Environmentally Friendly Disposal of Household Cleaners

Bless you, Schazi, for your caring and future generations will thank and Bless you big time too! You can use the vinegar for more than just the floor cleaning. I use it for absolutely everything now including windows, sinks, counter tops, shower and toilet and my home is sparkling clean and, having Emphysema from years of nasty chemical use, my lungs are thanking me for the reprieve of the icky stuff :-)

Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback! I think I will start using vinegar and water to mop the floors. After reading what Pinesol is composed of, I see that the chemicals will definitely not break down at the water treatment plant, much less in rivers. The only safe place to dispose of these chemicals are at a HHW collection location. I am all for being environmentally friendly in whatever way possible.

These products should be saved and taken to Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collections. Contact your sanitation department, local or state department of environmental services for information on HHW collections in your area.

Household cleaning products should never be discarded on the ground or poured into storm drains. Many products shouldn't even be disposed of in the trash or down the toilet.

Most waste treatment plants cannot handle hazardous cleaners down the toilet. The filtration system just isn't that good. So it's only marginally better than throwing it down a storm drain.

Please check with your local facilities before pouring down any type of chemical drain (this includes medications).

Perhaps consider less toxic alternatives on your future cleanser purchases.

Put it down a sink drain or toilet. This way, it gets into the city's sanitary sewer system where it is treated properly before discharge into a river or groundwater. Anything you put into the street (catch-basin) is normally collected and discharged with little or no treatment. Only rain water should be going in catch basins! If you live have a septic system, contact the manufacturer of whatever you're cleaning product you're disposing of to find out if it's septic safe.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Please contact your sanitation department, local or state department of environmental services for information on Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collections in your area. These products should be saved and taken to HHW collections.

Never pour any chemicals or cleaning products into the sewer or street. It goes right into your lakes, rivers or streams, without being processed first. That means the fish and swimmers and dogs and wildlife come into contact with it. This is a big cause of water pollution. Pour it into the toilet where it goes to a processing facility.

I truly miss the lovely clean smell of PineSol, which I used for much of my life, but I don't use anything other than good old fashioned natural and safe distilled vinegar for cleaning and germ killing anymore because of health and environmental hazard issues. This link will give you an idea that there probably isn't a safe way to dispose of it, or almost any other chemical cleaner for that matter, completely (see VI Spill Procedures/Waste Disposal):

http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/pro ... sol/originalpine-solbrandcleaner.pdf