Report: Waste management as a challenge for a laboratory in the rain forest of Ecuador

Abstract

Many developing countries suffer from a lack of collection, treatment and disposal systems for waste. A laboratory in the Amazon basin of Ecuador took the initiative and tried to handle a rising waste problem itself. Solutions for the recycling, treatment and harmless deposition of chemical wastes were developed and applied. Acidic and basic solutions, representing the majority of chemical residues, were disposed of or added to the waste water system after neutralization. The organic solvents could partly be recovered by rectification; others could be re-used. Dissolved heavy metals were precipitated and immobilized in concrete. Cyanides were destroyed and residues of microbiological analysis were thermally detoxified, as were oil-polluted soil samples and irrecoverable organic solvents. Although a description of a particular case, many of these easily applicable solutions could be appropriate for small enterprises or laboratories in a similar situation.