Ask Jon Eakes

Last Updated: Saturday, November 17th, 2001, Created: Saturday, November 17th, 2001

Getting rid of household hazardous wastes.

Hazardous waste is anything that can cause ecological problems if it is either put down the drain or sent to a regular landfill site. The four primary categories are:

EXPLOSIVE -- the most common household product in this category are aerosol cans that if heated or crushed could explode and cause harm with flying metal parts.

CORROSIVE -- many cleaning products can be corrosive, potentially burning skin of anyone associated with a land fill or garbage collection or pollution of the water table below the land fills.

FLAMMABLE -- simply means it can catch of fire. If poured down the drain these products could actually catch on fire as they float in the sewer lines, kill water treatment chemicals and enzymes, and generally pollute the waterways.

POISON -- includes prescription medicines.

Many products will fall into more than one category so you should look for the warning symbols.

Finally the internet is beginning to do what it does best in helping us to get rid of these things. Go to WWW.CLEANUP.ORG and you can find out a great deal of localised information, including collection addresses for most localities throughout the US and Canada.

Keywords: Ecology, Hazardous, Health, Safety, Waste Management

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