In a bid to motive the manufacturing and industrial plant sector to operate in a more environmentally efficient and friendly manner, several nations have established rules and regulations about the use and management of hazardous materials. Yet, much work is still to be done before wide-spread compliance is achieved.

Many industries use flammable and readily combustible materials that may also be radioactive in nature. Manufacturing industries such as the metal industry, chemical industries and even cosmetics industries use a varied mixture of hazardous materials. The waste that these industries collectively produce consists of harmful elements such as cyanide, acids, and different kinds of solvents and sludge. All of which may be corrosive, ignitable and completely reactive.

When not properly treated or managed, such hazardous waste can wreak havoc on the environment and can produce massive acidification (this can bring about a chemical change in both water and earth owing to the decrease in pH levels), acid rain (the after effect of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide reacting with rain), and global global warming (emission levels of greenhouse gases increase world-wide temperatures and cause changes in climate and weather) effects.