HHW includes corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive ingredients. Products such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, electronics, and pesticides that contain potentially hazardous are considerate HHW. The average American home amasses 100 pounds of HHW in their basements and between 1960 and 2007; the amount of waste each person creates has almost doubled from 2.7 to 4.6 pounds per day.
The most effective way to stop this trend is by preventing waste in the first place. Reduction is the key and it based on consumerism pushing people to purchase products that contain no hazardous ingredients. Communication and education are vital to push consumers to use alternative methods or products. People need to learn and realize how armful their wastes are to the environment and the impact of their daily life on the environment. Government must encourage new social behaviors with economic incentive, education and awareness. Being environmentally literate should be part of our civic duty as citizens.
The second option is collection. How many of us know the designated days in our area for collecting solid waste, the permanent collection site address or the special collection day to drop off?Municipalities and local governments must reuse, recycling, and proper disposal. Widespread campaigns on TV and advertising should guide us and explain us why, where, how and when to recycle. In addition, corporation should be involved in the process and give financial incentive to people returning hazardous waste products and create profitable programs for consumers and companies that could recycle and utilize a part of the returned waste.
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Reference
EPA. Household Hazardous Waste http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/hhw.htm
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