Question from [NAMEOFSENDER]
Hi Debra,
Thank you for the good info. My question is, as we replace our toxic furniture, linens, clothing, etc, what do we do with the old toxic stuff? How do we responsibly dispose of flame retardant infused sofas, cushions, rugs? What do we do with the synthetics or conventionally processed cotton fabrics and clothing and bedding, laced with pesticides, petrochemicals, dyes, formaldehyde?
Passing it on to Goodwill seems callous. Throwing it into landfills only adds the chemicals to the environment…….. burning it??? What do we do with it?
Help!!
Debra’s Answer
This is a very good question.
There are such things as Household Hazardous Waste programs, and you should have one in your city. But these are for a specific list of toxic products that are immediate poisons, like pesticides and paints.
But the products you are talking about have toxic exposures with long-term health effects and I don’t know of any programs for responsible disposal of them.
Here’s an article about some possibilities for disposing of sofas with fire retardants, but no current solutions: www.greensciencepolicy.org/responsible-furniture-disposal/
I think what I would do is take all this stuff to the Household Hazardous Waste program in your area. Tell them it’s hazardous waste and ask them to dispose of it accordingly in a hazardous waste site.
This is a good example of why manufacturers need to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of the product they produce. It’s not OK to make a product that ends up polluting the planet instead of gracefully returning to the ecosystem.
