Life on the fence line. Early 20th-century life in Ross Acreage

Despite widespread attention to the recent past as an archaeological topic, few archaeologists have attended to the particular social and ecological stakes of one of the most defining material features of contemporary life: the long-term effects of toxic industrial waste. Identifying the present era as the high Capitalocene, this article highlights the contemporary as a period caught between the boom-and-bust cycles of capitalist production and the persistence of industrial waste. Drawing on an archaeological case study from Edmonton, Alberta, we outline how the working-class shanty town community of Ross Acreage (occupied 1900–1950) was formed in relation to the industrial waste that suffused its landscape. Drawing on data from both archaeological excavation and environmental testing, this article argues that the community of Ross Acreage was defined materially by its long-term relationship with industrial waste, what we term a ‘fence-line community’.

Problems of ecology and ensuring environmental safety in relation to toxic “Krasny Bor” dump site

In the article the author raises the problem of ecology and ensuring environmental safety in relation to toxic “Krasny Bor” landfill. Comprehensive analysis of the existing system shortcomings to storage toxic industrial waste has been given. The principal threats of a dangerous object to the environment being in a critical state have been discussed. Reliable and high-quality environmental monitoring in the landfill is still absent. At all stages of the life cycle of the “Krasny Bor”, bureaucratic confusion impedes the development of environmentally oriented investment activities for the reclamation of toxic pits. The main elements of the project structure to remediate the “Krasny Bor” have been considered. It has been shown that the project must include all acceptable technological solutions related to landfill disposal and that it is necessary to focus on environmental protection and environmental safety of the area. In the framework of current situation at the disposal site, it does not seem impossible to solve the issues of ensuring environmental safety in the direction of moving towards sustainable and balanced development of the North-Westregion.

Aluminium leaching from red muds for their complexing reprocessing

Complexing processing of «red muds» (R.M.) - waste of bauxite reprocessing by the Bayer's method, is one of the important tasks of toxic industrial waste utilization. Studied the possibility of aluminum leaching from the R.M. which content reach 14 %, received from Bogoslovsky aluminum plant of JSC «Siberian-Urals Aluminium Company» by aqueous solutions of NaOH. The process was carried out at atmospheric pressure and temperatures near to the boiling point of leaching solutions with the utilization of the residual alkali. The time’s dependence of the aluminum leaching degree from the R.M. by aqueous solutions of NaOH passes through the maximum due to the formation of secondary precipitation of aluminum. The cause of secondary sedimentation is the interaction of silicon with aluminum with formation of insoluble aluminosilicates, for example, Nа2Аl2Si2O8·2Н2O. The conditions of leaching, under which the formation of stable aluminate solutions during the time do not form of secondary precipitations were established. The maximum achieved values of the aluminum leaching degree in autoclave-free conditions was reach 20-25 %. The removal of alkali and part of aluminum under the first stage of complexing processing of R.M. leads to their enrichment in iron. The cakes from aluminum leaching and next carbonate scandium leaching can be used for pyrometallurgical recovery of iron and slag, in which untreated elements are passed, including residual aluminum, scandium, sum of rare earth elements, titanium and zirconium. A significant decrease in the volume of slag opens more opportunities for further isolation their components by acidic methods.

Bonding Material Containing Ashes After Domestic Waste Incineration for Cementation of Radioactive Waste

It is known that cement minerals hydration is accompanied with heat emission. Heat of hardening influences formation of a cement compound structure and its properties. It is important to reduce the heat quantity at continuous cementation of waste and filling of compartments of a repository or containers by a cement grout. For reduction of heating, it is necessary to use cement of mineral additives (fuel ashes, slag and hydraulic silica). Properties of ashes after domestic waste incineration can be similar to ones of fly fuel ashes. However, ash after domestic waste incineration is toxic industrial waste as it contains toxic elements (As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Sb, Zn). Utilization of secondary waste (slag and ash) of combustion plants is an important environmental approach to solving cities’ issues. Results of the research have shown that ashes of combustion plants can be used for radioactive waste conditioning. Coprocessing of toxic and radioactive waste is ecologically and economically effective. At SIA “Radon”, experimental batches of cement compositions are used for cementation of oil containing waste.

Genotoxicity Screening of Leachates from Solid Industrial Wastes Evaluated with the Allium Test

Six solid wastes from the metal industry, from the chemical industry and from the production of pesticides were investigated for their toxic and genotoxic properties by using the Allium test. To simulate environmental conditions and better assess their environmental impact, the solid wastes were leached with water, and the water-extractable micropollutants were lyophilised before screening. The mean root lengths of onions exposed to different concentrations of the leachates were measured, and EC50 values were determined from the growth curves. The EC50 values of the wastes were ranked, in the order: organochlorine pesticide waste, settling tank sludge from a chemical company, paint sludge, lead slag, steel slag and aluminium slag. The leachates were also mitodepressive, and caused significant increases in the frequency of chromosome aberrations. These results demonstrate that the Allium test is a useful screening test for the evaluation and ranking of toxic industrial waste.