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24 August 2001

A Great Source of Chemicals for the Amateur Scientist

By Jack Herron

IN MANY MAJOR CITIES, facilities have been organized to accept left-over and used chemicals from homeowners. The mission of these facilities and the groups that run them is to reduce the quantity of toxic materials being deposited in landfills. They collect without charge pesticides, oils, paints, drain cleaners, paint strippers, anti-freeze, in short, any chemical or household product which would be harmful to the environment if it were placed in a municipal landfill, or dumped wildcat fashion.

Of course, these facilities don't generally accept waste chemicals from businesses. Industry can afford the costs of disposal (by passing them on to the rest of us). Besides, these city-run collection agencies simply can't be expected to handle the large quantity of waste generated by industry.

The householder, on the other hand, either cannot pay, or is not willing to pay for the high costs of chemical disposal. As a result, toxic household waste all too often finds its way into the municipal waste stream, unmarked and improperly treated, or perhaps into a landfill which is not prepared to contain them. Household hazardous waste programs seek to offer the homeowner a costless method of disposal.

While the bulk of the chemicals are household in nature, laboratory packed chemicals occasionally find their way into the mix. These include common lab reagents, as well as more exotic substances.

Now, all of the chemicals accepted have to be disposed of in a proper and legal manner. To do so the city would have to pay the disposal fees. Such disposal is not cheap, and represents the major expense of such operations. Naturally, such programs seek to reduce this expense as much as possible. The very best way is to use the material. If the chemicals are consumed in a process, there is no waste to contaminate the environment, or to be disposed of.

As a result, such facilities are usually heavily into recycling. Our local group has collected 1.6 million pounds of such waste since 1990. Without their presence, every ounce of this would have been dropped into a city landfill. They have refined their operation until currently 96% of the material is beneficially used. They accomplish this primarily in three ways:

• Redistribution to the public
• Alternate use, such as using waste oils as feed stock to develop power or heat
• Re-purifying and recycling, as for used motor oils.

Used paints are batched into compatible groups and donated to low income organizations for home improvement. The choice of colors is wide, and all in the same can! They like to say that you can get any color you want, as long as it's brown!

They have a long row of tables covered with usable materials which are free (except for a little paperwork) for the asking. When it's dirty, or you don't use it all, just bring it back!

But give this a thought. If your work needs chemicals, check with the household hazardous waste operation where you live. The one in my area is called Household Hazardous Waste, and is a joint operation of the City of Tucson and Pima County. I would bet that those in your part of the world are similarly titled. In terms of recycling, some do and some don't, but chances are good that you may find what you need. As usual, a courteous and professional approach works best.

Besides, everyone should become familiar with the local HHW, if only for the benefit of the environment. Even better, volunteer to help at one of the collection sites. These programs are normally heavily dependent on volunteers concerned with the environment. You get to help keep our drinking water pure, and you never have to buy cleaners, bleach, motor oil or anti-freeze again!