Daily Living
What household product may work by deadening your nasal nerve endings so you can not smell?
Air fresheners.
Define "toxic."
A substance that can cause injury, illness, or death.
You helped change the motor oil in the family car. What should you do with the used motor oil?
Recycle it by taking it to your nearest collection point for used oil, such as an automotive center or fire hall.
You painted your room using latex paint. What solvent will you use to clean your brushes and you?
Water
How can improper disposal of household hazardous wastes into a storn sewer disrupt the food chain of an aquatic environment such as a river?
The wastes could kill the primary producers (such as phytoplankton) leaving the food chain without a base.
Name two hazardous products often found in our homes.
Accept all reasonable answers.
Name three ways toxic substances can enter your body.
Inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, and skin absorption.
To where do storn sewers in Calgary lead?
BOW RIVER and ELBOW RIVER
Name two common kitchen products that can be used in safe household cleaners.
Includes baking soda, salt, vinegar, cream of tartar, club soda, lemon juice.
Define bioaccumulation.
The concentration of a particular substance in the bodies of organisms, increasing with the animal's level in the food chain.
How are the solvents used in household products different from industrial and commercial solvents?
There are no differences.
What would happen if you touched a hazardous product that is corrosive or caustic?
It would burn and destroy your skin where contacted.
Where does hazardous waste go when it is placed in the trash?
Trash collectors take it to the landfill
What safe bathroom product can be used to clean and polish gold?
Toothpaste
Why do small children and animals taste and drink antifreeze, even though it is extremely poisonous?
Because it has a sweet taste and attractive color.
Why should you always be sure that the door to a house with an attached garage is closed and the garage door open when the car is running?
To avoid breathing poisonous carbon monoxide fumes from the car exhaust.
While you are babysitting, the child swallows a toxic substance. What should you do?
Call the 911 or Poison Center, the local emergency room, or trauma center.
Where do wastes and water go when flushed into the sanitary system?
To the local wastewater treatment facility. Hair and other solids get taken to the landfill.
You borrowed your sister's blouse and spilled chocolate ice cream on it. What kitchen product can remove the stain safely?
Club soda (soak before washing).
Toxic substances spilled on the ground trickle down into an aquifer.
What is an aquifer?
An underground, geological formation in which the cracks in rocks, sand, or gravel are filled with water.
Why should aerosol spray cans be stored away from heat or flame sources?
They can explode when exposed to high temperatures.
What do the "active" ingredients in pesticides such as OFF do?
They repel or kill a pest.
What can happen when hazardous waste is placed in the landfill?
Any liquids, heavy metals, and water-soluble chemicals may be carried as leachate into the groundwater and surface water, thereby contaminating them.
Name two advantages of using safer alternatives.
Accept all reasonable answers.
Every year Calgary households produce approximately how many pounds of hazardous waste?
100 million pounds