Hazardous Household Waste

[Lisa0825]

I don't think this is the right forum for this, but the other related forums don't get as much traffic, so I hope it is OK to post this question here.

I got a booklet from the Houston-Galveston Area Council regarding recycling, because a commercial had mentioned that it included information on what to do with Hazardous Household Waste. I have a lot of stuff that I have been keeping in cabinets since my mom passed just because I didn't know what to do with it. The booklet mentions trying to find someone who would be able to use the products that you want to dispose of, instead of throwing them out or bringing them to the recycling center.

http://www.h-gac.com/community/waste/resources/recycle_guide/default.aspx

So what I am confused about is this... Is it better for me to just use what I can rather than dispose of it, and then move forward with the greener purchases I would normally make later? Or would it do any good to drop off my HHW to a facility? The booklet made it sound like actually using the stuff wasn't any worse than finding a place to drop it off... just sort of like "go and sin no more."

The items in particular are bleach, ammonia, bug spray, Weed-B-Gone, CLR, Clorox toilet cleaner, and other assorted cleaners.

I would not have bought them myself, but is using them up as good as getting rid of them? I don't have any problems or reactions to chemicals, and I wouldn't use them in places my pets could get to. I just want to make sure I make the better choice of what to do with the stuff.

Thanks for any input.

[kestrel91316]

1. IMHO it is best to just use stuff up rather than throwing it "away" or

taking it for hazmat disposal. When you use chemicals up, you are basically diluting the environmental impact out and there is not a concentrated pocket of them to get somebody else into trouble down the road, KWIM?

I do this myself. Then when something is gone I switch to homemade or a less toxic commercial product. I DO have ammonia and bleach in my home, and use them sparingly (and never together!!!). Nothing cuts grease in the kitchen like ammonia, but it is very drying to the hands because even diluted it strips the grease out of your skin, lol.

I just used up the very last of my toilet bowl cleaner and am now just going to use a pumice stone for hardwater scale, a brush, vinegar, and maybe occasionally bleach (dilute of course). But no more expensive commercial toilet bowl concoctions made of god-knows-what, and their dumb plastic containers to dispose of......

[Lisa0825]

2. Thanks,

I feel like I *could* use this stuff, but I just wasn't sure if that was best. I definitely wouldn't have bought it myself.

Thanks for the input!