PPE

A material is considered "reactive" if it meets any of the following criteria:

• It is normally unstable and readily undergoes violent change without detonating.
• It reacts violently with water.
• It forms potentially explosive mixtures with water.
• When mixed with water, it generates enough toxic gases, vapors, or fumes to be dangerous to human health or the environment.
• It contains cyanide or sulfide and generates dangerous amounts of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes when exposed to pH levels between 2 and 12.5.
• It is capable of detonation if subjected to a strong enough ignition source, or if heated under confinement, or at standard temperature and pressure.

For example, most explosives are considered to have the reactivity characteristic, as well as many compressed gases (since they are under high enough pressure that they can explode on impact).

Toxicity

The term "toxicity" refers to a material's ability to damage an organism. Since most substances are toxic at high enough levels, a waste's toxicity characteristic is instead measured by how much its constituents can leach into the groundwater. Determining this characteristic is accomplished by first grinding up the waste material and introducing an acid to create a "leachate" (liquid that percolates through a solid, taking some of the constituents of the solid with it). Next, the concentrations of specific compounds in the leachate are measured. You can find more information in 40 CFR §261.24, which lists many compounds and the concentrations at which they are considered toxic.

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