Industrial heavy metal pollution and hazardous effects on ecology: Waste management perspective

In this article, pollution of ecological systems with heavy metals and their hazardous effects were investigated as a view of waste management. Several industries from mining to electroplating produce large volumes of wastewater containing heavy metals. These wastewater cause accumulation of heavy metals through ecological circle in soil, plants and animals which directly enter human food chains presenting a high hazardous effect on consumers. They may cause severe damage of the kidney, reproductive system, liver, brain and central nervous system. Some of these heavy metals are Cd+2, Cu+2, Ni+2, Cr+6, Pb+2, Zn+2, As+2, and Hg+2. They also inhibit the biological treatment systems. These pollutants are special requirement for the disposal procedure. In this context heavy metal treatment processes have been also examined in this article. © 2006. International Scientific Conference SGEM.