Avoiding Hazards When Disposing of your Unsafe Waste – How to Correctly Dispose of Hazardous Waste
As a business, ensuring that you manage hazardous waste safely and correctly is an extremely important practice in waste disposal, it can help to prevent illness, injury, and pollution, whilst ensuring that you protect your business from hefty fines. What are the outcomes of improper hazardous waste management? And how can you prevent unnecessary hazardous waste, ensuring that your business operates in the best interests of the environment and people?
The hazards of mismanaged unsafe waste
Unsafe waste management can lead to hefty fines and penalisation for your business, due to neglecting your waste duty of care for others and the environment. If the case is in the extreme, further sanctions can be levelled toward yourself and your business. In some higher-profile cases, reputational damage can also be dealt your way, which may dissuade consumers from interacting with your business.
Alongside business risks, there are dangers to personnel and the environment that can result from unsafe hazardous waste management and must be avoided. Exposure to certain types of waste can lead to infections, diseases and direct harm from chemical waste, and nuclear waste may even lead to devastating, long-term effects. This means that negligent waste management can affect your personnel down the line, ultimately impacting your business. Finally, improper disposal of toxic waste can lead to environmental damage and risks. For example, chemical waste can run off into bodies of water and pollute water sources, or soak into soil.
How to correctly manage unsafe waste
Ensure that you understand the chemicals and materials you are managing and using on a day-to-day basis, and how they can be safely and compliantly disposed of. This can also help with alternative preventative measures, such as using secure, leak-proof containers and separating different waste materials. This segregation ensures that recycling regulations, are followed, as well as preventing unsafe reactions between hazardous waste chemicals.
Following established rules and regulations can also help your business to operate safely, meaning that you follow the government and DEFRA’s guidance on waste disposal, and use the correct protective gear, to shield waste handlers from hazardous waste.
There are also processes that will help in preventing future misunderstandings and hazards. Engaging and educating your workforce about the risks of waste mismanagement and the steps that can be taken in avoiding them.
There is a vast array of risks when dealing with unsafe hazardous waste, but an equal range of solutions and preventative measures that your business can adopt to operate in a safer manner. Speak to Waste Management Experts Today with Acumen to ensure safe and cost-effective handling of your hazardous and toxic waste.
