Hazardous Waste Facts
Hazardous waste is one of the most dangerous trash types. Around the world, we create more than 400 million tons of hazardous waste each year. That’s similar in weight to 1,000 Empire State Buildings! It’s an incredible amount of toxic and potentially harmful garbage generated by businesses and households.
Every bit of hazardous waste, from an old battery to barrels of nuclear waste, must be stored, managed, and disposed of safely to protect human health and the environment. Manufacturing, factories, garages, and other industries produce high volumes of hazardous trash yet even stores and homes create some level that requires safe management.
To highlight the issue, we’ve rounded up some hazardous waste facts and statistics that highlight the amount we create and the importance of reducing it where possible in your organization. Learn all about the volume of toxic trash produced in the US and globally with these facts about hazardous waste.
How much hazardous waste
is generated in the US?
The US generates 35.9 million tons of hazardous waste a year, according to the latest figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2021. This has remained fairly stable recently, but it has increased over the past twenty years as the US produced 26.6 million tons of hazardous waste in 2001.
Hazardous waste statistics
Flammable, corrosive, toxic, and highly reactive trash that potentially poses a risk to human health and the environment is often hazardous waste. Many industries use hazardous materials and therefore create hazardous waste during their daily activities. This includes chemicals from laboratories and oil at garages to simply old laptop batteries from an office.
Global hazardous waste is common, as these hazardous waste statistics show:
- Every second around 13 tons of hazardous waste are produced worldwide
- Just 6 million tons of hazardous waste are recovered or recycled in the US
- The USA has around 882 regulated hazardous waste management facilities
- Wastewater makes up 80% of the quantity of hazardous waste in the US
- Five states produce around 80% of all hazardous waste in the US and each one generates more than one million tons of hazardous waste annually. These are:
- Texas – 17.57 million tons
- Louisiana – 5.37 million tons
- Mississippi – 1.58 million tons
- Ohio – 1.56 million tons
- Kansas – 1.01 million tons
- The US states with the most hazardous waste sites are:
- New Jersey – 115
- California – 90
- Pennsylvania – 90
- New York – 86
- Michigan – 65
- Hazardous waste accounts for 15% of waste produced by healthcare-related activities
- The three industries that generate the most hazardous waste in the US are basic chemical manufacturing, petroleum and coal products manufacturing, and waste treatment and disposal
Household hazardous waste statistics
It’s not just big business and industry that produce hazardous waste in the US and the wider world. Households can create all sorts of hazardous trash, such as paint, engine oil, fluorescent tubes, batteries, cleaning chemicals and products. These might be smaller items, but they can soon add up in volume, as these household hazardous waste statistics show:
- The average US household produces 30lbs of hazardous waste yearly
- However, the average household chucks out 15lbs of hazardous waste in their trash every year
- It’s estimated that every person in the US creates an average of 4lbs of household hazardous waste each year
- Up to 100lbs of hazardous waste can build up in the average US home and may remain until there’s a clear-out or the residents move home
- One estimate claims the US generates 1.6 million tons of household hazardous waste annually, but the figure might be higher
Nuclear waste facts
Nuclear waste is some of the most dangerous waste materials. This can be radioactive, cause serious health problems, and terrible environmental damage if it’s not managed responsibly. It can remain hazardous for thousands of years and emit radioactive particles, which is why disposal can be problematic.
These are some key nuclear waste facts and statistics about the dangerous garbage:
- 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are produced in the US every year
- Estimates claim that 88,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are currently at reactor sites in the US that require disposal
- There are 54 nuclear plants in the USA – the most in one country in the world
- How long it takes nuclear waste to break down varies – Plutonium-239 can take 24,000 years to decay
- Just 5% of hazardous materials moved around the US are radioactive and less than 10% are related to nuclear power production
Arrange hazardous waste collection
Does your business produce any kind of hazardous waste? It could be dead laptop batteries in your downtown office or barrels of used engine oil from your garage. Either way, at Business Waste we can help with the collection and disposal of any type and volume of toxic waste from your organization.
Get more information about our hazardous waste services and a free no-obligation quote for collection and disposal today – call 888 584 2118 or contact us online.
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Published 14th July 2025 by Graham Matthews.