This film from the US Environmental Protection Agency shows the assessment and cleanup of an abandoned warehouse containing 5,000 drums of hazardous waste in Matthews, North Carolina in 1998. The drums contained mixed chemicals, including ethylene glycol, peroxides, acids and flammable liquids and solids. The film shows the many hazards faced by cleanup workers and some methods for controlling those hazards. More than 60 similar videos are available for free from the USEPA's Environmental Response Television (ERTV) at http/www.ertvideo.org/Pages/Video.html

Hazardous waste and HAZWOPER workers are apart of the overall hazardous materials occupation and family.

Though hazardous waste is typically handled by environmental remediation and hazardous waste technicians on HAZWOPER emergency response teams, HAZMAT teams should at the very least have a passing familiarity with hazardous/toxic waste as it is technically a hazardous material and thus they may one day find themselves in a direct encounter with it.

Though not as generally high-profile as hazardous materials operations, hazardouas waste operations are inherently dangerous. Hazardous waste is typically catgorized in four hazardous catgories: 1. Flammable/ignitability, 2. Corrosive, 3. Toxic, and 4. Reactivity (likely to catch fire, release toxic gases or explode). And least we forget the long-term health risks of hazardous waste injury, which may include cancer among other ills.

Hazardous waste is a potential threat to public safety and health that should be afforded the same respect and care as any other hazardous materials incident.