The Discard Pile
Yesterday's deluge of rain and cool temperatures allowed the drudgery of a prolonged bathroom reno to rise to the top of the chore list. Specifically, the task required a cleanout of the medicine cabinet and double vanity. It felt daunting, even a bit scary. Who knew what long forgotten nasties lay within?
I am happy to report that I did not find any oozing disgusting abominations, just old, expired, useless stuff and much smaller number of keepers. The discovery of an over-the-counter (OTC) medication with an expiry date of November 1996 did elicit a chuckling snort as I flung it into the "Pharmacy" box.
The real challenge turns out to be how to dispose of the discards in an environmentally responsible manner. OTC meds and prescription drugs can be dropped off at the pharmacy. For the record the were NO leftover prescriptions! But what do I do with all the other stuff - bottles and jars, tubes and cans of lotions and potions? Can the contents be disposed of without harming water, soil, or septic systems? Can the containers be recycled?
A quick perusal of the internet, (and I do mean quick - no time allowed to get trapped in a rabbit hole or ten!), and I had my answer. The best thing that can be done is to empty the contents into the garbage can then clean out tubes and jars and puncture the cans then put them in the recycling bin. I could do that except that any product residue must be thoroughly cleaned out of the containers and that gunk is bad news for my septic system. So, I can't compost the contents and I can't flush them and sadly then, it's the landfill for way too much of this stuff.
Going forward I will be making purchasing and usage adjustments. It would be helpful if manufacturers printed disposal instructions for both the product and the containers on the packaging AND the containers. I will refuse all those free samples of trial packs. I no longer wear makeup - take me as I am folks! - and because fragrance has become such a migraine hair trigger, I won't be buying that anymore and neither will the man of the house. Together we have already switched to a biodegradable sunscreen. It's the least we can do.
©2023 April Hoeller
I never really thought about this other than the meds. Our local landfill doesn't recycle glass, unfortunately, and that bothers me. Guess it's because they don't get enough of it. We are in a pretty rural area. We do rinse all the jars & cans out when it comes to food things. But beauty/bathroom creams and lotions, I've always just tossed in the trash. Something to think about...
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We are also rural but fortunate to have weekly curbside recycling and composting, which is great for packaging (paper, glass, plastics with a recycling code & styrofoam) and food scraps. But those beauty/bathroom lotions and creams, which can add up as I discovered, are real outliers in the recycling business.
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment. Best wishes.