What is hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable materials?
In Canada, hazardous wastes and hazardous recyclable materials are defined as those with properties such as flammability, corrosiveness, or inherent toxicity. These wastes and materials can pose a variety of risks, from skin damage on contact to the contamination of ground water, surface water, and soil as a result of leaching into the environment. Hazardous wastes and recyclables come from many sources, including material left over from industrial activities such as oil refining, chemical manufacturing and metal processing. Even some everyday household products such as used batteries, computers and other electronic equipment, cleansers, paints, and pesticides may be hazardous when improperly discarded or recycled.
