Solid wastes become hazardous wastes when they pose an immediate or future threat to human health, are persistent and nonbiodegradable, can be amplified by the food chain, or cause other impacts on the landscape. Hazardous wastes can be toxic, corrosive, explosive, flammable, radioactive, or biologically harmful. Sustainable approaches to solid waste include: reduce the volume, separate out the harmful from harmless components, detoxify the harmful portion, and recover useful materials.

land disposal, incineration, resource recovery, recycling, product substitution, product change, dematerialization, military waste, landfill, ocean dumping, biological warfare, chemical warfare, biomagnification, pollutant, medical waste, toxic waste, industrial waste, sewage sludge, heavy metals, illegal trade, dumping, toxicity

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