(in industry), any material that is left over from the production process. Wastes include materials with a wide range of compositions and physicochemical properties. Examples are such by-products as ore fines, cuttings, and turnings; inert substances that are separated from minerals and fuels during enrichment; and ashes and slags that are formed during the combustion of fuels. The amount of waste depends on the production technology used, the quality of the starting materials, the dimensions of the material, and the way in which the production processes are coordinated.

Progress in engineering has sharply reduced quantities of waste; furthermore, a significant portion of industrial waste is

Table 1. Toxic chemical warfare agents used by capitalist countries
	Structure	Physiological classification	Chemical behavior
1The structure of a representative compound is shown
Tabun ................		Nerve agent	Unstable
Sarin..............		Nerve agent	Unstable
Soman...............		Nerve agent	Stable
Phosphorylthiocholines1 ....		Nerve agent	Stable
Hydrogen cyanide...........	HCN	General poison	Unstable
Cyanogen chloride............	ClCN	Genera l poison	Unstable
Phosgene..............	OCCl2	Choking agent	Unstable
Mustard gas...............	S(CH2CH2Cl)2	Choking agent, vesicant	Stable
Trichlorotriethylamine .........	N(CH2CH2Cl)3	Choking agent, vesicant	Stable
Lewisite.........	Cl2AsCH=CHCl	Choking agent, vesicant	Stable
Chloroacetophenone.......		Lacrimator, irritant	Fuming, unstable
o-Chlorobenzalmalononitrile.		Lacrimator, sternutator, irritant	Fuming, unstable
Chloropicrin.............	Cl3CNO2	Choking agent, lacrimator, irritant	Unstable
Adamsite...............		Sternutator, irritant	Fuming, unstable
Lysergic acid diethylamide ...		Psychotomimetic	Unstable
Quinuclidine ester of diphenyl-oxyacetic acid.................		Pscychotomimetic	Unstable

used as a raw material for producing by-products. A decrease in the quantities of waste and the reuse of waste significantly reduces the consumption of raw materials and supplies. Production costs are lowered, while production efficiency is raised. In the USSR and elsewhere new technologies are being devised, while the existing production processes are being improved in order to maximize the reduction in the quantities of waste and, where possible, to completely eliminate waste.

Closed-loop recycling is one new development. The quantities of waste in the form of waste water and industrial air pollution have been sharply reduced, particularly in the chemical, metallurgical, and petroleum-refining and processing industries as well as in the coal, pulp, and paper industries. Another method of waste reduction is the creation of industrial complexes in which one plant utilizes the waste products of another plant as raw materials. Such measures are means of conserving natural resources as well as of improving the quality of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and soil. In the USSR the reduction or utilization of waste are part of the plan for the supply of raw materials and for the development of industrial production. Incentives in the form of bonuses for workers serve to encourage the practice of collecting, storing, and shipping wastes in many branches of industry.

by-products created in the processing of textile fibers. In Soviet industry, waste is classified as visible or invisible. Visible waste includes selvage waste—processed fiber that has emerged as waste from the spinning of semifinished articles and is returned for reprocessing; reworkable waste—soiled fiber, noils, and waste from opening machines that can be used in spinning after it is loosened and cleaned; wadded material, used to make wadding; and unusable waste. Invisible waste results from the removal of moisture from the raw material and the dispersion of fiber particles. Waste is undesirable because it reduces production output and increases the prime cost of production.