What is Hazardous Waste? A Guide to Identification and Clean-up

What is hazardous waste? Well, according to the EPA, it’s a waste that is dangerous or potentially harmful to our health or the environment. This waste can be liquid, solid, gas, or sludge. Discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides, or even the by-products of manufacturing processes are all considered types of hazardous waste.

Where Does Hazardous Waste Come From?

These wastes can be produced by a variety of different places. Small businesses such as dry cleaners, auto repair shops and hospitals or large companies like chemical manufacturers, electroplating companies, and petroleum refineries all produce some amount of hazardous waste.

Effects of Untreated Hazardous Waste

Because of the chemical nature of these wastes, they can poison, corrode, explode, or ignite easily when handled improperly. Knowing what to do if you have any of these hazardous wastes is important. At Cactus Environmental, we specialize in the clean-up of hazardous wastes that are produced by larger businesses.

What is Hazardous Waste & What are the Different Types?

Hazardous waste is classified in a few different ways. In order to determine who you need to call to help with clean-up and removal you must first determine if the waste is a solid, semi-solid, liquid or a contained gas. Our OSHA HAZWOPER trained personnel take samples of the waste and our partnering lab identifies the best way to dispose of it.

Transportation & Disposal of Hazardous Waste

We are a permitted 10 Day Transport Facility and are equipped to store commercial amounts of hazardous waste. Storage is when waste is held for a temporary period before it can be treated, disposed, or stored elsewhere. There are a variety of ways to store hazardous waste such as in containers, tanks, containment buildings, drip pads, and waste piles. Cactus Environmental makes use of containerized storage. Examples of this type of storage are 55-gallon drums, tanker trucks, railroad cars, buckets, bags, and even test tubes.

While hazardous waste seems like a daunting problem, you can trust that Cactus Environmental can handle any size of industrial sized clean-up that you may have, including emergency environmental cleanup jobs, and can help keep you in compliance with state laws. If your business has a hazardous waste spill that needs to be taken care of call Cactus Environmental.

Contact Us Today for Hazardous Waste Management Service