How to Recycle Hazardous Materials

Recycling is the best way to dispose of any hazardous wastes you might have in your home. When harmful chemicals are thrown into landfills, kept in your home or littered, they can leach into soil, run into waterways, contaminate the air and present a health risk to your family and other humans, plants and animals. Most areas have hazardous waste recycling centers where you can bring your items, and some items may be placed at the curb with your can and bottle recycling.

Instructions

• 1

  Navigate to the Earth 911 website and enter "hazardous" and your city or zip code in the search bar at the top of the page. If you have a specific item you want to get rid of, such as a car battery, search for this item instead of the general term "hazardous." This will limit your search results and make it easier to find the recycling facility you need.

• 2

  Click the "Search" button. You will see a list of names of all recycling facilities and the materials they accept at their sites. You will notice that many office supply stores and auto parts stores accept some hazardous wastes.

• 3

  Click the tab marked "Curbside" to see the curbside pickup programs in your area. Click on a listing for more information about what the program collects. Some curbside programs will accept aerosol cans, car batteries and a few other hazardous materials.

• 4

  Click the tab marked "Programs" to see the hazardous waste recycling programs in your area. This is different from "All Listings" because it filters out auto parts stores and so forth, and only displays recycling centers. Click on a listing to see what hazardous materials are accepted, how you need to prepare the hazardous wastes before dropping them off, and whether or not you need to make an appointment before dropping materials off.

• 5

  Prepare your hazardous materials for recycling by following the instructions listed by your chosen recycling center. In many cases, you will need to seal the hazardous wastes and bring them in their original containers.

• 6

  Separate your hazardous wastes by category.

• 7

  Call a recycling center to make a drop-off appointment, if required.

• 8

  Place your hazardous wastes curbside or bring them to a store or recycling center that accepts them.