5 Kinds of Waste and How to Dispose of Them

You might feel like you know how to dispose of most waste varieties. You know what you can throw in the trash and what you can recycle. You probably want to dispose of the trash correctly to help the planet, but you also want to keep people safe from any potentially hazardous waste.

In this article, we’ll talk about waste varieties and how you should get rid of them. You might encounter one of these waste items at your job or at home, so you should know the best way to dispose of them.

Tattoo Sharps

More people have tattoos than ever before these days. You might become a tattoo artist because you have some artistic talent. You may also understand that it’s a potentially profitable business venture if you run your own shop.

You will need to know about the proper disposal of tattoo sharps, though. If you don’t work in the tattoo industry, you might not know about that term. Sharps are what tattoo artists use to penetrate or puncture the skin. In other words, you would use a sharp and some ink to tattoo someone in most instances.

What should you do with that sharp when you finish with it, though? You can’t just throw it in the trash. The FDA says you should only use a sharp once. If you do piercings as well as tattoos in your shop, you might have dozens or hundreds of used sharps that come from your storefront every day you are open.

You can buy containers in which you’re supposed to put your used sharps rather than just throwing them in a trash can. You can then contact a sharps bin collection service to come and get those sharps. They might come around several times per week.

The biohazard company can make sure to dispose of all of your sharps correctly. You’ll feel better knowing someone won’t harm themselves with one of them by accident.

Batteries

You also probably use batteries at home. You might use them in battery-powered security cameras. Maybe you have some battery-powered door locks if you’ve gone to a keyless entry system. Many individuals and families want that in 2022.

You might not feel sure what to do with those used batteries, though. In many communities, you can put a battery in your regular trash can if it has a zinc-carbon or alkaline interior.

However, you might also consider sending used batteries to a special recycling center that deals with them. Look on your state government website to find one of these centers. You can keep your used batteries in a container somewhere in your house until you’re ready to make a run to one of these recycling facilities.

Paint

Most homeowners know that a little paint can change your house’s entire appearance. Maybe you buy interior paint because you want to repaint the kitchen or living room. Perhaps you’ll buy some outdoor-use paint if your home looks drab. Maybe you plan to sell it, and you want to present it in the most attractive way possible

If you have a little paint left over after you finish a project, though, what should you do with it? The EPA recommends that you put equal parts cat litter into the paint can and stir it with the excess paint. It should create a sludgy mixture that won’t run out of the can.

Then, you can either throw the paint can away, or else you can drive to a paint-disposal facility and drop it off there. You can often find these facilities close to you. You can simply Google “paint disposal center near me” or something to that effect.

Medical Waste

When you hear a term like “medical waste,” that might mean many different things. You might consider used needles as medical waste. You might encounter used needles at your job if you work as a nurse, or you may have some at home if you have diabetes and you need to use needles to control your insulin levels.

You might also encounter detached body parts at your job if you work as a doctor. You would consider those medical waste. You may encounter used scrubs or single-use face masks if you’re a nurse or orderly. Those are medical waste as well.

Many hospitals have incinerators that they use to burn medical waste, such as body parts. You might also have chemical disinfectant solutions into which you put the waste. Your boss at the hospital can instruct you further since each facility has its own particular method.

At home, you can often double-bag medical waste and put it in the trash can. Doing so will make sure no one sticks themselves with a used needle or comes into contact with blood or other fluids accidentally.

Car Parts

Maybe you like to work on your car at home a lot. Many people learn how to fix their vehicles because that saves them money. If you can change your oil or switch out some spark plugs, for instance, you won’t have to pay a mechanic to handle that for you.

Some people also like working on their cars because it relaxes them. You might add aftermarket items to the vehicle to make it go faster or for some other purpose. You may wonder what to do with the parts you no longer need, though.

If you have used car parts like rotors, brake pads, drums, and so forth, you can take those to an eco-park and put them in a scrap bin. Many towns and cities run eco-parks and encourage you to drop off your used car parts there.

You should not put your used car parts out on the street for the recycling service to pick up. However, some people collect scrap metal, and they will pick up your used auto parts if you leave them out on the curb. It’s at least worth trying that before driving the parts to the nearest eco-park.