Household Hazardous Waste

What is Household Hazardous Waste?

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) refers to wastes which (a) contain components that have the potential to threaten human or environmental health; and (b) are reasonably likely to be consumed or stored on residential premises.  Examples of HHW include cleaners, hydrocarbons, motor oil, paint, solvents, swimming pool chemicals, pesticides and their packaging. 

Why is Household Hazardous Waste an Issue?

HHW is a difficult waste to manage.  Some of the characteristics of HHW which explain this are:

• High level of community concern about its management, but low level of concern about the household consumption patterns which bring these materials into the home (and ultimately into the waste stream);
• Highly dispersed waste with small quantities distributed between many households
• Highly varied material types with poor labelling and maintenance histories making identification very difficult;
• Potential for chemicals to be inadvertantly and dangerously combined;
• Potential to contaminate Resource Recovery processes or waste disposal systems such as landfill;
• High cost of processing, recycling or disposing;
• Low market value.

Is Household Hazardous Waste a Local Government Issue?

Strictly speaking, it is not clear whether Local Governments have a responsibility to manage HHW at all.  However, as the default service provider of solid waste services to all communities in the state, there obviously exists an expectation that Local Governments will take care of HHW as well.  Aware of these expectations, many Local Governments have established programs for collecting and storing HHW.  On the other hand, many Local Governments maintain that they cannot reasonably be expected to uphold their responsibilities for aggregating and storing HHW unless other parties like industry and state and federal governments take responsibility for disposal.  This is because disposal can be extremely expensive and the indefinite aggregation and storage of materials which are potentially explosive or flammable creates prohibitive risks.

Related 

The Household Chemical Waste Program

Basel Convention - Seminar & Workshop Outline (Perth, 9 November 2005)