A hazardous wastes overview

Last year municipal incinerator ash was non-hazardous. This year it may be hazardous, or it may not be. This illustrates the confusing and changing aspects of hazardous wastes analysis. EPA has listed a number of wastes as hazardous. It has also established four basic criteria for the determination of hazardous wastes: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. Any waste material, which, when tested, meets one of these criteria, will also be classified as hazardous and must be handled according to hazardous wastes regulations. Two major hazardous wastes problems exist: What do do with new quantities generated and what to do about storage sites, the result of past generation, which present a danger to human health or the environment. This article presents an overview of the problems, the laws, the wastes, and the solutions that are now being applied.