Hazmat

hey folks...

How do you deal with environmentally hazardous waste? (I'm not talking about aftermath of bad Mexican food either)..

I've got gallons of used motor oil piling up, along with leftovers of various acids and cleaners that have long served their purpose, and need a permanent home other than my garage :?

thanks!


-Vlad

 

well oil can be recycled at your nearest auto parts store usually... i dunno about the acids and cleaners...

 

We have an enviro depot up here. I'm sure if you call your municipality they should let you know, or for that matter check your local yellow pages. There may be some listing in there. Hope this helps.
Mac

 

As 07spacker said, motor oil and gear oil are pretty easy to get rid of. Your collector is probably selling them to a re-refiner. Your local garage, oil change place etc often take them. I believe Wal*Mart will too.

Cleaners and acids covers a lot of territory. Can you be more specific?

 

offer the oil free on CL - there are probably people with used motor-oil burning heaters in the garage.
Or look for someone who is looking for free used oil.

 

Stereo, get in touch with your city or county waste control department. They should be able to direct you to a local collection point.
I would avoid burning used oil as it contains many nasty things including heavy metals. Bad ju-ju that stuff.
Here in California, we have monthly household hazardous waste events that the local waste management department runs. They take all manner of hazardous materials such as cleaners, solvents and oils from the local area homes and, if possible, give it to other folks that can use the material. I pick up cleaning materials and oil for my truck all the time.
Bottom line, they keep the nasty, unwanted materials from ending up in landfills or the water table. It's the responsible thing to do. Best of luck!

 

thanks for the info, guys. I'll call the city Monday and see who collects this stuff around here.

 

[threadjack]
I can just see it now...

<BRRRRinngggg> <BRRRRinngggg> <BRRRR...>

<Click>Hello, City hazardous waste division. How may I help you?

Caller: Ah, good morning. I was hoping you could help me with a little problem.

City: Sure, what can we do for you?

Caller: I've got a lot of chemicals that have piled up over that last couple months and I'm worried my neighbors are starting to get suspicious. I'd like to get them out of here before the cops see 'em.

City: Go on...

Caller: Oh yeah, I'm not sure what to do with all this stuff. A custo... Err, I mean a friend of mine said the city might be able to help me get rid of most of it. The rest I'll just pour down the sewer, I guess. You know, I tried pouring it out on the lawn, but it killed all my grass... and the neighbor's grass, too. And all the bugs... strangest thing. Anyways.

City: And what would that be?

Caller: Oh, let's see here... I've got some left over methanol, ether, and benzene. Oh, and there's several containers of methylene chloride, trichloroethane, and toluene. But they're all mixed together. That may be a problem. My dog got into it and now he don't look so good. He pukes a lot and drags his butt on the carpet. It's nasty!

City: <Gulp> Anything else?

Caller: I've got some other stuff here. Muriatic acid, sodium hydroxide, and ammonia. The acid's giving me a problem, though. I can't find a container to put it in that lasts. It's leaking all over the place. And it's giving me a headache that won't go away.

City: I see. Can I get your address? We'll send someone over right away to help you out with that.

Caller: Hey, wait a minute. You're not... <Click!>
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