An incandescent Waste disposal system and method for the processing of waste and for rendering a hazardous component of the waste nonhazardous without discharge of harmful emissions are provided. The system includes a waste processing chamber, typically segmented into several sectors, wherein the waste is thermally and mechanically decomposed into a harmless residue by the action of rollers and an unrestricted arc plasma cloud that has a temperature sufficient to decompose the waste and render the hazardous component nonhazardous. The plasma cloud is created in a well-defined area in a reproducible manner and has a central region the temperature of which can reach 15,000.degree.-22,000.degree. F.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a divisional application of pending application Ser. No. 08/401,271, filed Mar. 9, 1997, issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,056 on Oct. 7, 1997.
