Which choice is better for the environment (old laundry detergent)? (recycling, fertilize)

[KittenSparkles]

I have a few old bottles that are half-filled with various laundry detergents. These are all many years old and unusable. I'm trying to decide which is the best choice for the environment -

1. dump the stuff down the drain, rinse the plastic bottles, and toss those in recycling

or

2. Dump the bottles, with the liquid inside, in the trash where it will sit in the landfill

Which choice is less bad, do you think?

[arcleo]

1 is probably the best option. The laundry detergent would be treated by sewage treatment systems, so it does not harm the environment.

[guidoLaMoto]

A couple points:


Phosphates were formerly used in soaps & detergents to chelate Ca & Mg. The phosphates are not removed in sewage treatment, so they made their way to natural bodies of water where they fertilized algal blooms. The blooms, in turn, sped along eutrophication (increased plant death and slowed rate of decomposition; hypoxia) of the waters, which in turn killed fish, etc.


Starting in the '70s, some states prohibited the inclusion of phosphates in detergent, and the Feds outlawed it completely in 1994.


So, to answer the question in the OP, unless your stuff is more than 24 y/o, it doesn't make any difference what you do with it.

[KaraG]

Why would they be unusable? Why would anyone save these instead of finishing them?

I'm a plumber's daughter and pretty sure Dad wouldn't want me pouring concentrated detergent down a household drain.

Can't you use them to do loads of towels?

[guidoLaMoto]

Originally Posted by KaraG

Why would they be unusable? Why would anyone save these instead of finishing them?

?

Being an inveterate re-cycler & re-purposer (not to mention, cheap), that thought crossed my mind, too. Apparently clumping &/or separating of components may make them inefficient after 6-12 months.
https://www.thespruce.com/does-laund...expire-2146697

[KittenSparkles]

These two detergent bottles are over 10 years old. Due to allergies, I had to switch to different detergent. I just never wanted to throw them out, and so here they are... ten years later.. and I'm posting on CD trying to figure out what to do with them.

[JONOV]

Does your county have a chemical disposal site? Mine does, where you can turn in old paint and other household chemicals.

[Diana Holbrook]

Give them to someone who will use them.

Dumping is wasteful.

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by KittenSparkles

I have a few old bottles that are half-filled with various laundry detergents. These are all many years old and unusable. I'm trying to decide which is the best choice for the environment -

1. dump the stuff down the drain, rinse the plastic bottles, and toss those in recycling

or

2. Dump the bottles, with the liquid inside, in the trash where it will sit in the landfill

Which choice is less bad, do you think?

Step 1: Donate to homeless shelter

Step 2: Relax

[turkeydance]

'Which choice is less bad, do you think?"

3 things:
1. dilute the remains by 80%.
2. most are too powerful, anyway.
3. suds equal sales.