The Difference Between Hazardous Chemicals and Hazardous Waste

Hazardous chemicals: refers to highly toxic chemicals and other chemicals that are harmful to humans, facilities, and the environment, such as poisoning, corrosive, explosive, flammable, and combustion-supporting. Hazardous chemicals are mainly chemical substances produced through chemical production processes and are used for various purposes such as industrial production, agricultural production, and laboratory research. For example, liquid ammonia used in fertilizer production is a hazardous chemical, and organophosphorus pesticides used in pesticide manufacturing are also hazardous chemicals.

The competent authority for hazardous chemicals is the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Hazardous waste: refers to wastes that are listed in the national hazardous waste list or identified as having hazardous characteristics according to the national hazardous waste identification standards and identification methods. Hazardous wastes come from a wide range of sources, mainly in human production, life and other activities. In the industrial field, almost every industry will produce hazardous wastes, including waste catalysts in the chemical industry, electroplating sludge in the electroplating industry, and waste circuit boards in the electronics industry; in life, discarded fluorescent tubes, expired medicines, etc. are also hazardous wastes.

The competent department for hazardous wastes is the ecological environment department.

The management focus of hazardous chemicals is safety during production, operation, use and storage to prevent accidents such as fire, explosion and poisoning. Therefore, warehouses for hazardous chemicals need to meet strict architectural design requirements, including explosion-proof, fire-proof, and well-ventilated. At the same time, the entry and exit of hazardous chemicals must be strictly managed to ensure their safe use. The management focus of hazardous waste is to supervise the entire process from the generation of hazardous waste to its final disposal to prevent it from causing harm to the environment and human health. In particular, in the collection, storage, transportation, utilization and disposal of hazardous waste, hazardous waste storage sites need to have strict rain protection, sun protection, and leakage prevention measures to prevent hazardous waste from leaking into the environment.

Hazardous waste needs to comply with strict safety and environmental protection requirements during collection and transportation. The Ministry of Transport is familiar with the characteristics and management standards of various modes of transportation, and is able to guide and regulate the transportation of hazardous waste, ensure the safety of hazardous waste during transportation and controllable environmental risks, and prevent accidents such as leakage and spread of hazardous waste due to improper transportation.

Hazardous wastes are potentially harmful to human health, especially special types of hazardous wastes such as medical wastes, whose generation, collection, transportation and disposal are closely related to medical and health institutions and public health. The participation of the National Health Commission can fully consider the factors affecting hazardous wastes on human health, put forward opinions and suggestions from the perspective of medical and health professionals, and ensure that the management measures for hazardous wastes in the catalogue can effectively protect the public's health and prevent the spread of various diseases and health risks caused by hazardous waste pollution.