Household Hazardous Waste

Household hazardous waste (HHW) is material found in residential waste that would be regulated as “hazardous” if it were generated by industry. Industrial wastes that pose dangers to our groundwater, soil, wildlife, and public health are regulated as hazardous wastes and are subject to stringent management standards.  Household products may contain these same chemicals and hazardous materials, but all household waste is exempt from state and federal hazardous waste regulations.

Examples of HHW include: Oil-based paints, pesticides, automotive fluids, mercury thermometers, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, weed killers, insecticides, drain cleaners, home photo and hobby chemicals, cleaning products, thinners and strippers, acids/bases, aerosols, and antifreeze. (Note that latex paint is not considered to be hazardous waste.)

One of the striking facts about the chemistry of living systems is that for every organic substance produced by a living organism, there exists, somewhere in nature, an enzyme capable of breaking that substance down. In effect, no organic substance is synthesized unless there is provision for its degradation; recycling is thus enforced. Thus, when new man-made organic substance is synthesized with a molecular structure that departs significantly from the types which occur in nature, it is probable that no degradation enzyme exists, and the material tends to accumulate.

-Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle, 1971