Hazardous Waste Basics For Your Small Business

As a small business owner, it will be your responsibility to make sure that your company is following the rules and regulations for businesses. If you are found to be violating any laws or requirements, then you may find yourself fined. You might even end up finding yourself in the middle of a lawsuit, or in extreme cases, facing criminal charges. One of the areas that you want to make sure that you are educated on properly is with regards to hazardous waste management.

If your business is one that doesn't necessarily work with things that you would obviously recognize as hazardous, then you may feel you are fine and this information doesn't apply to you. However, you might find yourself very unpleasantly surprised because there are a lot of things that are deemed hazardous that can accidentally be taken for being safe. If you don't store certain items properly or if you dispose of them improperly, you may find yourself in trouble. Here is some basic information on hazardous waste.

Characteristics of hazardous waste

While it can be nearly impossible to remember all of the individual things that are considered to be hazardous waste, there are some characteristics that you should learn about. Once you understand the characteristics of hazardous waste, then it will be much easier for you to determine if something falls into this category. Something that is hazardous waste will have one or more of the following traits:

• Flammable: An item is highly flammable or ignitable.
• Corrosive: An item can cause corrosion.
• Reactive: An item has the ability to react chemically.
• Toxic: An item is potentially harmful or poisonous.

Start with understanding 'household' waste

In your small business, some of the hazardous waste you may have may be the same as some that you have at home. In fact, once you become better educated, you may find you have been accidentally throwing hazardous waste away incorrectly at home, which you will also want to stop doing.

Some of the hazardous waste that can be found in households can include household cleaners, weed killer, pesticides, smoke detectors, oil-based paint, antifreeze, motor oil, fluorescent bulbs, televisions, computers, and even cell phones.

Err on the side of caution

As a small business owner, your best bet is to double-check anything you aren't sure of. If you use any powders or chemicals, investigate to determine if they are hazardous. If you have anything that runs on batteries or that has a motherboard, then double check on whether they are hazardous.