Hazardous waste can catch fire, be poisonous, eat away at skin and materials, cause cancer, and do many other nasty things.
Some people think that only industries can have hazardous waste.
Many people have hazardous waste right in there own homes and just don't know about it. Most street drains go to rivers. So dumping household hazardous waste into a street drain can pollute rivers, kill fish, and make the river unsafe to swim in, boat on and eat fish or drink water from. Public wastewater treatment plants are mainly built to treat only wastewater coming from peoples kitchen and bathroom sinks, bath tubs, showers and toilets. Household hazardous waste poured down sinks or flushed down toilets from a lot of people can make the wastewater treatment plant not work as well as it should.