According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a typical American household can accumulate up to 100 pounds of hazardous wastes in its garage, basement or other storage areas.
The EPA also projects that nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next five years and mobile phones are being discarded at a rate of 130 million per year.
“The way landfills are designed, they hold on to the hazardous materials they receive so they don’t get into the groundwater and start spreading,” said Dan Graeter, assistant manager of the solid waste program for Montgomery County in Ohio. “But some of these materials last forever, and what happens 50 or 100 years down the line if people get lax about property that used to be used as landfill? It’s better if that stuff never makes it into the trash stream.”
Kyle Aughe, regional sales manager for Rumpke Waste Removal and Recycling in Dayton, Ohio, said another factor to remember is that trash is handled by human workers.
“People tend to hide things in the trash that they want to get out of the house,” Aughe said. “But when that bag of trash goes onto the truck, there’s a person standing right beside it while the truck compacts it. We don’t want our collectors and landfill crews exposed to things that are potentially harmful to their health.”
What shouldn’t go in the trash
The laws and other rules governing what you can throw away vary depending on where you live and who hauls your trash. The agency that hauls your trash, whether that’s a private contractor or a local government, is your best source of information on refuse regulations and available recycling programs in your area.
In most communities the local trash authority will provide some kind of drop-off service where you can bring items that shouldn’t be mixed with regular trash.
Among items that call for special handling:
– Pesticides and herbicides. Purchase no more than you think you will need immediately. If you have any left over, store it in the original container in a place inaccessible to children. Most haulers will accept small amounts of pesticide in residential trash, but throwing such things away should be avoided when possible. Read labels or call your local trash hauler for disposal tips.
– Latex paints, varnishes, stains, thinners and strippers, gasoline and kerosene. If you have a small amount of latex paint that you don’t expect to use, leave the top off the can and allow it to dry. The dried paint can go in the regular trash. You can add sawdust or kitty litter to some liquid wastes to solidify them and that makes them less of a problem in the trash stream. Taking them to a drop-off site is a better idea, though.
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– Alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries and car batteries. Keep your eyes open for retailers that have drop-off bins for worn-out alkaline batteries. Rechargeable batteries make economic as well as ecological sense because they can take the place of many dozen disposable batteries. Used car batteries can be traded in on new ones, and battery companies can break down the old batteries and recycle the materials.
– Grass clippings and other yard wastes. If you cut your grass regularly with a mulching mower, the cut grass can be left in place on the lawn. Otherwise it can be composted along with leaves and small twigs. Larger branches can be run through a chipper/shredder and used as mulch.
– Pool chemicals, fertilizers and household cleaners. Buy only as much as you need and use all you buy.
Recycling and electronic waste
It has become common for people to have separate containers at home for recyclable materials such as cans and bottles. The agencies that supply the containers can give you details on how they should be used.
– Plastic bottles generally all will be recyclable. Plastic grocery bags may not be, however. Aughe said almost all plastic bottles are made of one of two types of plastic, but plastic grocery sacks vary so much there is little market for recycling them. Few recyclers accept Styrofoam, and many reject certain types of plastic such as deli trays and toys.
– Glass bottles and jars, and aluminum and steel cans are almost all recyclable. Window glass and ceramics generally are not.
– Newsprint and white paper is accepted by most recycling centers. Rules vary on magazines, glossy newspaper advertising inserts, junk mail and old telephone books. Contact your local recycling center for paper rules.
With rapid advances in technology over the last decade, it’s becoming more and more common for electronic gear to be thrown away.
Video recorders, televisions, old mobile phones, radios, speakers, answering machines and similar machines should be taken to recycling centers to have their recyclable parts and materials reclaimed.
Most cities have several charities that accept computers and computer monitors. If you don’t know of an appropriate charity, entering “donate computer” on an Internet search engine should give you some ideas.
Refrigerators and air conditioners require special care when they’re thrown away because they contain refrigerants that will harm the ozone layer if they are released. Again, your local recycling center should be able to tell you how to get rid of an old unit.
For information on recycling in the Chicago area, visit the Chicago Recycling Coalition’s Web site at www.chicagorecycling.org.