Hazards

[resonant]

Today at the fairgrounds, the EPA had a "Hazardous Waste Event." (Sounds like it ought to involve a dance and maybe the crowning of a Miss Hazardous Waste of Central Illinois, doesn't it?)

I thought we might have a can or two of paint to get rid of, so I went through the basement and the garage last night. I filled up the entire trunk of my car. Paint we used. Paint that was in the house when we moved in. Paint so old that when I picked up the cans, the bottoms came loose and these rounds of dried-up paint fell on the floor. (The spouse came down and saw one of these rounds and said, "Ooh, you bought an ice-cream cake?")

Also: Chemicals the former residents used on their roses. The little set of cleaning products that came with my first car, which I sold in 1996. Tile adhesive. And one five-gallon white plastic jug of something with no label and a childproof cap.

It took the EPA three minutes to clean out my trunk, but before that, I waited in a line of cars for fifty minutes. We went back and forth and back and forth like when there's a long line at the bank, and at one point an arm came out of the car in front of me and took a picture with a cellphone.

A hundred and fifty cars, idling for fifty minutes. I really hope this was better for the environment, on balance, than just dumping our old paint in the river.

Comments

[fullygoldy.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that was better for the environment as a whole, but the fishies thank you.

Also, the dried up rounds of paint can be disposed of in a normal landfill. Whenever you've finished a painting project and there is just a little paint left, leave the can open until it's completely dried out, and then toss in the trash can :) The nasties are "Volatile Organic Compounds" (VOCs) that volatilize/evaporate in open air where they are diluted enough to be harmless. The problem comes when they are trapped in liquid compounds because they migrate into the water supply (ground water and surface water) and the consumption of that type of contaminated water is very bad for living things. /lecture

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

See, I told the spouse that once you could pick up pieces of paint with your hands, it was no longer hazardous. He didn't believe me, so the EPA had to deal with our paint cakes.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

With latex paint, I believe the issue is normally that they don't want liquids in the landfill, so as long as they're dried you're okay. (It may still be defined as toxic depending on your state, I suppose, but latex usually isn't.) Any oil-based paints should not be allowed to dry out, because of those VOCs mentioned above; they're an air pollutant and contribute to smog formation. Those do need to be handled as household hazardous waste, since they're often flammable.

King County in Washington has an excellent website on household hazardous waste (http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/index.cfm), FYI.

/lecture #2 (sorry; professional hazard)

PS: Thank you for thoughtful waste-handling!

[evilprettykitty.livejournal.com]

Y4ep, my mom used to work at a hardware store and used to give this spiel all the time!

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

I read this out loud to Mr WG and we both laughed. :-)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Between 8 and 3, they had fifteen hundred people! There was an article in the paper about it today!

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Household Hazardous Waste Days have become so big in our part of the world that they have to schedule extra "Home electronics disposal days". Our county won't take latex paint, but there's more than enough oil paint, pesticide cans, etc., to be worth a trip.

And then there was the time I brought in *8* old monitors.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

They didn't want latex paint, but they didn't mention that in their ad. I'm afraid that's most of what I gave them. (Well, some paint I knew to be latex, and some where the label had fallen off and the can was rusted and I couldn't tell what it was.)

They're supposed to have a couple of these a year, and I would totally save up my batteries and stuff, except that I'm willing to idle the car for fifty minutes to give away a trunkful of paint, but a bagful of batteries not so much. Maybe I could park at the school next door and walk over there with my bag of batteries?

[firesprite1105.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Austin does this. I inherited a scary, scary amount of old pesticides with this house.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Austin, Texas? You just missed it. (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/news/2008/sws_hhw_event.htm)