts of hazardous wastes may have been burned in cement kilns for decades, the practice became widespread in the 1980s as new regulations made landfilling more expensive. Although members of Congress directed the EPA to regulate the practice in the early ’80s, it was not until 1991 that regulations were promulgated. The “Boiler and Industrial Furnace” (BIF) rules of 1991 regulate the combustion of hazardous waste in facilities not designed specifically for that purpose. Since the regulations were introduced, all 23 cement kilns burning hazardous waste have been operating under interim permits.

As the burning of hazardous waste in cement kilns has gained visibility, opposition to the practice has emerged from two unlikely bedfellows. Both consumer advocates and licensed hazardous waste incinerators, which have lost much of their business to the kilns, are expressing concerns about possible toxic residues in concrete products and about contamination of air and ground­water.