Transfers Off Site for Treatment Toxic chemicals sent off site may be treated through a variety of methods including biological treatment, neutralization, incineration, and physical separation. These methods result in varying degrees of destruction of the toxic chemical. Both incineration and energy recovery involve combustion of a toxic chemical in a waste. However, they have different purposes. Energy recovery is combustion occurring in a boiler, kiln, or industrial furnace in which the heat from the combustion is used to generate steam or to heat other materials in a manufacturing process.
Incineration is combustion with the primary purpose being the destruction of the toxic chemical.
For the VIP2 Annual Report, data for treatment, disposal, and other off-site transfers have been combined. Waste management categories include those discussed in Sections 3.2 and 3.3 plus the following categories. This is the quantity of the toxic chemical that was combusted in some form of energy recovery device, such as a furnace, including kilns, or a boiler. The toxic chemical should have a heating value high enough to sustain combustion. To avoid double-counting, the amount reported represents the amount destroyed in the combustion process, not the amount that entered the energy recovery unit.