rightshore.blogg.se - Into the trash it goes cover

Step cans, which you open by pressing a foot pedal, are best for most households because they generally have well-sealed lids to contain odors, and they are easy to open hands-free (which is more sanitary).

Mercury-added novelties. Examples include greeting cards that play music when opened athletic shoes (made before 1997) with flashing lights in soles and mercury maze games.

Many health clinics, pharmacies and doctor’s offices have thermometer exchange programs that will give you a new mercury-free fever thermometer in exchange for your old one.

Mercury thermometers. Mercury thermometers typically contain about a half gram of mercury.

Mercury gauges. Some gauges, such as barometers, manometers, blood pressure, and vacuum gauges contain mercury.Pilot light sensors. Mercury-containing switches are found in some gas appliances such as stoves, ovens, clothes dryers, water heaters, furnaces, and space heaters.Thermostats that contain mercury. There is a mercury inside the sealed glass “tilt switch” of the old style thermostats (not the newer electronic kind).Mercury switches can be found in some chest freezers, pre-1972 washing machines, sump pumps, electric space heaters, clothes irons, silent light switches, automobile hood and trunk lights, and ABS brakes. Electrical switches and relays. These typically contain about 3.5 grams of mercury each.Refer to “ How do I know if a particular electronic device can’t be thrown in the trash?” for more information. Electronic devices. Includes computers, printers, VCRs, cell phones, telephones, radios, and microwave ovens.Learn about the State program to offset the cost of proper television and monitor recycling. Computer and television monitors. Most monitors are currently considered hazardous waste when they have lived their life and are ready for recycling or disposal, including cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal diode (LCD), and plasma monitors.

Also lead-acid batteries such as car batteries. Batteries. Includes all batteries, AAA, AA, C, D, button cell, 9-volt, and all others, both rechargeable and single use.For more information on LED lights, visit DTSC’s Regulatory Assistance webpage. LED lights should not be placed in the trash because they often contain metals in amounts that exceed threshold limits. Fluorescent lamps and tubes. Includes fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lamps, metal halide lamps, and sodium vapor lamps.Check with your local waste management agency to find out where to take these items in your area. The bottom line is that we must keep hazardous materials out of the trash by bringing them somewhere to be recycled or safely disposed such as a household hazardous waste collection facility. For additional information on u-waste, please check the Department of Toxics Substances Control (DTSC) Web site. As of February 9, 2006, all “u-waste” items are banned from the trash.

These common items are referred to as hazardous waste, and some of them as “ universal waste” (u-waste). Regulations to protect public health and the environment have been changing. This is because we now know that some common items that have traditionally been thrown in your household’s or small business’ trash cannot be safely disposed in landfills. And by throwing hazardous waste in the garbage, you can cause additional hazards to your garbage handler. Chemicals in illegally disposed hazardous waste can be released into the environment and contaminate our air, water, and possibly the food we eat. It is illegal to dispose of hazardous waste in the garbage, down storm drains, or onto the ground. Many common products that we use in our daily lives contain potentially hazardous materials and require special care when disposed of.