by Susie Hairston

At this time of year, a lot of people are cleaning out their houses and garages. Often, lurking in our garages, underneath kitchen and bathroom sinks, and even in our living rooms, are products such as oil-based paint, roach spray, and non-functioning televisions that we no longer want, but are hazardous to humans, the environment and animals if not properly disposed of. (Makes you wonder why we had/were using some of these products to begin with — but more about that later.)

What is Household Hazardous waste (HHW)?

HHW is a group of household products that can be unsafe if not disposed of properly either because they are toxic or flammable or explosive or all of the above. They are things like automotive products, household chemicals, paints and solvents, pesticides, fertilizers, pool chemicals, fluorescent bulbs, lithium batteries, aerosol cans, and electronics.

Why not just throw HHW in the trash?

First, HHW is so named because it is, in fact, hazardous. Improperly disposing of HHW by putting it in the trash is dangerous — putting sanitation workers in jeopardy by causing fires in trucks, recycling facilities, and landfills and threatening the health of all humans and wildlife by seriously and irrevocably contaminating soil and water. HHW should never be poured down the drain, flushed down the toilet, dumped on the ground, or put in the trash.

Pesticides and household cleaners get into the soil and groundwater, killing wildlife and harming humans. Things like pool chemicals are extremely flammable and can start fires in trash trucks that can severely injure and kill the staff on the truck and damage the extremely expensive equipment. Electronics contain all kinds of toxic heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.) and flame retardants that leach into the soil and groundwater when dumped in a regular landfill rather than being properly recycled and contained.

A hazard that many are not aware of is an aerosol can that still has material in it, even if the material is something like shaving cream that is not hazardous itself. If the can is empty — you’ve used all the product and have then turned the can upside down and sprayed it until all the residual aerosol comes out — it can be recycled, but if it has anything in it, it must be considered hazardous waste and properly disposed of. When still under pressure, aerosol cans can cause explosions inside trucks and at facilities when they are crushed and punctured.

Lithium-ion batteries, even the small ones, are particularly hazardous when put in the trash or in recycling bins. They have caused fires in many recycling sorting facilities. In 2017, 65% of waste facility fires in California began with lithium-ion batteries. It is thought that the  2020 fire at the Independent Texas Recycling facility just north of the 610 loop that burned for 12 hours was caused by a lithium battery being crushed on the floor of the facility. When I was on a recent tour of a MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) where they sort recycling, the operations manager told us they had had three fires related to lithium batteries that week alone — two on the floor of the facility and one that involved having to dump a load of recycling out in the middle of the road, which, even with said precaution, resulted in serious damage to the equipment.

Second: some HHW, such as electronics, contain valuable metals that can be recycled. Recycling these materials means fewer raw materials are needed, which means harmful mining and resource extraction is avoided. Natural resources are conserved:  According to the EPA, “for every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.”

Recycling electronics also saves energy: “Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes in a year.”