Motor Oil and Automotive Fluids
Did you know that one quart of motor oil can pollute approximately 250,000 gallons of water? Yet thousands of people dump used motor oil every single day, despite the fact that motor oil is generally an easy item to recycle. Nearly every auto shop across the U.S. will accept it for recycling.
The situation gets worse when you consider transmission fluid and antifreeze. Recycling other fluids, like transmission fluid or antifreeze, can be a little more difficult, but that doesn’t mean they should end up in your regular trash. Most people just don’t realize that some local garages, for example, may accept used motor oil for recycling.
Paint Cans and Leftover Paint
Paint sits in garages for years, gathering dust and slowly hardening into an unusable mess. Americans generate more than 64 million gallons of leftover house-paint each year, enough to fill 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The shocking reality? Most of this paint gets tossed in the regular garbage when it could be recycled or donated instead.
The rules vary depending on paint type – if there are no options in your area and you have latex paint, you can dispose of it in a landfill. First, however, you need to leave the lid off for a few days and let the paint dry out before you put it in your trash. Oil-based paint requires special handling and is considered hazardous waste and must be taken to an appropriate disposal or drop-off center. People just don’t want the hassle of figuring out the proper disposal method.
Car Batteries and Household Batteries
Here’s a fact that might surprise you: Lead-acid batteries are one of the most recycled products. In 2018, 2.9 million were recycled, representing 99 percent of generation. Despite this incredible recycling rate, people still throw them in regular trash because they don’t realize how toxic they can be.
Batteries, including all batteries, AAA, AA, C, D, button cell, 9-volt, and all others, both rechargeable and single-use, and lead-acid batteries like car batteries can leak toxic fluids. Batteries also cause fires with worker injuries in sorting and recycling facilities. The truth is that like motor oil, nearly every automotive parts store will take car batteries for recycling, yet millions still end up in landfills annually.
Old Bicycles and Sports Equipment
Something that really gets me fired up is seeing perfectly good bicycles thrown away. Across the UK, nearly 22 million small items of furniture, more than 11,000 bicycles and over 28 million toys are thrown away each year when they become damaged. And here’s the kicker – fewer than one in 10 people attempt to repair or restore broken items – despite 42% saying they’d like to learn the skills to do so.
The truth is, bicycles have a tendency to last a very long time. If parts break, it’s relatively easy to get them repaired. Instead of throwing them away, if you’re done with your bike or your kids outgrow theirs, sell it or donate it so someone else can get more life out of it. Even completely unusable bikes can be recycled – take off the tires and tubes and drop off the frame at your local scrap yard. They will take care of recycling the metal.
Car Tires and Rubber Products
Tires are banned from regular trash in most places for good reason. Tires are not hazardous but are banned from the trash to avoid mosquito breeding and tire fires. Yet people still try to sneak them into dumpsters or abandon them illegally, not realizing that most garages are required to accept and recycle your used tires when you have new ones put on.
The statistics are staggering: EPA estimated the generation of rubber tires was 5.0 million tons in 2018, approximately 2.2 percent of total MSW. While the Agency also estimated the tire recycling rate was 40.0 percent, that still leaves millions of tires improperly disposed of each year. There’s literally no excuse when most garages are required to accept and recycle your used tires when you have new ones put on. You may be able to return used tires to either a tire retailer or a local recycling facility that accepts tires.
Power Tools and Garden Tools
Power tools break down, lose their edge, or simply become outdated. Instead of trying to repair them or recycle them properly, most people just toss them in the trash. If your power tools are still working, sell them or donate them so others can continue to use them. If the tool is no longer working, you could look into getting it repaired. In some cases, you may just need to replace a single piece to keep it running strong.
Even when tools reach the end of their useful life, they shouldn’t go straight to the landfill. If, however, the tool has reached the end of its life, try to recycle it. The first thing to do is reach out to the manufacturer. In some cases, they may take back the tool for recycling. Garden tools are even easier to deal with – when gardening tools reach the end of their lives, you have some easy disposal options. If the tool is broken, look at repairing it first.
Propane Tanks and Gas Containers
Small propane tanks from camping trips and old gas containers accumulate in garages over time. Many, many people have written in to Earth911 asking for help recycling old propane tanks. In most instances, people were searching for a way to recycle the small tanks used when hiking and camping. The problem is that people assume these are just regular trash when they require special handling.
The situation with propane recycling has gotten more complicated over the years. Coleman used to send a tool with each tank it sold that made it possible to release all of the pressure. This made it safe for scrap metal recyclers to shred them. Unfortunately, this program has been ended due to low acceptance by scrap metal recyclers. Still, options exist – the best thing to do is call all of your local scrap metal recyclers. Some of them will accept these tanks because they have the tools necessary to make recycling possible.
Household Hazardous Waste Products
Your garage probably contains more hazardous materials than you realize. The average home can accumulate as much as 100 pounds of household hazardous waste in kitchens and bathrooms, garages and sheds. This includes everything from pesticides to cleaning products to pool chemicals.
Two items we always kept on a high shelf in our garage were pesticides and herbicides. These materials are considered household hazardous waste (HHW), and as such, they must be disposed of properly. The danger lies in improper disposal – while you may be tempted to dump any unused amount down the drain, this is not recommended. Many city wastewater treatment plants have a hard time removing these contaminants from the water.
Electronics and Consumer Goods
Old electronics pile up in garages like digital graveyards. EPA estimated that the generation of consumer electronics goods in 2018 was 2.7 million tons, representing 1.0 percent of all MSW generation. In 2018, the rate of selected consumer electronics recycling was 38.5 percent. That means roughly two-thirds of electronics still end up in landfills when they could be recycled instead.
The types of electronics commonly found in garages include old stereo systems, outdated GPS units, broken power tools with electronic components, and forgotten gaming equipment. Old TVs, laptops, and cell phones shouldn’t go in the trash because they contain hazardous materials. Instead, take them to an e-waste recycling center like Homeboy Recycling or drop them off at one of LA’s designated e-waste collection events. The convenience of just throwing them away often wins over the extra effort required for proper recycling.