What Every Buyer and Seller Needs to Know about Household Toxins

What Every Buyer and Seller Needs to Know about Household Toxins

http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-03-19/what-every-buyer-and-seller-needs-to-know-about-household-toxins/

We all have many home items that we take for granted. They may be appliances we couldn't live without-say, the refrigerator we absentmindedly open and close several times a day, or the toaster or the coffee maker. Maybe they're products that we might use to keep our home clean, such as vacuum cleaners or liquid cleansers.  But what do you do with these everyday items when they cease to be useful? Maybe they break down, or maybe you bought another item that you prefer more.  What can you do, now that these items have become potentially hazardous household waste? There are several options-some that will quickly relieve you of the items, others that may require you to hang on to them for a while.  In many cases, people toss out the products, such as alkaline batteries and fluorescent light bulbs, with their normal trash. But they shouldn't.  Chemicals in these products can "get into the air, food, water and people's bodies, and we want to keep them where they belong, which is not in those places," says Leslie Kline, Fresno County, Calif.'s recycling coordinator. "Some chemicals like pesticides, we want to make sure they don't get into the ground and the water."<snip>