What are Household Hazardous Wastes?

Generally speaking, hazardous wastes consist of solid or liquid materials, or containers holding gasses, which have outlived their usefulness.  These wastes may harm humans or the environment unless given special handling and treatment in the way they are discarded.  They may be flammable, corrosive, explosive, or toxic.  Because of these dangerous characteristics, they should not be disposed of in landfills or sewage systems.

Products in the household that have potentially hazardous characteristics display at least one of the following warning symbols:

	Flammable - These are wastes that burn easily like painting wastes, degreasers, and other solvents.
	Corrosive - These wastes will eat away surfaces and skin. Familiar examples are waste acides, rust removers, alkaline cleaning fluids, and old battery acid.
	Reactive/Explosive - These are wastes that react violently when mixed with other chemicals or that react under pressure or heat such as aerosols.
	Toxic/Poison - These are substances that can poison or cause damage to living organisms.  Materials containing heavy metals like mercury, lead or cadmium are toxic.

When a product displaying one or more of the warning symbols is discarded (after considering reuse possibilities), it should be disposed of properly.