Back G. S. Kozawa
EM Technologies, Inc. Tucson, Arizona, USA1
Full Paper (PDF File: 100KB)
Abstract
In United States of America, like in Japan, dioxin issues must be dealt
with, in particular, with landfill leachate related issues. Like Japan,
the United States has its share of incinerators; however, many are closed
or about to be closed down for polluting the atmosphere and the immediate
surroundings. However, due to land space, there are many landfill sites.
They are all classified according to toxic, hazardous material to paper
products to woods and concrete. All landfill sites are regulated. It must
be lined with various materials such as HDPE plastic and installed with
drainage pipes to collect the liquid run-offs into ponds for treatment
or hauled away for proper waste management. The run-offs are called leachate.
This leachate can contain many families of dioxins. There are more than
seventy members of the family of chlorinated dioxins. It was found to be
a contaminant of the herbicide 2,4,5-T (tricholorophenoxy-acetic acid)
some ten years after latter was approved for use; it was then banned by
FDA for most purposes. Waste contaminated with dioxin must be disposed
of in officially approved landfills. In County of Yolo, the landfill leachate
was treated by water treatment facility at City of Davis. Pipes transported
it to the facility. Recently, they found dioxins in the leachate. They
refused to treat the leachate. The County of Yolo Landfill Facility was
in a quandary due to non-treatment of their leachate from the landfill
site. It was at this time frame that EM Technologies, Inc. distributor
approached them with an innovative bioremediation. They conducted their
own bench top test with EM Technologies, Inc.'s testing protocol. With
direct assistance from Dr. Teruo Higa, the test began and ended in successful
80% plus bioremediation of dioxins in liquid environment.