Around 640 tons of household hazardous waste from homes across the state end up in landfills each year. Lawmakers in the Vermont House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife voted unanimously to support H.115, a bill that proposes a solution to that problem. Using funds from the manufacturers of the hazardous products, the legislation would create free opportunities for the public to dispose of household hazardous waste.
If the bill becomes law, it would require manufacturers to create and belong to “stewardship organizations,” which will collect household products containing a hazardous substance free of charge to the public. Collection programs will cover “payment of collection, processing, and end-of-life management,” the legislation says.
Waste is considered hazardous if it is ignitable, corrosive, reactive or toxic. When released into the environment, that kind of waste “can contaminate air, groundwater, and surface waters, thereby posing a significant threat to the environment and public health,” the bill says. Items with those characteristics — pesticides, aerosols, containers of oil or gasoline, for example — are already banned from landfills.
Municipal solid waste management entities are required to hold a minimum of two hazardous waste collection events each year, but those events are expensive, often costing in the realm of $1.6 million, according to the text of the bill. Those costs, the bill says, are eventually passed down to people who need to get rid of household items. All of this leads to hazardous waste in the landfill.