Old cleaning products classed as hazardous waste stay out of all three bins
Some old cleaning products are household hazardous waste. SF Environment says e-waste, hazardous waste and other toxic products do not belong in the recycling, compost or trash streams.2 A hazardous product the household wants gone leaves the home through the City's hazardous waste program instead.
| Items from the shelf | Where they go |
|---|---|
| Chemical sprays, liquids and powders, solvents, household batteries3 | City household hazardous waste program |
The longer bins guide covers what goes where in the three curbside streams.
Free home pickup is the City's first option for a resident
A San Francisco resident can request a free home pickup of household hazardous waste, by appointment, and must be present for it.1 The resident makes the request, not a cleaner. The products wait where they are until the appointment, in the bottles they came in.
The pickup is for the resident. A cleaning crew does not book or take it on a household's behalf.
Dropping off at the City's own facility
The City's Household Hazardous Waste Facility sits on Tunnel Avenue next to the public dump, takes drop-offs from residents and asks for proof of San Francisco residency.1 Driver's license or utility bill works for the ID, and the facility takes chemical sprays, liquids and powders, solvents, and household batteries.3
Hours change, so check the City's page1 before loading the car.
Keep leftovers in their original containers, and never mix them
Hazardous products stay in their original containers, and leftovers never mix, because incompatible products might react, ignite or explode.1 The rule covers both directions: no pouring from one bottle into another to save shelf space, and no combining two bottles because they are each a quarter full.
Bleach never meets ammonia, vinegar or any other acid, and it never meets another cleaner, even one that reads as mild. The never-mix rule is the one line to carry about hazardous products in the home.
A damaged container is a case the City addresses directly: if an item is leaking, contain it by placing it in a larger container.1
Why a cleaning crew does not take your old products
A cleaning visit is for cleaning. The City's program is set up for residents, and the resident is the one who requests the free pickup or brings the waste to the facility with proof of San Francisco residency. The crew does not haul the cabinet under the sink out with the trash, and the crew does not route a customer's chemicals to the City in the household's place.
A move-out cleaning is a point where the cabinet comes up, because the move is the moment to decide what travels. The move-out checklist covers that moment room by room.
For a household that wants to simplify the shelf going forward, the green cleaning page covers the City's own guidance.
A smaller cabinet to keep what you still use
Fewer bottles on the shelf means less to track and less to route to the City later. Which products a household keeps and which ones go to the City are decisions the household makes; a cleaning visit works with what is on the shelf. Say which products you want used or avoided when you call.
A recurring cleaning is easier when the shelf has already been thinned, because fewer bottles are in play and the household knows which ones it wants used.
What to say when you call about a cleaning and a cabinet
Say what you want handled in the cleaning and what the household plans to do with the cabinet under the sink, and the visit lines up with the hazardous waste side kept separate.
- Which bottles the household wants kept on the shelf.
- Whether the household has already requested the City's pickup or plans to use the facility, and roughly when either is set to happen.
- Which products the household wants used on the clean, and which ones to avoid, including anything used for a specific surface in the home.
- Any damaged or leaking container the household has set aside for the City, and where it is sitting in the home.
- Scent preferences, or an ingredient a person in the home reacts to.
- A spot in the home where several products have accumulated that the household is thinking of thinning out, so the plan can respect what still has a use.
What the cleaning does not do is choose for the household which products are keeping their place on the shelf. That choice stays with the people living with the shelf.