Hazardous Waste in The United States - Household Hazardous Waste

Household Hazardous Waste

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) (also referred to as domestic hazardous waste) is waste that is generated from residential households. HHW only applies to wastes that are the result of the use of materials that are labeled for and sold for "home use" and that are purchased by homeowners or tenants for use in a residential household.

The following list includes categories often applied to HHW. It is important to note that many of these categories overlap and that many household wastes can fall into multiple categories:

• Paints and solvents
• Automotive wastes (used motor oil, antifreeze, old gasoline, etc.)
• Pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.)
• Mercury-containing wastes (thermometers, switches, fluorescent lighting, etc.)
• Electronics (computers, televisions, cell phones)
• Aerosols / Propane cylinders
• Caustics / Cleaning agents
• Refrigerant-containing appliances
• Batteries
• Ammunition
• Radioactive waste (some home smoke detectors are classified as radioactive waste because they contain very small amounts of a radioactive isotope of americium (see: Disposing of Smoke Detectors).

Disposal of HHW

Because of the expense associated with the disposal of HHW, it is still legal for most homeowners in the U.S. to dispose of most types of household hazardous wastes as municipal solid waste (MSW) and these wastes can be put in your trash. Laws vary by state and municipality and they are changing every day. Be sure to check with your local environmental regulatory agency, solid waste authority, or health department to find out how HHW is managed in your area.

Modern landfills are designed to handle normal amounts of HHW and minimize the environmental impacts. However, there are still going to be some impacts and there are many ways that homeowners can keep these wastes out of landfills.

Laws regulating HHW in the U.S. are gradually becoming more strict. As of 2007, radioactive smoke detectors are the only HHW that are managed nationally. While it is still legal in the United States to dispose of smoke detectors in your trash in most places, manufacturers of smoke detectors must accept returned units for disposal as mandated by the Nuclear Regulatory law 10 CFR 32.27. If you send your detector back to a manufacturer then it will be disposed in a nuclear waste facility.

In the U.S., states are regulating various HHW waste disposal in MSW landfills on a state by state basis. Some commonly regulated wastes in some (but not all) states include restrictions on the disposal of:

• Recyclables (especially "source-separated" recyclables or recyclables that have already been separated from solid waste). In this case this would only apply to household hazardous wastes that have been separated for recycling.
• Lead-acid batteries
• Mercury-containing wastes
• Rechargeable batteries
• Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) from older computer monitors and televisions
• Cell phones and computers
• Refrigerant containing appliances such as a refrigerator, air conditioner or dehumidifier.

(Note: Yard waste or "green waste" (particularly "source-separated" yard waste such as from a city leaf collection program) is not hazardous but may be a regulated household waste)

Local solid waste authorities and health departments may also have specific bans on wastes that apply to their service area.

Solid Waste Haulers and HHW - One "catch-22" that residents often encounter is that while it may be legal to dispose of some HHW in their regular trash, the waste hauler that collects the trash can choose not to haul the waste. It is not uncommon for a waste hauler to refuse to pick up municipal solid waste that contains things like paint and fluorescent light bulbs. There is often little recourse for residents in this case. In these cases the resident may have to make their own arrangements to dispose of the waste by taking it directly to a landfill or solid waste transfer station.