Over 35 million tons of hazardous waste are improperly disposed of each year.
Only a small portion, approximately 1.6 million tons annually, is recovered or recycled; the rest is disposed of in landfills without proper treatment.
“A lot of just your household products, you’d be surprised, even the small electronics, how they have little bits of lithium battery or corrosive material inside,” said Tristan Thousand, an Engineering Technician.
“When we put out these events, we have sheets that will pretty much tell you everything we’ll take, and you’d probably be surprised to see what’s on a list like that,” said Thousand.
The average household generates about 30 pounds of hazardous waste annually from basements, garages and storage closets.
Items include paint, pesticides, cleaning supplies, automotive fluids, and electronics such as computers, phones, and TVs. Dedicated centers or mobile collection events are located throughout Los Angeles County to dispose of these materials.
“You think it’s just one battery, but if you’re 100, 1000, 100,000, a million people, just throw in one battery…that’s 9 million batteries into not a lot of landfill space left in this county,” said Thousand.
“One battery can make a difference in hazardous waste,” said Thousand.
