HHW visit

For anyone who has never visited a Household Hazard Waste site before, I recommend it highly as it is a worthwhile investment of time and energy.  Probably the most compelling reason is that a visual for anything always has the greatest impact.  Being engaged in discussions about hh-waste is important too, but nothing can match a visual.   And while I don’t really remember seeing a lot of hh-waste the day that we were there together as a class, I just know that the magnitude of the location told its own story; that location had to be ready for a huge amount of material that could be processed on any given day.

I have told friends and associates about this field trip, and about the class, but they are not open minded and I can see it clearly being deposited directly into the “brain” waste basket, in other words, in one ear, no stopping in the brain, and out the other ear.  So when the question was asked of us as students, what would we want to tell the world about this facility, I would answer, “stop, listen and be open minded—your health and the health of your children may depend on it”

Something else to consider, is the importance of reducing hh-waste by using better and safer alternatives in our homes.  This is easier today since there are a greater number of safer alternative products available on the market today.  Additionally one of my favorite websites contains a list of home remedies to medications and a list of safer cleaning solutions for the home.   There are many such websites, and I would encourage everyone to seek these types of alternatives, not only for their health and safety, but also for the health and safety of the environment.

For more information about Household Hazard Waste please visit the Orange County Website/OC Waste & Recycling at 

http://www.ocsd.org/ocgov/Info%20OC/Departments%20&%20Agencies/OC%20Waste%20&%20Recycling/Hazardous%20Waste