Hidden household hazards
Posted on Saturday, April 8, 2006
All of us use hazardous materials around the house. They include cleaners, car batteries, motor oil and pesticides.
The average home can accumulate up to 100 pounds of household hazardous waste (as the leftovers of these products are known ), according to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A hazardous product is one that: Can explode (including when mixed with something incompatible ) or catch fire. Is corrosive and can burn and damage human tissues or other materials. Is toxic if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
Check labels for words such as “danger” or “poison.” Read the fine print when it says “warning” or “caution.”
Hazardous materials are often used, stored and disposed of in unsafe ways. As a result, they can cause physical injury to sanitation workers. They can cause cancer, eye damage and other health problems such as liver or kidney damage and birth defects. They can pollute household and outdoor air. They can cause fires. They can contaminate wastewater treatment systems, septic tanks, ground water and soil.
The following lists of potentially hazardous items found in many homes aren’t all-inclusive but provide guidelines on what to look for — and when to buy and use such products or use alternatives. Cleaning products: Oven cleaners, drain cleaners, wood and metal cleaners and polishes, toilet cleaners, tub, tile and shower cleaners, bleach, ammonia, swimming pool chemicals.
Automotive products: Motor oil and filters, fuel additives, carburetor and fuel injection cleaners, air conditioning refrigerants, starter fluids, car batteries, transmission and brake fluid, antifreeze. Lawn and garden products: Herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, wood preservatives. Indoor pesticides: Ant sprays and baits, cockroach sprays and baits, flea repellents
and shampoos, bug sprays, houseplant insecticides, moth repellents, mouse and rat poisons and baits. Workshop and painting supplies: Adhesives and glues, furniture strippers, oil- or enamelbased paint, stains and finishes, paint thinners and turpentine, paint strippers and removers, photographic chemicals, fixatives and other solvents. Other flammable products: Propane tanks and other compressed gas cylinders, kerosene, home heating oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, gas / oil mix.
Personal items: Aftershaves, nail polish, nail polish removers, perfume, old prescription medications. Electronics and appliances: Televisions, refrigerators containing chlorofluorocarbons, computer monitors, cell phones and other electronics. Monitors and older TV picture tubes contain, on average, 4 pounds of lead, along with mercury and other hazardous materials. Other: Batteries, mercury thermostats or thermometers, fluorescent light bulbs, driveway sealer, charcoal lighter fluid, fabric dye. The University of Missouri Extension Office of Waste Management offers these suggestions: If you need to buy a hazardous product, get just enough to do the job done or share what’s left with others.
Read labels, follow directions and keep the product in its original container.
Store products where children and animals cannot get to them and away from food.
Store flammable materials (including aerosols ) away from the house and garage and away from sources of heat, spark, flame or ignition like pilot lights, switches and motors.
Don’t dump leftover hazardous wastes down a drain, a storm drain, onto dirt or into a trash can. It may be easier than taking them to household waste centers, but it also is illegal and contaminates water, air and soil.
Don’t burn used or leftover products or their containers; they’ll produce toxic fumes. Don’t bury them in a yard or garden. Don’t reuse pesticide or other chemical containers for other purposes, or mix the products or wastes.
Don’t put items with heavy metals (lead, mercury, nickel, chromium, cadmium, etc. ) into the trash.
Don’t dump hazardous wastes along the road, in a vacant lot or in an unlicensed or unregulated landfill, recycler, incinerator, hauler, etc.
Try alternatives to toxic household products, such as cleaning glass with a mixture of vinegar or lemon juice and water; or baking soda, then vinegar, then boiling water to flush a clogged drain.
The EPA at www. epa. gov and the University of Missouri at outreach. missouri. edu / owm / hhw. htm offer suggestions for such alternatives. Coming next week: Fire ants and their effort to take over Arkansas.
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