By Lourdes Ledesma
Have you looked lately under your kitchen sink? Or your utility cabinet? What do you see? Cans of cleaners, furniture polish, floor care products, jugs of bleach, bug spray, detergent, paint thinner, fungicide, cans of used paint, glue, swimming pool chemicals, light bulbs, lighter fluid for the barbecue grill, batteries, etc.
These are some of the products we use for home, car and garden care, necessities in this modern age, but potentially dangerous to our health, and to small children if left carelessly around the house, where they could easily have access to them. We have heard and read enough horror stories about unfortunate accidents. If used, stored and disposed of properly, these products are useful. When expired or no longer needed, these become hazardous wastes because they contain dangerous chemicals. If not disposed of properly, they are toxic to our health, and may contaminate our water source, or cause air pollution.
There are four major types of hazardous wastes:
1. Corrosive wastes cause a chemical action that eats away materials or living tissue. Such is battery acid, paint thinners, muriatic acid (used in purifying swimming pool water), bleach, solvents (e.g. nail polish remover), to name a few.
2. Toxic wastes can cause illness or death. Some such wastes are more dangerous than others. Exposure to a small concentration of a highly toxic chemical may cause symptoms of poisoning. Pesticides (e.g. malathion, lentrex), fungicides, snail killers, rat poison, cleaning products, paints (fumes can cause allergy or pulmonary illness), photographic supplies, and many art supplies are examples.
3. Ignitable waste can catch fire spontaneously or burn easily. Examples include charcoal lighter fluid, gasoline, kerosene, paint thinner, and nail polish remover. Do not store inside or under your house. Keep in your garden shed.
4. Reactive waste can react with air, water, or other substances to cause rapid heating or explosions. Acids that heat up rapidly and spatter when mixed with water are examples.
I am referring to household hazardous wastes in this article, and there are more not mentioned above, such as:
1. Car care products, such as motor oil, anti-freeze, car metal polish with solvent, brake and transmission fluids
2. Beauty products - hair dyes, relaxers, permanents, hair spray cans, sharp objects
3. Home medical supplies - drugs, medicines, syringes, disposable diapers, mercury thermometers
4. Miscellaneous - VCRs, TVs, printers, copier cartridges, fluorescent light bulbs, moth balls, bathroom cleaners, epoxy glue, plant fertilizer, ammonia products
Most people dispose of hazardous products by throwing them in the trash, pouring them down the drain, burning them, throwing them in the ditch, dumping them on a vacant lot, or burying them in a field. These practices are dangerous as the wastes find their way to streams and groundwater.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD WASTE IS...
1. Thrown in the Garbage? The trash ends up in the landfills, which are not usually designed for hazardous household wastes. The wastes may cause a fire or explosion, or give off dangerous fumes. Sanitation workers have been seriously burned, lost their eyesight, or suffered lung damage while compacting hazardous materials. There is, of course, the danger of water and air pollution.
2. Poured Down the Drain? When you pour hazardous products down the sink or flush them down the toilet, they enter either the septic system or a municipal sewer system. If you have a septic system, wastewater from your house goes into the septic tank buried underground. The solids settle out and decompose. The remaining wastewater then goes into a drain field where the natural, ongoing processes in the soil help to further break down the wastewater. Toxic materials in the water can kill helpful bacteria and the stuff work their way through the soil untreated or unchanged. When this happens, groundwater or surface water may become contaminated. Such examples are paint removers and aerosol paint products, which contain the chemical methylene chloride. Chlorine bleach also passes through the septic system without breaking down. If your house is connected to a municipal sewage system, wastewater is piped to a central sewage plant.
After treatment, it is discharged into area rivers, lakes, and streams. In addition, hazardous household wastes poured down the drain may corrode the plumbing or collect in the trap and release fumes through the drains.
3. Poured in Ditches, Storm Drains, or Gutters? These hazardous materials will poison wildlife and plants, contaminate the soil, and harm children and adults who come into contact with it. When it rains, the hazardous household wastes are carried to nearby streams, rivers and lakes. People who bathe in them risk being affected. Fish that absorb these chemicals (e.g. mercury or lead) will also pass on the pollutants to people who eat them.
4. Burned? If you burn hazardous household waste, you risk producing poisonous fumes, contributing to air pollution, or causing an explosion. Some hazardous waste may not burn away completely and become concentrated in the ash, others can pollute the air. Controlled burning in special hazardous waste incinerators by trained professionals is a good way to dispose of these materials. Open burning by an untrained homeowner is not. So beware!!
5. Dumped or buried? If you dump or bury some types of hazardous household waste materials, they may leach through the soil and contaminate the soil or water, especially if the waste is non-biodegradable. Children, pets, and wildlife may be exposed to such hazardous waste. Dogs are frequently poisoned by drinking water contaminated by oil around roads or driveways.
Look out for Part 2 of this article as I shall tell you of the proper storage and disposal of these hazardous wastes.*
