Handling hazardous waste is not something that the typical person living in the United States is all too likely to think about. After all, handling hazardous waste is not in the description of the vast majority of our jobs. But handling hazardous waste is hugely important, as is the way in which the hazardous waste is actually handled, the requirements for handling hazardous waste and how to get them. For some in the United States, handling hazardous waste is their job, and they have gone through extensive training to get to that point
Those who who make a living by working with hazardous wastes often choose to do so because it is a relatively steady and reliable income, and the average person who works with hazardous waste will make just more than forty thousand dollars over the course one year. But it takes a good deal of extensive training like the dot hazmat certification to get to that point. OSHA hazmat training and a dot hazmat certification are mandatory, and the average person who will be working with and handling hazardous waste materials is likely to be required to complete as many as forty total hours of this training in order to receive their dot hazmat certification. Any additional required training aside from the dot hazmat certification will vary state by state, as most states provide their own hazmat licenses.
So how do hazardous materials and waste products even get to where they are going. The answer is simple: by truck. The trucking industry is a huge branch of the larger transportation industry of the United States as well as hugely important one. We transport so many goods by truck, not just hazmat materials but everything under the sun, from clothes to home appliances to electronics. In fact, all of the electronics shipped by truck throughout the United States are valued at more than one thousand and six hundred billion dollars, making them the most valuable commodity to be transported by truck, at least within the confines of the country of the United States. When all is said and done and the year draws to a close, more than eleven billion tons have been shipped via truck over more than two hundred and fifty million miles throughout the entirety of the United States. Of these eleven billion tons, hazardous waste and material make up at least three billion tons on an annual basis, as nearly all hazardous materials and wastes are transported via truck.
And this leads us to our next question: exactly what types of hazardous waste can be found traveling by truck all throughout the United States? As anyone who has met the requirements for handling hazardous waste can tell you, there are nine classes of hazardous waste currently in the United States as defined by the Department of Transportation. Among these hazardous wastes are included flammable liquids such as gasoline. Gasoline is one of the big hazardous materials currently being transported around the United States, as it is a hugely important commodity to the vast majority of the people living within this country. Other such and similar flammable liquids are also often transported as a hazardous material, and they make up more than sixty percent (by ton miles) of all hazardous materials transported in the United States within the span of just one year.
If you are interested in handling hazardous waste, it is important that you understand the intensive training requirements such as the dot hazmat certification that you will be asked to complete before you can even think about starting your new career. Handling hazardous waste can be dangerous if the person is improperly trained or without a dot hazmat certification, but it is a hugely important job to do. After all, hazardous waste must be transported like anything else, and many hazardous materials (such as in the case of flammable liquids like gasoline, a hugely valued commodity among the vast majority of the American people) are very much important and necessary in the United States.
