Average Joe Goes Green - Part 6 - The Dreaded Garage

OK – It’s spring cleaning time. Before I get started in my yard, I had to tackle the garage. You know, it’s that forgotten storage area where everything you don’t want in your house, but you don’t want to throw away, ends up. So where do I start?

First things first. I decided to check our air handler for our Air Conditioner unit. Not everyone has an air handler, but many homes may have hot air furnaces which like air handlers, draw in outside air and then distribute it through the house. I opened the door to the air handler and found that besides some extra floor tiles, a ladder and a baseball bat, there were about a dozen cans of paint. We all try to save the leftover paint and varnish from our projects, but that was simply not a good place for storage. Even closed, paint cans emit VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) which are then drawn into the house and combine with the air my family breathes. Not to mention, the word “volatile” being a fire hazard around any electrical unit. These had to go…place them somewhere else, or throw them away. Most waste collection companies require that old paint cans be brought to a special collection facility so as not to contaminate any landfills (yes, you actually can contaminate a landfill!).

After I removed the paint cans, I started on our closets. Being an amateur landscaper, I found that I had accumulated dozens of pesticides and fertilizers. After checking online, I was surprised to find that several of the pesticides I had purchased years ago, were now listed by the government as a “toxin” (not just to pests) and were no longer being sold. These had to go…but where? Again, you can’t just throw these in with your regular garbage. Like paint, this is considered hazardous material, so these will go to the special collection facility. The fertilizers I had were OK, but it’s preferable if you use a good time-release fertilizer, to lower the impact on underground aquifers. I’ll talk more about this when we talk about landscaping in future articles.

Car stuff. I love a clean shiny car. And I have all sorts of cleaners, polishes and waxes. Most of them are not “green”, but it’s just not economically feasible for me to simply trash them and go out and buy all new green products. Besides, disposing of all these at once adds to an already overtaxed waste stream. So I will transition towards sustainability in this area by using up what I have, and replacing them with newer green products.

Last, as I live in hurricane-prone region, I keep a generator ready to go should we lose power for an extended amount of time. The generator uses about 5-6 gallons of gasoline per day, so to be ready, we need to store at least 25 gallons. I’ve never been happy with storing gasoline, but until there is an economical clean power source (alternative generators are just starting to appear on the shelves…but not so economical), we have to deal with storing this fuel in a safe manner. This means approved containers and making sure each container has a tight seal and is far removed from any electrical source.

Well, that really wasn’t so bad! Next issue, we’ll go out and see how we can green up the yard. Until then, think Green!

Keith Winn is the COO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Keith at kwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .