What are Hazardous Wastes?

Hazardous wastes are those wastes which, due to their nature and quantity, are potentially hazardous to human health and the environment.  As a rule, hazardous wastes require special handling, labelling, storage, transportation and disposal techniques to eliminate or reduce the hazard. 

Generated primarily as the by-product of industrial and manufacturing processes, hazardous wastes are also produced via commercial, medical and government activities.

Used motor oil, acids, waste pesticides, biomedical & radiological wastes, PCBs, solvents, metals and asbestos are common examples of hazardous wastes.  Even chemicals and cleaning products with an expired “best before” date, can be classified as hazardous. 

News

Green Party calls for investigation of shooting ranges as contamination sites
MILVALE, PEI - The Green Party of P.E.I. has requested that the provincial government test all former and existing outdoor shooting ranges for lead contamination and to add those contaminated properties to the Contaminated Sites Registry. The party also wants to make those responsible for any contamination issues to pay for damages and remediation.  More

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B.C. Canada demolition company charged with improper asbestos disposal
A small demolition company working out of Surry, B.C. Canada has been charged with several counts of improperly disposing of hazardous materials. The company, Speedy Excavation, allegedly disposed of several truckloads of asbestos contaminated materials at a waste facility that wasn’t intended to able to handle hazardous waste. More

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Centre builds bricks from waste
Most artists don’t mind getting their hands dirty to make their masterpieces. But when it comes to the earth, many want it to come out a cleaner, more green if you will, work of art. That’s why the Vernon Community Arts Centre (VCAC) has launched its Earth to Earth Project, a one-year pilot project in waste management that uses a process for recycling art supplies, specifically in its clay studios. More

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Few retailers charging eco-fees
Many of Canada’s largest retailers – including Wal-Mart Canada Corp., Loblaw Cos. Ltd., and Shoppers Drug Mart -- say they’re absorbing Ontario’s controversial new eco-fees rather than passing them on to consumers. Cleaning product makers are protesting the eco-fees, which could add up to millions, saying the fees shouldn’t apply to shampoo, detergent and soap. And the Consumers Council of Canada wants the provincial Auditor General to investigate the eco-fee program, saying it lacks transparency and accountability. More

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EPA finds second round of problems at Calif. toxic dump blamed by residents for birth defects
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - For the second time in four months, federal investigators have found problems at a central California landfill that local residents blame for birth defects, and ordered the West's largest toxic waste dump to clean up soil tainted with a cancer-causing chemical. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a notice of violation on Thursday to the Chemical Waste Management landfill near rural Kettleman City, citing federal laws on the disposal of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, a now-banned transformer fluid. More

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Toxic-waste sites haunt Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley is home to one of the nation's heaviest concentrations of toxic-waste sites. The costly effects of the region's tainted industrial past can be seen in this city's eastern outskirts. Here a residential neighborhood sits 2,000 feet from a toxic-waste site once used as a chemicals-processing plant run by Romic Environmental Technologies Corp. Romic processed hazardous materials like solvents, fuels and inks from local technology companies and other manufacturers for nearly 50 years. More