Most commercial pesticides and herbicides are very toxic and extreme care should be used when applying them. Always wear gloves, avoid inhalation and make sure that any cuts, especially on your arms, hands, and face are covered. Read instruction labels carefully and use only as directed, never mixing pesticides or herbicides. Unused, banned¹ or waste product should be safely stored under lock and key or taken to the Benton County Regional Moderate Risk Waste Facility for proper disposal (942-7502).

¹ Banned or restricted pesticides include: DDT, creosote, lindane, silvex, aldrin, dieldrin, mirex, 2,4,5-T, chlordane,kepone, pentachlorophenol and toxaphene.

LESS TOXIC ALTERNATIVES: REDUCING THE RISK

One of the best means of avoiding exposure to household hazardous materials is to use less toxic alternatives whenever possible. Included in this section are time-honored recipes and suggestions to help you make the switch toward less toxic household products. Ingredients followed by instructions will guide you through an array of easy-to-make, easy-to-use safer alternatives. Some ingredients recommended as alternatives are safer, but not nontoxic. The suggested alternatives that follow are only a sampling of available options. Making your own simple and effective products is fun and economical. We think you will be happily surprised with the results.

AEROSOLS

Aerosols contain an active ingredient and a liquid or gaseous propellant that is packed under at least 40 pounds of pressure per square inch. These pressurized aerosol containers are explosive and may be flammable. Depending upon other ingredients, the aerosol sprays may be irritants, corrosives, poisons or contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Prevention: Use non-aerosol (pump-spray, roll-on or liquid) products.

DE-ICERS FOR WALKWAYS

Salt alternative: Use sand, chicken grit or kitty litter (instead of salt) for traction on icy walkways or driveways.

FERTILIZERS

Prevention: The most important step to a healthy lawn or garden is to determine your soil's nutritional needs. Your county's Cooperative Extension program can refer you to labs that can test your soil for any nutrient or mineral deficiencies, and the Cooperative Extension program can provide you with other information to help you maintain a healthy soil.

Compost: Grass clippings, dead leaves and non-meat kitchen wastes are a valuable resource: don't waste them, compost them. Use of compost can improve a gardens soil structure and stability, while slowly releasing nutrients essential for good plant growth. Use peat moss, green sand (glauconite), bone meal, kelp-meal, fish meal, fish emulsions and chicken, rabbit or cattle manure in various combinations with compost leaves and other yard wastes. Natural amendments release nutrients gently over a longer period of time than synthetics.

Coffee grounds: Dried coffee grounds add acid to the soil.

Organic: These fertilizers release nutrients slowly and usually contain a variety of other trace elements your plants may need. Not all organic fertilizers are useful to plants immediately. The soil must be warm enough for organic fertilizers to break down and nutrients to be released. For a quick response try fish emulsion, seaweed extracts, manure's, bone meal, blood meal and cottonseed meal. These are water soluble and instantly available to plants. Consult your local garden center for various application techniques

Inorganic: If you use an inorganic fertilizer use a slow release fertilizer with 50% of the nitrogen in insoluble form. Calculate and apply carefully - no more than 1 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. Don't apply if heavy rain is predicted. Use caution on slopes, lawn edges, etc., to prevent the fertilizer from washing into lakes or streams. Excessive amounts of organic and inorganic fertilizers can pollute water.

HAND CLEANERS

Prevention: Use nitrile or other type gloves suited for the activity.

Oils: Massage hands with a few drops of baby oil, margarine or butter, or petroleum jelly; wipe dry; wash with soap and water.

Non-toxic: Use a lanolin and glycerin-based, non-toxic hand cleaner.

HERBICIDES

Prevention: Reduce weeds by hand weeding, mulching and using a ground cover.

Salted boiling water: Salted boiling water will immediately kill grass or weeds growing between sections of a cement walk or drive way.

Salt: In non-garden areas salt can be used effectively for general weed control.

Clubroot

Rhubarb leaves: As a preventative against clubroot, boil rhubarb leaves in water and pour into holes before planting seeds.

Moss

Prevention: Moss growth may be caused by low soil fertility, too much shade, frequent light watering, accumulation of thatch or mats of old grass clippings or any combination thereof. Unless the basic problems are corrected, any attempt at control will be incomplete and/or temporary. To prevent moss growth use infrequent and heavy watering practices, this will encourage deeper grass rooting and will help dry out moss. Thatch your lawn and rake out the moss. Regular fertilizing will help develop a healthier soil.

Poison Ivy

Soapy water and salt: Spray the area with a solution of 2 gallons soapy water and 3 pounds of salt. A few dousing will kill it.

We hope that you will want to reduce the risks to your family, and to the environment that we all share. Conducting a Household Hazardous Waste Evaluation of your home can do this. Walk through your home from the kitchen to the bathroom to the garage. Be sure to look at all possible storage places, from the floor to high shelves. Open cupboards and closets. Look to find hazardous products. Determine how hazardous they are by looking for signal words. Danger or Poison means extremely hazardous, Warning or Caution means moderately hazardous and no signal word means least hazardous. Check also that products are safely stored. Make sure the boxes and cans the products are in are not broken or leaking.

Think about where you have hazardous products. Are they where children or pets can reach them? Are they in places where they could cause fire danger (near furnace or other sources of heat)? Are incompatible products (see terms associated with household hazardous products) stored together? Look for places that could be unstable in a storm or earthquake. Watch for containers that might fall or tip over, that have tops that do not fit, or that have no tops.

The purpose of the evaluation is to find things you can change to make a safer home and cleaner environment. Consider these questions when taking your tour:

1. Which of these products can I use up according to the label, and then replace with a less hazardous or non-hazardous alternative?
2. Which of these products could be used up safely by someone else (i.e. a neighbor or a local theater group or local church or the Waste Exchange at the Benton County Moderate Risk Waste Facility)?
3. Which of these products am I not willing or unable to replace with a non-hazardous substitute?
4. Which of these products should be disposed of at the Benton County Regional Moderate Risk Waste Facility?

This is not a scientific document. The Benton County Regional Moderate Risk Waste Facility cannot assume any liability for the effectiveness or the results of the procedures or materials described. Use caution with all pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals, and keep them out of reach of children, the mentally impaired and animals.