Safely Dispose Of Household Cleaning Products Thoughtlessly discarding an unused cleaning product is at odds with modem concern with our environment. Using household cleanir roducts until the are By Doris Thomas Lancaster Extension Home Economist!. gone is the most efficient way to answer the disposal questions. If you cannot use it, try to find some one who can. If this is not possi ble, proper disposal is the next choice. To insure safe disoosal. check the label. Some cleaning products require special handling. If no instructions are given, it is safe to dispose of most cleaning products the same way they are used. How ever, any solvent based products should be saved for household hazardous waste collection. Sol vent based means the product is not used with water for cleaning. Any cleaner stating on the label that it is flammable is probably solvent based. Many floor care products, fur niture cleaners and polishes, metal cleaners and polishes, spot remov ers, and oven cleaners are solvent based. Make sure that you check the labels on these products before disposing of them. Contact your local municipal government for local nrnrp/tn— tion of hazardous household waste collection if you do not know what they are. You will also find that some of these products state on the label that they are water soluble. This means they are used or rinsed with water for cleaning and may be poured down the drain. Water sol uble products include all-purpose cleanser, bleaches, dishwashing and laundry products, toilet bowl cleaners and water-based metal cleaners and polishes. Run the water when discarding. Water soluble aerosol products, such as spray starches and tub-and-tile cleaners, can also be discarded by spraying them down the drain with runni water. Never mix Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 3 1993-817 cleaning products, even during disposal, as certain combinations may release dangerous gases. With down-the-drain disposal, these cleaning products will end up at a municipal sewage treat ment plant or a household septic system, both of which are equipped to safely handle them. Water-soluble cleaning products are formulated to be treated in these systems and then safety released into the environment. Solid cleaning products, such as soap bars, rinse agents, soap pads and towelettes, should be disposed of in the trash. When in doubt about how to dispose of a product, call the toll free number on the label.
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