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Household chemical waste comes in a lot of different forms. Oil-based latex paints, wood varnish, and garden chemicals like pesticides and fertilizer could all be considered household waste because they pose a danger to your health, and even public health, if improperly disposed of.
Household Chemical Waste Can’t be Flushed, Abandoned, or Thrown Away
That means that you can’t simply flush household chemical waste down the toilet and call it a day. Something as seemingly innocuous as tile cleaner or carpet cleaner could wind up doing real damage to the environment and local water systems if flushed away or poured down the drain.
At the same time, many personal electronics like computers, monitors, and old cell phones contain heavy metals like lead and mercury that make them dangerous to throw in with the normal trash. The same thing goes for light bulbs and thermometers, which could also contain mercury.
The problem with household chemical waste is that it can leach into the soil if left just anywhere, and it can certainly get into local water systems if flushed down the toilet. For that reason, you need to take extra precautions when disposing of a lot of the stuff in your garage: gasoline, motor oil, antifreeze, and even pool chemicals require special treatment.
Whether you’re talking about stuff in the garage or cleaning products in the cupboard, you’re talking about household hazardous waste. Although Junk King doesn’t take hazardous waste, you can call on Junk King for most other kinds of garage cleanouts: tires, books, boxes, windows, and rubbish.
Pouring out a household cleaner in the regular trash could endanger the health of local sanitation workers, and flushing that same cleaner down the toilet might contaminate your septic tank. In fact, the state of California has for over a decade banned folks from tossing fluorescent bulbs and batteries in the trash because both are considered “universal” waste.
Steps to Reduce Household Chemical Waste
Both Junk King and the CalRecycle are committed to making it easier to responsibly dispose of household hazardous waste and universal waste. That said, there are steps you can take to reduce the amount of chemical waste in the first place.
The Environmental Protection Agency recommends reducing your purchases of cleaning products that contain hazardous materials. The EPA also says that it would be a good idea to use environmentally friendly products (e.g., greener laundry and dishwasher detergents) or even using DIY alternatives to bug spray where possible.
At the same time, you can often accomplish the same thing as, say, drain-clog removers (a.k.a., Drano) or furniture polish do with much less of a negative impact on the environment. For example, a plunger and plumber’s snake (auger) can unclog drains. Lemon juice, vegetable oil, and a towelette can also give your wood furniture a nice, clean sheen.
As America’s greenest junk removal service, Junk King takes and recycles and/or donates all kinds of items, including electronic waste. Though electronic waste, or e-waste, often contains hazardous materials like lead and mercury, e-waste is typically considered universal waste. Junk King actually takes e-waste like computers, monitors, and printers.
Junk King Takes E-waste…Not Hazardous Waste!
That’s important because old cathode ray tube televisions and monitors contain lead, which can pollute the air, soil, and water if improperly disposed of. The thing to remember is that Junk King accepts electronic waste, but doesn’t take hazardous waste like paint, gasoline, pool chemicals, and household cleaners.
For virtually everything else, Junk King can help. Call on Junk King for foreclosure cleanouts, office cleanouts, furniture and appliance removal, construction waste removal, and yard waste removal.
