1. By: Lexi Spartano

2. What is Hazardous Waste? Hazardous waste is any material that can be harmful to human health or the environment if it is not properly disposed of. Hazardous wastes are classified into four main categories: toxic, explosive, flammable, and corrosive.

3. Types of Hazardous Waste Toxic wastes, or poisonous wastes, are wastes that can damage the health of humans and other organisms. Some examples are chlorine, PCBs, and mercury. Explosive wastes are wastes that react very quickly when exposed with air or water, or that explode when they are dropped. An example is nitroglycerin.

4. Types of Hazardous Wastes Flammable wastes catch fire easily and can start burning at very low temperatures. An example is kerosene. Radioactive wastes contain unstable atoms. There are two types of radioactive wastes, high level and low level wastes. A couple of examples are uranium, and plutonium.

5. Exposure A person can be exposed to hazardous wastes by breathing, eating, drinking, or touching them. Factors on how bad the effects are on the person is because of how harmful the substance is, how much they are exposed to, and for how long.

6. Short and Long Term Effects to Exposure In most cases short- term exposure to hazardous wastes may cause irritation or more sever health problems. These health problems can include breathing trouble, bleeding, paralysis, coma, and even death. Long-term effects to hazardous wastes can be life threatening. It may cause diseases such as cancer, and may also damage the body's organs.

7. Disposal of Hazardous Wastes Since hazardous wastes can pollute the soil, water, and air its hard to safely dispose of them. Methods of hazardous waste disposal include burial in landfills, incineration, and breakdown by living organisms. Another method is when you store liquid wastes in deep rock layers. Watch

8. Problems with disposing hazardous wastes Burying the wastes can pollute the soil or groundwater. Releasing wastes into lakes or rivers can pollute surface water. Burning hazardous wastes an pollute the air. Besides deciding how to dispose of hazardous wastes, communities must also decide where to put them. Most people like to have a single large facility in an area where few people live. However, transporting hazardous wastes to a distant facility can be costly, difficult, and dangerous.

9. What can we do? The best way to deal with hazardous wastes is to make less of them in the first place. Instead of using products that are hazardous you can use other products that are good for you and the environment.The best way to deal with hazardous wastes is to make less of them in the first place. Instead of using products that are hazardous you can use other products that are good for you and the environment.