Lying thousands of feet below the earth's surface, and beneath a layer of bedrock, once-operational salt caverns provide secure storage for injected waste materials. These man-made caverns are formed by continuously pumping fresh water from the surface through the salt formation. As the water washes the cavern, it is then returned to the surface as brine and injected into a disposal well. Upon reaching the desired size, the cavern remains filled with brine water until it's required for waste disposal. For each cubic meter of waste injected into the cavern, CCS will remove an equal amount of brine water. The salt walls and injected brine act as natural barriers to leaching, therefore providing sound protection for the neighboring environment.

Salt Caverns have been used for several decades to store hydrocarbon products. Most notably in the United States, salt caverns are used for the Federal Governments Strategic Petroleum Reserve program to store crude oil. In Canada, caverns are used to store crude, natural gas, LPG's and oilfield waste.