Environmental Health

With increasing population and industrialization, waste management is becoming a severe problem around the world. Proper means of waste disposal is crucial to public health and the environment....

Many products used in nail salons such as acetone are considered hazardous waste and must be properly disposed of for safety. Check with your local city and county Health Department to see if...

Mercury lamps provide efficient lighting in many schools, buildings, and households. Although they save a lot of energy and are generally good for the environment, they also--as the name...

Nuclear waste is some of the most dangerous material in existence. Although the U.S. produces a large amount of radioactive waste, they have policies and procedures set up to ensure that nuclear...

Oils are a common product around the house and in business used for lubrication and cooking. Knowing the proper definition of waste oil is not only a responsible action, it can even save you money...

Generating waste is almost unavoidable in today's world. Properly segregating and disposing of your waste not only reduces the amount of toxins that enter the atmosphere, you may even save...

Hospital waste is some of the most dangerous waste that exists. A legal definition of hospital waste protects the public by eliminating any possible confusion in the medical sector over what waste...

Although we often dispose of waste by simply contracting out to removal services, the type of waste disposal system our community uses has a large impact on the environment and our health. Even...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims that 34 percent of solid waste is made up of paper. Half of that paper is then recycled or composted; the rest ends up in landfills, where it...

Many of our favorite products and containers are made from plastic. However, when we throw these plastics away they can often build up and cause some harmful effects. Most negative effects...

Hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal is not just an environmental concern, but a public health hazard that can even exist around the home in unsuspecting products. Even the proper...

The harmful effects of nuclear weapons get much coverage for their death and destruction, but the waste from radioactive generation often gets overlooked. Radioactive waste leaks radiation like...

Hazardous waste has immediate or long-term risks to humans, animals, plants or the environment. Because of this, it is unsafe to dispose it with general waste and needs specific disposal methods....

One of the most overlooked, yet dangerous, types of waste is biological waste. Biological waste can carry infectious disease and produce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming....

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricts how industry disposes of hazardous waste, but it can still find its way into the environment and cause serious damage. While proper disposal of...

Although we often think of hazardous waste as relegated to industry or the nuclear sector, medical waste is just as dangerous and as big a problem as any toxic waste. The Environmental Protection...

Toxic waste is also known as hazardous waste. This type of waste is produced by industries and corporations and individual households alike. According to SGP Partnership (2008), hazardous waste is...

Oils and fats are an essential part of every day for many Americans. It is an unfortunate fact that many people simply discard spent oil such as that used in cars, reports the Environmental...

Properly disposing of waste is not just a personal responsibility; some kinds of waste, usually hazardous, must be properly disposed of according to law set forth by the Environmental Protection...

The problem of solid waste is a growing concern for America and the world; so much so that the federal government dedicates an entire federal agency, The Environmental Protection Agency, to...

One of the biggest dangers in our environment is hazardous waste. It wasn't until the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 that federal laws covered the storage and...

Toxic waste is produced by almost every sector of life, such as business and even private homes. We often associate hazardous trash with dangerous products like nuclear energy and poisons, but...

Biomedical waste is any waste fabricated during the diagnosis, testing, treatment, research or production of biological materials by either animals or mankind. Biomedical waste has the potential...

Toxins were once dumped in the oceans in the belief that "dilution is the solution to pollution." This adage appeared in the 1960s and is generally attributed to corporate and industrial concerns....

The state of Texas is the second largest in the U.S. by population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Texas is home to 24,326,974 residents. Like many areas in the South, Texas has been a...

Sustainability practices can be improved by finding more environmentally beneficial ways of disposing of personal waste. Instead of pumping out septic sewage from your home into the waste water...

One-third of landfill waste is created from wasted paper. Even paper that is recycled can only be cleaned five to six times before the fibers fail. There are ways to recycle paper that do not...

Septic tanks are the traditional way to store and treat waste water from the home in rural areas. Although septic tanks are reliable and trusted, not all areas allow septic tanks. Moreover, in...

Removing asbestos from a home or place of business requires careful planning and preparation. Asbestos is actually a collection of minerals that are seen as long, thin fibers woven together used...

Biomedical waste consists of used medical supplies that could potentially contain disease. That includes waste from laboratories, like live vaccines, tissue, bone and blood samples, body fluids or...

Paper or plastic? The choice is not just about grocery bags, but about all sorts of containers, from juice boxes to laundry detergent. There are drawbacks to both kinds, and consumers often choose...

In the United States, as in most other countries, hazardous waste has been defined as materials that are flammable, corrosive, unstable or toxic, and that pose a threat to human health or the...

Pollution can come from many sources, and it has a variety of effects. Depending on the scope of the pollution and the potency of the pollutant, the damage caused by pollution can range from minor...

Think of all the trash your family takes out every week. It adds up. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA,) without recycling, a family of four throws away about 2,000 pounds of...

With the industrialization of most countries in the world, waste products are being released into our ecosystems. This increase in pollution has a number of negative effects on plant, animal and...

You’re very green at the office. You make sure to toss your unwanted papers in the blue plastic tote under your desk, you throw your aluminum Diet Coke can in the recycling box, and you bring your...

We hear a lot about how we can make our homes more environmentally-friendly, but work offices can leave as deep (if not deeper) a foot print on earth. There is so much unnecessary waste and making...

Pollution has negative effects on human health. The effects will depend on the type of pollutant and how it is delivered. Solid waste, such as garbage or other waste that is thrown in to a...

Droughts, a growing population, decreased water quality and other factors have made water conservation especially important in recent years. Knowing the ways that water is commonly wasted may help...

Hazardous waste is a solid or liquid containing toxins that pose risks to humans and the environment. Waste is generated by many things, including commercial businesses such as exterminators;...

Like air and water, soil is essential for life; our food, clothes, and medicines and most of the materials in our homes and cars originated from the soil, either directly or indirectly. Now...

When hiking or camping in the great outdoors, it sometimes becomes necessary to relieve yourself in the absence of bathroom facilities. When this happens, properly disposing of your waste is...

When plastic is recycled, it is sorted to separate different types of plastic, after which it is crushed into a cube and bailed. Find out about plastic that goes to a waste-to-energy facility with...

As with many other products and processes, standards are important in waste water treatment. Waste water includes many contaminants and consists of human household waste and storm runoff from...

Waste disposal falls into three general categories: non-hazardous, hazardous and nuclear waste disposal. Non-hazardous waste includes household or office waste such as food, product containers,...

Toxic or hazardous waste is a catch all term applied both culturally and by the EPA to a large range of materials. The EPA has five general criteria for something to be considered toxic waste. ...

Medical waste, or clinical waste, is a range of waste products that are produced by the health care industry, typically in settings that include hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes and...

Toxic waste, also known as hazardous waste, is often a type of dangerous waste that is harmful to living organisms. These waste products are not easily recycled and are usually discarded and...

Waste disposal is a growing problem worldwide and is directly connected to industrial development and population growth. Since early modern times, disposing of waste has been an important concern...

Properly disposing of gasoline and oil from domestic sources is a major environmental concern. Many people simply pour these waste products down a storm drain or toss a container of gasoline into...