Nanowaste: Business-As-Usual Or A New Challenge For The Waste Industry?

Manufacturing of products containing engineered nanomaterials is growing quickly, and more than 1000 of these products can be already found on the market today. However, the nanowaste issue lacks quite completely of basic knowledge and information. In the present study, we provided a definition of nanowaste and developed classification and quantification methods.

In addition, we discussed the usability of available analytical techniques for characterization of nanowaste. Based on three case studies, we showed that nanowaste generation is already in the order of thousand of Mg in 2011, meaning that the nanowaste issue should not be neglected any longer. We conclude the analysis providing the waste industry, research institutions and policy makers with recommendations for future work to be done in order to properly deal with nanowaste in an environmentally sound way.