Lead-Acid Automobile Batteries Nearly 90 percent of all lead-acid batteries are recycled. Almost any retailer that sells lead-acid batteries collects used batteries for recycling, as required by most state laws. Reclaimers crush batteries into nickel-sized pieces and separate the plastic components. They send the plastic to a reprocessor for manufacture into new plastic products and [...]
Posts from ‘June, 2009’
Recycle Batteries
When you need a portable, convenient power source, you can rely on batteries. Batteries of all shapes and sizes supply power to everyday electronics like toys and power tools, but batteries also work where we don’t see them too. During a power outage, phone lines still operate because they are equipped with lead-acid batteries. Batteries [...]
Reduction at Home
Consider reducing your purchase of products that contain hazardous ingredients. Learn about the use of alternative methods or products-without hazardous ingredients-for some common household needs. To avoid the potential risks associated with household hazardous wastes, it is important that people always monitor the use, storage, and disposal of products with potentially hazardous substances in their [...]
Household Hazardous Waste
Leftover household products that contain corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive ingredients are considered to be “household hazardous waste” or “HHW.” Products, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides, that contain potentially hazardous ingredients require special care when you dispose of them. Improper disposal of household hazardous wastes can include pouring them down the drain, [...]
Recycle Food Scraps
Food leftovers are the single-largest component of the waste stream by weight in the United States. Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare, about 96 billion pounds of food waste each year. Food waste includes uneaten food and food preparation scraps from residences or households, commercial establishments like restaurants, institutional [...]
Basic Information about Yard Trimmings
In large part, disposal of yard trimmings—such as grass clippings and trimmings from bushes, trees, and other yard vegetation—in landfills is generally not necessary, since backyard composting and yard trimmings collection and recovery programs have become quite popular. Composting yard trimmings saves landfill space and reduces methane production in landfills. Methane gas can contribute to [...]