How to get rid of toxic stuff

No, I'm not talking about your mother in law.

This post is for people who are too busy to read the little yellow insert that arrived inside the water bill from Gwinnett County Public Utilities. You see it as extra junk in your bill, I see it as "Yee-haw! Blog content!!!"

The timing is perfect, because the weekend in the Fall is a popular time for cleaning out of garages, where we store most of this dangerous stuff.

Examples of hazardous household wastes are:

• paints
• solvents
• batteries
• automobile fluids
• herbicides and pesticides

Do NOT:

• pour these things down the household drain
• throw in the garbage
• pour into ditches, storm drains, or gutters
• dump or bury
• burn

DO:

• use it up
• give the product to someone else who can use it (I'd use Freecycle.org)
• avoid buying hazardous products in the future

To report the illicit discharge of Household Hazardous Wastes, or any other pollutants to the storm sewer system, please call Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources 24/7 at 678-376-7000.

For information about reducing, recycling, and disposing of Household Hazardous Wastes in Gwinnett County, contact Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful at 770-822-5187 or visit the website at www.gwinnettcb.org - they can provide helpful tips and disposal locations

For general information about the disposal of HHW, consult the Guide to Best Management Practices for Household Hazardous Waste and Radon by visiting the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division (P2AD) website at www.p2ad.org

What your trash can size says about you

You know that it seems like every Friday I muse on some topic or another. The ideas come to me a lot when I'm driving.

I observed that you can tell a lot about the people or person who lives in a house just by looking at the house and all around the house.

I know I am a worrier, but I think it is smart to think about things the way a criminal would, to decrease your chances of becoming a victim.

Have you ever noticed the size of the trash cans?

There are smaller, thin Robertson trash cans, and to me they communicate that the resident
of the house with that small trash can is either single, perhaps a couple, but most likely an elderly person or elderly couple.

It seems insignificant, doesn't it? But I think that if someone has a criminal mind and wanted to hurt or rob an elderly person, those trash cans are almost like putting a sign out in front of the house that says "come and get me."

If my 80-year old mother lived in Snellville, I would demand that she get a more regular sized trash can. Big whoop if it's larger than what she needs. At least it wouldn't announce to all passers-by that she probably lives alone.

I think we should do away with those small trash cans.