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Multiple Choice

Which set of properties defines characteristic hazardous waste under RCRA?

RCRA defines characteristic hazardous waste by four properties: ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic. Ignitable means the waste can easily catch fire, which helps prevent fires during storage and handling. Corrosive waste contains liquids with extreme pH values that can corrode containers, posing risks of leaks and damage. Reactive waste is unstable and can release hazardous gases, explode, or violently react under normal conditions, creating safety hazards. Toxic waste is determined by how it can leach hazardous substances into the environment, measured by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure. Among the options, the best set lists ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic. The other sets mix properties not used to define RCRA characteristic hazardous waste—for example, radioactive is not a RCRA characteristic, and terms like inert or benign describe non-hazardous wastes.

RCRA defines characteristic hazardous waste by four properties: ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic. Ignitable means the waste can easily catch fire, which helps prevent fires during storage and handling. Corrosive waste contains liquids with extreme pH values that can corrode containers, posing risks of leaks and damage. Reactive waste is unstable and can release hazardous gases, explode, or violently react under normal conditions, creating safety hazards. Toxic waste is determined by how it can leach hazardous substances into the environment, measured by the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure.

Among the options, the best set lists ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic. The other sets mix properties not used to define RCRA characteristic hazardous waste—for example, radioactive is not a RCRA characteristic, and terms like inert or benign describe non-hazardous wastes.