Hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment and generally exhibits one or more of the these characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity or toxicity.

Examples of hazardous waste include waste pickle liquor from iron and steel manufacturing and certain electroplating sludges.

Many types of businesses generate hazardous waste.

Some are small companies that may be located in a community.

For example, the following types of businesses typically generate hazardous waste: dry cleaners, automobile repair shops, hospitals, exterminators, and photo processing centers.

Some hazardous waste generators are larger companies like chemical manufacturers, electroplating companies, and oil refineries..

For more information about the topic Hazardous waste, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Landfill — Landfill is a waste disposal site for the deposit of the waste onto or into land. Most modern landfills require a minimum of one containment ...  > read more

Brownfield land — Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or ...  > read more

Waste — Waste, rubbish, or garbage is unwanted or undesired material. Waste is something which has lost its apparent value to its owner. It is a misplaced ...  > read more

Waste management — Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal of waste materials, usually ones produced by human activity, in an effort to ...  > read more

Related Stories

Cell Phones Qualify As Hazardous Waste (April 16, 2007) — The cell telephones that consumers in the United States discard by the millions each year classify as hazardous waste, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of the American Chemical ...  > read more

Growing Problem Of E-Waste: Bringing Harmony To Electronic Waste Disposal (September 4, 2009) — Disposal and recycling standards for old computer equipment and other electronic waste must be harmonized for this rapidly growing problem to be dealt with effectively across national borders, as ...  > read more

Elevated Concentrations Of Toxic Metals In China's E-Waste Recycling Workshops (April 1, 2008) — In a case study on how not to recycle electronic waste (e-waste), scientists in the United States and Hong Kong have documented serious environmental contamination with potentially toxic metals from ...  > read more

Discarded Cell Phones, Printers, Keyboards May Be Hazardous Waste (March 2, 2004) — A just-completed study by University of Florida environmental engineers found that electronic-age gizmos ranging from cell phones to computer mice often release enough lead in laboratory tests to be ...  > read more

Yucca Mountain: Putting A Limit On Risk (December 5, 2007) — Looking ahead 100 million years, new research puts a maximum limit of 3.6 meters per second on potential ground movement caused by earthquakes at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the site of the proposed ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Tired Truckers