Lesson 14 — Activity 2: Dealing with Hazardous Products
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Lesson 14 — Activity 2:
Dealing with
Hazardous Products
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When hazardous products enter the environment, they have to be dealt with or a bad situation can become dangerous. The easiest way to do this is to lower the amount of a substance in an area. This makes the product less toxic to the plants and animals in the area. In this activity, you will learn the various ways that hazardous products are dealt with.
Three ways that the concentration of a hazardous product can be naturally lowered are dilution, dispersion, and biodegradation.
Dilution means the concentration of the product is reduced by mixing it with air or water. This makes it less concentrated and, therefore, less dangerous. For example, for a fish to be in the area where 400 litres of fuel has just entered a pond may mean death for the fish. However, as the fuel flows away from the site and mixes with more water, the fuel becomes less concentrated and less toxic to the fish. They may still get sick but will most likely survive.
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Dispersion means that the product is scattered away from its source. Similar to dilution, this also makes it less concentrated and, therefore, less dangerous. However, dispersion usually involves people doing the work. For example, if you were loading a spreader with crystals of fertilizer or herbicide to go over your lawn and spilled a pile, the grass would die in that spot if you did nothing. Therefore, you try to pick up the material (with your gloves on!) and grab a rake and spread or disperse the pile until the material is less concentrated in one area.
Biodegradation is a chemical process in which materials are dissolved by bacteria or other biological elements. If a material is biodegradable, it means that it can be consumed by microorganisms and turned into compounds that are natural.
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Yellow slime mold growing on a bin of wet paper.
Sometimes nature cannot get rid of the products because there is just too much product. In such a case, the product must be destroyed using man-made methods. Alberta is fortunate to have one of the best sites for doing this in the world. The Alberta Special Waste Treatment Facility located near Swan Hills, Alberta, currently accepts hazardous waste from across Canada. This includes household waste gathered in community toxic-roundups, chemical laboratory waste from schools, and many industrial wastes. Using special processes, the plant "burns" the waste until it is harmless. Because of the way the facility is built, no pollution escapes during the burning of the toxic materials. It has a key role in helping to reduce pollutants in the province.
Storage of Hazardous Chemicals at Home and Work
In order to safely store hazardous chemicals at home and at work, you should always do the following:
- leave the original label on the product
- keep out of reach of children (locked up)
- store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place
- never store flammables or gas in glass containers
- store chemicals in the proper place when not in use
- discard old products