household hazardous waste

The Southeastern Indiana Solid Waste District will accept your household hazardous waste for proper disposal.

                    (*Please remember to call ahead.)

How do you tell if it is hazardous?
Do not pour on ground, down the drain or the toilet, or throw away!

• Read the label!
  Look for the words Poison, Danger, Warning or Caution on the product label.
• Poison and Danger indicate the highest hazard levels. Poison means that a product is highly toxic, and can cause injury or death if ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin
• Danger means that a product is either highly toxic, flammable, or corrosive. Look for the word "danger" on cleaners, polishes, paint strippers and pesticides. "Danger" means the product could poison you, cause serious damage to your skin or eyes, or easily cause a fire.
• Warning and Caution both indicate that a product is toxic, corrosive, reactive or flammable
• Products that don't have any of these words on the label are least hazardous

A hazardous product has at least one of the following properties:

• Toxic
  Poisonous or causes long-term illness (such as cancer). Pesticides, paint thinners, many auto products and some cleaners are toxic. Look for words on the product label like:
   - "Harmful or fatal if swallowed."
   - "Use only in a well-ventilated area" (this means product fumes are toxic).
• Flammable
  Burns easily. Paint, thinners and other solvents, and auto products are the most flammable home products. Look for words on the product label like:
   - "Do not use near heat or flame."
   - "Combustible."
   - "Do not smoke while using this product."
• Corrosive
  Eats through materials (acid, for example). Oven cleaners, drain cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners and auto batteries are common corrosive products. Look for words on the product label like:
   - "Causes severe burns on contact."
   - "Can burn eyes, skin, throat."
• Reactive
  Can spontaneously ignite or create poisonous vapors when mixed with other products (therefore NEVER mix household products), or can explode when exposed to heat, air, water or shock. Fortunately, there are few consumer products still on the market that are explosive (except for fireworks). Some older explosive products might still be stored in homes.

Look for these when choosing cleaning products:

• Is not labeled "Danger" or "Poison"
• Lists the ingredients
• Follow the product instructions and use it only as intended
• Has no scent or only a mild scent

  Other items which must be recycled properly (brought to SISWD):

• Air conditioners
• microwave ovens
• Refrigerated appliances
• pesticides
• fire extinguishers
• smoke detectors
• antifreeze
• automobile batteries  - *NO ALKALINE BATTERIES ACCEPTED
• other automobile fluids
• used motor oil
• computers and televisions
• oil-based paint      - *NO LATEX-BASED PAINT ACCEPTED

   

  Mercury is in a special category of hazardous waste.  

   

  Because mercury is toxic to wildlife and humans, it is not legal to put items that contain mercury into the garbage or down the drain.      Products with mercury must be recycled or properly disposed. Households can bring these products to the processing center at the Southeastern Indiana Solid Waste District facility at the Jefferson Proving Grounds. . Appliances and 'white goods' like chest freezers, washing machines, gas ranges and gas hot water heaters contain mercury switches.   Batteries can contain toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead and nickel.   . Car switches that control hood and trunk lights in some vehicles contain mercury. Switches in some ABS systems also contain mercury, as do some car alarms. Dental amalgam, the silvery material used to fill teeth, is approximately 50 percent mercury. Fluorescent lamps, including compact fluorescent lamps, tubes, high intensity discharge lamps and tanning lamps, contain mercury and must be recycled. Medical equipment like sphygmomanometers (blood pressure measuring devices), esophageal dilators and fever thermometers can contain mercury. Personal care products.  An online searchable database of toxic chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products and safer alternatives can be found at www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep. Thermometers used to measure body temperature sometimes contain mercury. Thermostats used to regulate heating and cooling systems in homes and commercial buildings sometimes contain mercury. Toys, novelty items and shoes. Children's chemistry sets were once sold with liquid mercury. Some toys contain a drop of mercury that is moved through a maze (called a mercury maze). Some toys (like Spiderman) were powered with non-removable mercury batteries. Some older athletic shoes with flashing lights in the soles contain mercury. Newer shoes are mercury-free.