“As we progress into the 21st century, anyone who considers themselves realists will have to make the environment a top priority. The truth is our planet’s alarm is now going off, and it’s time to finally wake up and take action. ”
Leonardo DiCaprio
There are waste materials that need to be handled properly as they are capable of causing significant harm to human health and the environment. These materials are referred to as hazardous waste, and they can take the form of liquids, solids, sludges, or gases.
Hazardous waste materials can cause harm while in inadequate storage, treatment, transportation, or disposal operations. They are capable of contaminating surfaces and groundwater supplies when not stored or disposed of properly.
Examples of hard to dispose of hazardous waste include:
- Batteries (regular household batteries, car or mobile phone batteries)
- Obsolete computer equipment
- Thermometers, barometers, thermostats, compact fluorescent globes, and fluorescent tubes
- plastic
- Solvent-based paints
- Pesticides and other gardening chemicals
- Petrol and kerosene
- Cleaning and polishing chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals
- Swimming pool or spa bath chemicals
Solutions for Properly Disposing of Hazardous Waste
There are options for the proper disposal of common hazardous waste. However, while waiting for a suitable way to dispose of hazardous waste, ensure you are storing them properly.
For computers, the materials used in making computer equipment contain hazardous materials that could harm the environment if not properly disposed of, as well as valuable and reusable resources. Old and unwanted computer equipment such as laptops, keyboards, monitors, CDs, disc drives, etc. can be recycled to better utilize the reusable resources therein.
Use Local Resources
- Many mobile phones, phone batteries, and accessories consist of heavy metals. As part of the mobile phone industry recycling program, mobile phone retailers, other retail stores, and some banks will accept your used mobile phones for recycling.
- Car batteries are collected at several council waste transfer stations, major battery retail stores, and landfills.
- Gas cylinders can also be returned through swap programs offered by some retailers for replacement or disposal.
- Used motor oils can be recycled too. You can return up to 20 liters of motor oil per visit to motor oil collection points at transfer stations.
- Fluorescent lamps and other mercury products can be taken to selected retail outlets and some permanent disposal outlets.
- You can also drop used plastic shopping bags for recycling at supermarkets with collection bins for them.
- Return all unused pharmaceuticals to a pharmacist for proper disposal. Make sure you store them out of reach of children before disposing them of.
Use Recycle Technologies to help you make a positive impact on the environment
One of the best ways to make a positive impact on the environment is to recycle your household’s hazardous waste. Recycle Technologies has been safely handling fluorescent bulbs, batteries, computers, and electronic recycling for companies in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and surrounding states since 1993. You can easily set up a pickup or utilize a mail-in program to recycle your products. Here’s how you can make a significant impact on the environment.
- You’ll Be Saving Yards of Landfill Space
Not all the solid waste disposed of in landfills is biodegradable. Also, waste dumped in landfills causes several environmental problems even for generations to come. Waste that takes a while to decompose can emit greenhouse gases or toxic substances that can harm both the people working around landfills and the environment. Recycling materials such as aluminum cans, paper, cardboard, plastic, scrap metals, and others, means you are making efforts to keep such waste away from landfills.
- You’ll Be Saving Natural Resources
When making products from scratch, much energy and natural resources are used. Recycling materials require lesser energy and also helps to preserve natural resources that would have been used to produce the product from scratch.
- You’ll Be Saving Forest
Recycling paper has a direct effect on the number of trees being cut down. A lot of trees have to be cut down to manufacture paper from scratch. By recycling old newspapers and other papers, you help reduce the number of trees that would otherwise be cut down to produce new ones significantly. When you save trees, you save forests, and so, help to save the environment.
In conclusion, you can help save the environment simply by making recycling a part of your daily life. Before throwing out anything, check to know if it can be recycled or reused.
