(thunder rumbles) - It was a dark and stormy night, much like tonight, when the smell of lemon scented doom was coming from inside the house.

I opened up the sink cabinet and there it was, a bloated can of oven cleaner expired in 2006.

I'm Brooke Butler, and welcome to "What Do I Do With this?"

the show that untangles (upbeat music) the mess of modern waste so you don't have to.

In this episode, we've got a chemical cleanup of household hazardous waste.

Okay, so household hazardous waste isn't that big of a nightmare, but those everyday household chemicals can become dangerous when used improperly, thrown out with the trash, or worst of all, dumped down the drain.

We're talking paints, pesticides, motor oil, lighter fluid, basically anything under your sink, in a garage, or maybe haunting the basement storage room.

This stuff is usually classified as corrosive, flammable, and or toxic.

Improper disposal can cause fire, water contamination, and even explosions, (explosion rumbles) not the kind of sparkle I want in my life.

And, yes, while toilets can magically poof away the equivalent of a crime scene, water treatment plants aren't alchemists.

Contamination can ruin your pipes and poison the waterways.

In this episode, we'll talk about what specific things in your home may be hazardous in plain sight, what happens if they escape into the wild, and how to better protect your health and the planet.

So here we are at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility drop off.

Tell us, you know, the process, what people can expect.

(caption dings) - Well, first, people are gonna go online and make a reservation at hhwsgl.com.

- Yes.

- [Mike] And then they're gonna show up on their day.

They're gonna pull up under our awning here.

- [Brooke] Yeah.

- [Mike] The guys that work here will unload their car, weigh all the material, and then if there's any fees associated with dropping off, they'll take your payment then, and the customer's on their way.

After that, the guys go through and they sort all the material into like categories.

- [Brooke] And what are those items that you see most of?

- [Mike] Paint.

- [Brooke] Paint definitely.

- [Mike] So about 50% of what we take in is latex paint.

- Yeah.

- And other than that, it's gonna be like your pesticides and herbicides.

It's kind of seasonally specific.

So like in the spring, we're gonna get old gasoline that people didn't stabilize over the winter, pool chemicals that weren't properly stored.

In the fall, we're also gonna be getting gasoline in 'cause people are gonna be trying to get rid of it, so it doesn't go bad, but it's kinda seasonal what we get.

- Yeah.

And then so tell us what happens then.

- [Mike] Yeah, so the stuff's gonna get put together with like materials.

The paint's gonna go get recycled in Nashville, Illinois.

The other stuff's gonna go over into Wood River where it's gonna get taken off a truck and put together with more like stuff and then ultimately gets into other disposabilities, fuel blending, recycling, incineration.

(curious music) - [Brooke] And so what about like, I mean, 'cause I know paint expires eventually, right?

Is that something you still accept?

- [Mike] As long as it's liquid, we can, we'll take it and recycle it.

If it's solid, you can just throw it away with your trash.

- [Brooke] Oh, okay.

Well that's good.

And what are the items that you don't accept?

- [Mike] Radioactive materials, ammunition, explosives, smoke detectors.

- Oh, why smoke detectors?

- They're radioactive.

They have a radioactive element in 'em.

- Oh.

What do you do with them?

- So you, most manufacturers have a mail back program, so you just go to their website and- - Yeah.

Send the radioactive stuff in the mail.

- Yeah.

(Brooke laughs) - [Brooke] What are those maybe proactive ways instead of recycling, you know?

- [Mike] Oh, the easiest thing you can do is buy what you need and use what you have.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- You know, every store that sells paint has on their website or at their store a calculator on how much to buy.

I would rather people not show up here and just, I mean, we're providing the service, but I'd rather not provide the service.

I'd rather there not be a need for it.

- Yeah.

- So only buy what you need.

- Let's talk about some common household hazardous waste and how to properly dispose of them.

Old paint, classic HHW.

If it's still liquid, don't toss it.

If it's all dried up, you should be able to just throw it out with the trash, but check your local rules first.

Car battery or batteries in general, definitely hazardous.

