How do facilities store hazardous waste?
When a North Carolina hazardous-waste facility that stores and disposes of dangerous substances exploded on October 5, 2006, residents of a Raleigh suburb heard knocks on their doors in the middle of the night. Half the town had to evacuate: A chemical fire is serious business. The treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste is heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prevent just such an occurrence (among other terrible results of mishandling hazardous waste). According to a CNN.com article , this particular plant had been fined in the past for several safety violations that included storing “incompatible” waste in close proximity and not properly marking containers with their contents. So exactly how are facilities supposed to store hazardous waste to avoid disasters? Before we get into storage methods, let’s define “hazardous waste.” The EPA defines it as “waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the envir
