Knowing how to handle waste properly plays an important role in keeping our environment safe and protecting public health. If you're in the environmental field, recognizing hazardous waste can stop harmful substances from getting into our land, water, and air.

In this blog, we'll give you the scoop on spotting hazardous waste and the types of dangerous materials you might come across. By the end, you'll have a solid grasp on identifying hazardous waste, helping make the world a cleaner and safer place for everyone.

How to Identify Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste is dangerous and is subject to stringent waste management regulations. Identifying what qualifies as a hazardous material is essential before environmental regulations can be established to ensure the safety of humans and the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for categorizing and setting rules for hazardous material handling according to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 .

Under EPA regulations, all hazardous wastes are classified using a uniform system, regardless of whether the potential harm is immediate (e.g., burns or illness) or long-term (e.g., birth defects).

How is this classified? When the EPA determines whether waste should be classified as hazardous, they follow the Hazardous Waste Identification Process , which includes these questions:

Question 1: Is the Material a Solid Waste?

This question can be misleading because hazardous wastes can be liquid, semi-solid, gaseous, or solid. The EPA considers material solid waste if it is abandoned, inherently waste-like, discarded military munitions, or recycled in specific ways.

Question 2: Is the Material Excluded From the Definition of Solid or Hazardous Waste?

Certain materials may be excluded from being categorized as solid or hazardous waste due to public policy, economic impact, regulation by other environmental protection laws, or the impracticality of regulations.

Broader categories of exclusions include sewage, irrigation return flow, radioactive waste, agricultural waste, fossil fuel combustion waste, and oil waste.

Question 3: Is the Waste a Listed or Characteristic Waste?

Determining if a material is hazardous can be straightforward if it is identified as listed or characteristic waste. Listed wastes are explicitly mentioned in section 261 of the Code of Federal Regulations, such as solvent wastes, dioxin-bearing wastes, and by-products from wood preservation, petroleum refinery, and pesticide manufacturing.

There are four main hazardous waste characteristics:

1. Reactivity: Materials that are extremely unstable and can explode or release toxic gases under certain conditions.
2. Ignitability: Wastes that are flammable, such as liquids with a flashpoint of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, spontaneously combustible solids, and oxidizers. Examples include alcohol, gasoline, and acetone.
3. Corrosivity: Wastes with a pH of 2 or less or greater than 12.5 which are capable of breaking down containers and metals, such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sulfuric acid, battery acid, and rust removers.
4. Toxicity: Materials that can poison the environment, water, or humans, determined using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure against the EPA's list of 60 toxic contaminants.

Testing includes examining each potentially toxic material against the EPA's current list of 60 toxic contaminants. Toxicity is different from the other three characteristic wastes because toxic materials can cause long-term negative health effects. In contrast, ignitable, corrosive, and reactive wastes are immediately dangerous.

Question 4: Is the Waste Delisted?

Delisting refers to removing waste from the hazardous waste list in the Code of Federal Regulations. Waste generators can petition to remove their waste from the RCRA's listing if it lacks dangerous properties. If delisted, the EPA cannot categorize it as hazardous waste.

Once the EPA reviews these four questions, they determine if a substance should be classified as hazardous waste under the RCRA.

If classified as hazardous, additional waste management regulations and waste disposal guidelines must be implemented to protect handlers and the environment, ensuring compliance with environmental protection laws and waste management compliance standards.

Learn More About Hazardous Waste With OSHA.com

While we hope this introductory post has been helpful in your understanding of hazardous waste, there’s still a better way you can learn more about hazardous waste, and that’s by signing up for formal training from a trusted provider like OSHA.com .

For a more in-depth overview of hazardous waste and to meet waste management compliance requirements, take our HAZWOPER training course !