If you burn your household hazardous substances, what happens? This depends on the type of chemical in the waste being burned. A pressurized areosol can could explode and cause injury. Burning paints could leave a toxic residue of heavy metals. burning rags soaked with cleaning fluid making simply vaporize the liquid into the air. This would diperse it and thus make its concentration very low. Burning plastic containers or certain solvents however could release potentially harmful fumes like hydrogen cyanide or chlorine bearing compounds that are harmful if inhaled. Some of the chlorine-bearing compounds do not break down easily and last a long time. Over a period of time, these compounds can accumulate to levels that are harmful to the atmosphere.

In addition, the burning of hazardous household items by individuals is never complete. This means that small particles from paper or cloth are released into air. These particles, which can carry hazardous substances, may settle and form a very thin layer called a microlayer on different surfaces, such as plant leaves. The hazardous substances in the layers can interfere with vital biological processes. Microlayers can also form on the surface of water. Because microlayers form at the place called an interface where two different states of matter meet, such as liquid and gas or solid and liquid, it is much more likely that hazardous substances will become concentrated in these microlayers.

Finally, human beings can breathe small particles into their lungs and thus introduce the absorption of hazardous materials into the bloodstream. (Our lungs interface with the atmosphere.)