THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES to the disposal of hazardous wastes on land, or in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. For example, companies have turned increasingly to the incineration (burning) of their hazardous wastes. When done correctly, incineration can destroy close to 100 percent of some synthetic toxic chemicals.

The incineration of hazardous waste is done using extremely hot industrial ovens, and the temperature of these ovens must not be allowed to fall below a certain level if incineration is to be successful. If an industrial plant already uses very hot ovens as a part of its manufacturing process, the plant will sometimes use these same ovens to burn its hazardous wastes. If a facility does not operate ovens at high enough temperatures, the facility will sometimes send its waste to other industrial plants that do operate ovens hot enough for...