Warning! Products in your home may be hazardous to your health!

The average American household -- maybe even yours -- produces more than 20 pounds of hazardous wastes each year. Over time, leftover products can pile up in your storage closets, garage, or perhaps under your kitchen sink. You may already know that it's not a good idea to throw these hazardous wastes in the trash or pour them down the drain. Even small amounts of these materials can cause problems when they get into our landfills and septic tanks, and from there eventually enter our streams and lakes. If we're not careful, the hazardous wastes that we toss out now can contaminate the ground and harm our sewer and septic systems.

What should you do with these materials?

1. Reduce your wastes:

• Buy only the amount you need, even if a larger container offers a price discount.
• Use up any hazardous products completely, following directions on the label.
• Try less toxic products. When buying a product, avoid one with the words "poison" or "danger" on the label; products labelled with "warning" or "caution" are less harmful.
• Use multi-purpose cleaners rather than having a full collection of specialized products. Many products will clean a variety of surfaces.
• Find someone who can use your leftovers.
• Recycle if possible. Some stores and local government recycling programs accept used products like automobile batteries or motor oil for recycling.

2. Bring your wastes for safe disposal...

...to one of the Triangle Area's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Centers! Durham and Wake Counties offer collections year round. Orange and Chatham Counties offer collections March-November. The wastes you bring will be recycled, used to produce enery, treated or neutralized or packaged for safe disposal in a hazardous waste landfill.

Residents of Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties are eligible to use any of the four collection sites.

3. What to bring:

• adhesives
• aerosol cans
• disinfectants
• fluorescent light bulbs
• household and auto batteries
• household cleaners and polishes
• kerosene, gasoline, and other fuels
• mercury
• motor oil, anti-freeze, and other automotive fluids
• paints and stains
• pesticides and herbicides
• photographic chemicals
• pool chemicals
• propane tanks
• solvents and thinners
• wood preservatives
• other household hazardous wastes

4. How to pack your wastes:

Do not mix wastes. If possible, leave the materials in their original containers with labels intact. Put them inside the trunk of your car in a cardboard box lined with newspaper.

5. What NOT to bring:

• business waste
• asbestos
• explosives
• infectious wastes
• radioactive materials