Safely remove unwanted chemicals with Detox Your Home

Highly toxic items, such as chemicals, should never be put in your rubbish bins, poured down the drain, or left out on the nature strip during hard rubbish collections. Not only is there a risk they could explode, ignite or leak but pouring them down the drain will pollute the environment, harm animals and vegetation, contaminate our water supply and make rivers and beaches unsafe for swimming. So, what should you do with them? 

Detox Your Home is an initiative organised by Sustainability Victoria that allows you to drop off unwanted household chemicals, free of charge. They run around 40 pop-up events around Victoria each year in partnership with local councils.

Since 1994 the Detox Your Home program has collected and safely managed over 17,000 tonnes of hazardous household chemicals.

You can register to attend any event outside your local area and there’s no limit on the number of events you can attend throughout the year. 

Detox Your Home accepts items such as:  

• Pesticides and Herbicides 

• Cleaning products 

• Cosmetics  

• Fire extinguishers  

• Pool chemicals  

• Fuels

See: Items accepted at Detox Your Home events | Sustainability Victoria  

Once dropped off, all chemicals are immediately sorted by qualified chemists. They are then placed in sealed drums and transported to a specialist waste treatment facility. Every effort is made to recycle chemicals or use them for other purposes, with some chemicals used to create energy. As a last resort, a small amount of chemicals will be stored in secure landfills in accordance with the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria’s requirements. 

If you're unable to immediately dispose of household chemicals, it’s critical that you safely store them until you can.  

Sustainability Victoria advises to:  

• Store chemicals out of reach of children and animals. If possible, either in a locked cupboard or storage unit 

• Keep chemicals out of direct sunlight and away from sources of heat, sparks, flame or ignition 

• Do not store chemicals near food storage areas 

• Check labels for correct storage advice as some chemicals must not be stored together. For example, keep corrosive chemicals, such as battery acid, away from poisons  

• Keep liquid chemicals away from (or stored below) dry chemicals if possible 

• Keep oxidising agents, such as peroxide, away from all other materials. 

Chemicals should always be stored in their original containers, and tightly closed. If a container is damaged or leaking, place it inside a larger, empty container with a tightly fitting lid and label the outer container with contents. If you don’t know the chemical, label it as ‘unknown’. Don’t store chemicals in containers resembling food or drink packaging. 

Some pool chemicals can also be particularly dangerous when stored incorrectly. In fact, oxidisers and corrosives which are two major groups of swimming pool chemicals, are highly reactive and need particular care. It’s suggested by Sustainability Victoria to follow the advice of Safe Work Australia in this instance. See Storage of swimming pool chemicals | Safe Work Australia.

Evidence collected over the course of the program has also found that most households will tend to stockpile hazardous materials over 5 years or more.  

Participants from the Detox Your Home Program have also commented on the length of time they've stored chemicals including:  

• “Spirits of salts – for 32 years from the build of our first house”  

• “A large container of something that concreters left behind. We had it for 29 years!”  

• “We bought this house 8 years ago and these items were already in the shed. I only discovered them when I did a big clean out during the latest lockdown.” 

To find upcoming dates for Detox Your Home events you can refer to:  

Dispose of household chemicals (Detox Your Home) | Sustainability Victoria