Possibilities of environmental damage assessment in the event of a hazardous waste fire: the case of Lithuania

Abstract

The recent hazardous waste fire at one of the most important Lithuanian hazardous waste management companies showed the problems in assessing the environmental damage of such an event. A large part of the damage to the environment in such cases is caused by emissions of pollutants into the ambient air. However, both in Lithuania and in other European countries, the methodology for calculation of emissions is available only for some flammable materials, such as rubber, plastics, petroleum products, etc. cases. However, the best set of calculation methodologies covering the combustion of a fairly wide range of materials has been developed at the UK Environment Agency. This methodology is currently being adapted by Lithuanian scientists for hazardous waste. The biggest problem is how to determine the morphological and chemical composition of burned waste as accurately as possible, because only in this case the sufficiently objective calculations of environmental damage can be done.