Background
Toxic chemicals, such as solvents, cleaners, and darkroom chemicals, are often dumped down drains because people don't know what else to do with them. A great community service project would be to organize a day for these substances to be safely disposed of.
Procedure
• Phone your provincial or territorial department of the environment or public works to see if your community has a hazardous waste pickup service.
• If not, organize a clean-sweep project. Pick a Saturday or Sunday in spring or fall, when many people are involved in yard and household cleanup projects.
• Use flyers, newspaper articles, and word of mouth to urge people to put their toxic containers in cardboard boxes and take them to the nearest hazardous waste facility.
• Get the media on board to report on the toxins that won't be leaking into groundwater to harm people and wildlife.
• Make the project a yearly event!
