Types Of Hazardous Waste
If you're producing hazardous waste, you need to know the various categories of the waste to carry out hazardous waste disposal accordingly. If you dispose of the waste wrongly, even without knowledge, you may cause environmental pollution or harm human health, which may cause legal problems. In return, your business may suffer as the law may penalize you. Here are the various hazardous wastes you should know.
Listed
Listed waste originates from manufacturing or chemical waste products. The waste in this category includes the following:
F-List
The wastes come from different industrial and manufacturing processes, and their exact source isn't known. The wastes include the following:
- Dioxin-related waste
- Multisource leachate
- Wood preservation wastes
- Petroleum refinement sludge
- Spent solvent wastes
- Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons
- Metal finishing waste such as electroplating wastes
K-List
The waste comes from specific sources in industrial processing, such as petroleum refinement and wood preservation. Here are some processes that usually generate this waste:
- Metal production
- Petroleum refining
- Inorganic pigment manufacturing
- Explosives manufacturing
- Ink formulation
P- and U-List
The waste in this list comprises unutilized chemicals for disposal. There are three categories:
- Chemicals that have P and U list chemicals
- Contains unused waste chemicals
- The chemical should be a commercially used chemical product.
However, note that P-list waste is acute, and empty cans are toxic wastes. In contrast, while U-list waste is toxic, its empty containers aren't hazardous. Therefore, you can eliminate U-list waste containers with other non-toxic junk.
While waste categorization can be confusing, understanding all listed wastes makes the hazardous waste disposal process easier and more accurate.
Characteristic
Characteristic waste gets its identification from the qualities it displays. Hazardous waste disposal services usually use four characteristics to classify the waste:
- Ignitability: This category includes flammable waste that may cause fires.
- Corrosivity: These wastes include bases and acids that can eat away steel or corrode.
- Reactivity: These wastes include explosive wastes which aren't stable under normal atmospheric conditions. The chemicals can react with water or heat.
- Toxicity: These wastes contain poisons that can be fatal upon absorption or ingestion, such as sulfur batteries.
Mixed
Mixed waste has radioactive and hazardous components. The categories include low-level, high-level, and mixed transuranic waste. Each type of mixed toxic wastes requires special disposal methods that waste elimination professionals understand.
The common hazardous waste types are listed, mixed, and characteristic wastes. Consider hiring hazardous waste disposal services to identify these waste categories and eliminate the waste correctly.
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