The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Americans generate approximately 1.6 million tons of hazardous waste each year. The EPA groups all waste into categories then places items on lists based on the ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity of each material. Most people suspect that gasoline, pesticides and herbicides make the list, but what about motor oil? Thermostats? Car batteries? Old prescriptions from the medicine cabinet? The EPA website Household Recycling pages provide lots of disposal information and relevant links. Go to http://www.epa.gov/Region4/recycle/householdrecycling.htm
A good, user-friendly place to start is http://earth911.org/. At the top of their homepage is a banner to enter what type of trash homeowners/buyers have (or just type “household hazardous waste”), along with their ZIP code or City, State. Press GO and a list appears of all HHW disposal sites within 25 miles of that area.
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