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Pollutants In My Environment - An Introduction to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI)
Glossary
- CAS
- Chemical Abstract Service, a unique registry number for a substance, allowing its identification in spite of its many aliases.
- Carcinogenic
- A substance is considered to be carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer: capable of increasing the incidence of malignant neoplasm or tumour.
- SIC Code
- Standard Industrial Classification ; numerical identifiers for different types of businesses and industries.
- Criteria
- CEPA requires any facility located in Canada to produce a report if it meets the following criteria:
- employees worked a total of 20 000 hours or more during the year (equivalent to 10 full-time employees) ;
- the facility manufactured, processed or otherwise used 10 tonnes or more of a NPRI substance during the year, and its concentration was greater than 1% (except for by-products).
Lower reporting thresholds have been established for some substances, such as micro-pollutants, beginning in the year 2000.
- Disposal
- There are eight major disposal methods:
- physical, chemical or biological treatment ;
- incineration or thermal treatment;
- containment;
- municipal sewage treatment plant (MSTP);
- underground injection
- land treatment
- CEPA
- Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
- Recycling
- For the NPRI, a substance may be recycled by the following methods:
- recovery of energy, solvents, organic substances, metals and metal compounds, inorganic materials, acids or bases, catalysts, and of pollution abatment residues;
- refining or reuse of used oil
- Toxic
- In accordance to the CEPA, a substance will be considered as toxic if its presence may have an immediate or long-term harmful effect on the environment and/or health.
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