Switching to Green Cleaners?

A reader asks the Green Guide:
I recently started purchasing eco-friendly household cleaners. What is the proper way to dispose of my old cleaners?

The Green Guide responds:

This is a tough one, especially when it comes to cleaners. You don't want to expose yourself to hazardous chemicals, but pouring them down the drain doesn't benefit the fish much, either.

The best place to dump them is at your local household hazardous waste (HHW) collection center. Most HHW sites collect any cleaners labeled as toxic, poisonous, corrosive, flammable, combustible or irritating. They'll also usually take products with "Poison," "Danger," "Warning" or "Caution" labels. Fortunately, this covers a majority of the least healthy and most environmentally damaging cleaners in your home, like caustic drain, oven and toilet-bowl cleaners and products containing chlorine bleach or ammonia.

There may be some cleaners your HHW collection site won't take, such as laundry detergents or tub-and-tile cleaners. If you haven't experienced any adverse health problems while using them, continue to do so until they're gone. It's less damaging to the environment to use a capful of conventional laundry detergent in the wash than to pour half a bottle of it down the drain at once or to send a partially empty bottle to the landfill. Just use common sense when finishing up older products. Make sure the area is well ventilated, and keep kids and pets away until surfaces have dried.