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In the 1980s, Italy paid a Nigerian town $100 monthly to store toxic waste
- londons_explore 9y agoWith the right tech, toxic (but non-radioactive) waste processing is actually not too bad. One simply has to incinerate the waste at very high temperatures to turn the whole lot into a plasma, then condense it all into what usually ends up being a non-toxic molten lavalike slag and various gasses. The gasses require a bit more processing to remove NOx, SO2, and any solids, but you're then pretty much done. Elemental pollutants like arsenic and mercury obviously aren't removed by this process, but they're locked safely in the slag. Obviously, those elements came from the earth at some point in the past, and putting them back in the earth locked in a glassy lava seems fine to me.