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9 <br />Universal Waste Diversion and Recycling <br />(Group Question) How many of you just throw away your dead batteries, old TV's or <br />fluorescent lights at home? How many of you do the same thing here? <br />What is Universal Waste? <br />Universal waste is common everyday items that we are used to throwing away in the trash. <br />Unfortunately, most of these exhibit hazardous characteristics when disposed of/ recycled <br />improperly. Now we cannot legally throw universal waste into the trash, it's the law! All <br />universal waste must be diverted from the trash and sorted as we perform our de -garbage process <br />in production. Below are the universal wastes that we encounter in the automobile salvage <br />business: <br />• Mercury switches: We already remove these from vehicles! These are the switches that <br />turn on trunk and hood lights when you open them. We also need to be aware of other <br />mercury containing devices such as thermostats, thermometers, pressure gauges, etc. <br />• Batteries: We all are used to these; they power our electronic devices, flashlights, remote <br />controls etc. This includes a wide variety of batteries, rechargeable Ni Cad, silver button <br />batteries, alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, and 9volts), small sealed lead acid batteries, <br />and cellular phone batteries. (This does not include automotive lead acid batteries!) <br />• Lamps: This includes common light bulbs that we are used to throwing out in the trash. <br />Fluorescent lights, high intensity discharge lamps, mercury and sodium vapor lights. <br />These cannot be thrown away! (Incandescent bulbs are not universal waste and can be <br />thrown away) <br />• Aerosol cans: Any steel spray cans that still have product in them. This includes spray <br />paint, brake cleaner, wd-40, pesticides, herbicides, cleaning products, hair spray ... any <br />aerosol can! These can no longer be thrown away. (Don't forget to include the aerosol <br />paint cans we use to mark parts and rows when setting cars in production!) <br />• Consumer electronic devices: In California it's now illegal to throw away virtually <br />anything with an electrical plug in it. This includes cordless telephones, cellular phones <br />(they have batteries inside that must be separated!), clock -radios, stereos, DVD players, <br />VCR's, Play Stations, Nintendo's, etc. These devices have mercury and lead in their <br />circuit boards and should not be thrown away! <br />