It's full of lead and acid, basically the villain origin story of the waste world.

Yeah!

You can drop them off at an auto shop or household hazardous waste recycling site.

Aerosol cans, from the days of vandalism, if they're empty, they might be recyclable.

If they still have product in them, household hazardous waste.

I bit my tongue.

Those propellants can explode if they're compressed the wrong way.

Kaboom!

Cleaning products, especially bleach and ammonia, should never be mixed.

This isn't potion making class at Hogwarts.

Use them up if you can.

If not, check with your local household hazardous waste site for disposal.

Ding!

Compact fluorescent bulbs.

Ding!

They have tiny swirly little mercury grenades inside.

Take them to a hardware store that recycles them or your local household hazardous waste drop off.

You get the idea, right?

Of course, this isn't extensive, but here are some other common culprits that should be considered hazardous waste.

Again, those key identifiers are anything that's toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive.

And here are some items that could be considered hazardous, but may not be accepted at a drop-off site because they require a different recycling process.

Always read the labels.

If it says danger, flammable, or anything that sounds like death metal band, (metal music) take it seriously.

(bright music) Okay, do you wanna skip the toxic stuff altogether?

Turns out your kitchen doubles as a chemistry lab.

Vinegar and baking soda cleans drains.

Lemon and oil, it's fancy furniture polish.

Cedar chips can be alternatives to mothballs without the stinky.

(flame hisses) Matches are compostable.

Of course, we all can't be perfect little biohazard wizards all the time.

If you're using these products as directed, you're probably all good.

But we took a trip to a water treatment site to find out what happens when things go down the wrong pipe.

- So my job is basically to manage MSD's environmental compliance programs.

(caption dings) We run a number of programs here to ensure that MSD's operations are compliant with our regulatory permits that we operate under.

We operate seven wastewater treatment plants, which takes wastewater and some of the combined sewer flow through our processes here to treat them so that we can, you know, clean the dirty water- - [Brooke] Yeah.

- To a standard that's compliant for our regulatory permits and in a manner that is safe for the environment.

- I just turn on my faucet.

I don't think about all this stuff.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Talking household hazardous waste- - Yes, those are those products, they have a use, there's a reason why we have 'em.

And it's okay to have 'em and use 'em in accordance with how they're intended to be used.

But once these products are, you know, at a point to where they're not useful anymore, either they've expired or they've been depleted or you simply don't have a use for it anymore, at some point, you're gonna have to make a decision on what do I do with this?

- Hey!

What do I do with this?

- Yeah, exactly.

(water splashing) You know, these chemicals can damage sewers and manholes and pumps.

They can interfere with our treatment processes at the wastewater treatment plant.

They can make unsafe conditions for our workers to work in who are out there maintaining the sewers and keeping the plants running.

Ultimately, if it makes it out into the environment, there's a really serious impact that can happen.

We're affecting water quality.

We're affecting habitats that wildlife and aquatic life need to live in and thrive in.

It's one of those things where you're like, okay, I'm in my home.

No one's gonna know.

It's just me.

- [Brooke] Yeah.

- [Jason] I'm one out of 1.4 million customers here in the St. Louis area.

- [Brooke] Uh-huh.

- But let's suppose many people were feeling that way about it.

You know, at that point, it becomes a big deal.

You know, I think the biggest challenge is just awareness and, you know, helping folks understand that the actions and the choices that they make have an impact on bigger things that are beyond them.

- Thanks for watching this episode of "What do I do with this?"

And we hope your house is a little less hazardous, and it's not a household hazardous waste of time.

Hey, did you know YouTube isn't the only place to watch this show?

You can get it on the PBS app.

Or you can go What's the craziest thing you've flushed down your toilet?

And I hope you know now not to do that.

Do you like my Laverne and Shirley call out?

(Brooke sings) Am I aging myself?

(Brooke laughs) Blue and red make purple.

That's not purple at all.

Life is so full of surprises.

Alchemist.

(beep) (whiteboard crashes) (producer laughs) (Brooke laughs)