Toxic materials in our homes can create health problems, especially for children and pets. Reduce the number of hazardous products in your home by choosing safer options to protect those you love. Thurston County’s Public Health and Social Services Department provides residents with helpful online resources like the Healthy Homes and Yards webpages. They describe how to reduce exposure to household hazardous products; how to safely store and dispose of items like household cleaners, pest and weed killers, automotive products, and hobby chemicals; and how to create a healthier home and yard for kids, pets, and our community.
Education and Outreach Specialists Jennifer Johnson, Kiley Graber, and Jessica Goulet educate the public on ways to create healthier homes and yards to protect our families, rivers, streams, and drinking water from hazardous products. They offer presentations for groups of 10 or more people and remind us that it’s important to keep toxics away from our bodies, water, air, and land to keep ourselves and families safe.
Simple Ways to Reduce Exposure to Household Hazardous Products
Choose the safest product:
- Look for signal words to understand the hazard level.
- Choose the safest product for the job.
- Look for the EPA Safer Choice or Green Seal labels whenever possible.
- Only buy the amount of product you need to minimize the number of hazardous products in the home.
- Store household hazardous products safely.
- Read and follow label directions for how to use the product. The label is the law.
- Dispose of household hazardous products safely.
Kids and Pets are More Vulnerable to Toxic Products
Picture this: you just finished scrubbing the counters with baking soda and vinegar when you see your three-year-old licking the countertops you just cleaned. That happened to one of the educators, who was thankful she did not need to worry because she was scrubbing that counter with baking soda and vinegar! See safer cleaning recipes.
Kids and pets are more vulnerable to toxics. Exposure to toxics can worsen asthma symptoms, increase the risk of cancer, interfere with brain development, and lead to behavioral problems.
“One of the biggest concerns is that children have smaller bodies, so the hazards they are exposed to are more concentrated,” the educators explain. “Exposure to toxics can have a significant impact on children’s developing brains, hormones, and bones. Kids and pets are more vulnerable to toxics because they are closer to the ground where pest and weed killers are applied, and where heavy metals fall and collect. Their daily behaviors like playing on the ground and putting everything in their mouths increase their exposure to toxics like cleaning products, air fresheners, and weed killers that can collect in house dust.”
Choosing safer options for household chores helps protect everyone in our community, including our lakes, rivers, streams, and Puget Sound. These products can impact our entire community when they get into our wastewater. When hazardous products are flushed into our septic systems, they can get into our groundwater, our source of safe drinking water. Hazardous products can also get into Puget Sound through wastewater disposal.
Identifying Common Household Hazards and Choosing Safer Alternatives for a Healthy Home
Johnson, Graber, and Goulet add that carefully reading labels is the only way to know if a product is hazardous. Signal words “poison,” “danger,” “warning,” or “caution” on the label inform you of the product’s hazard level. “Poison” and “danger” mean the product is very harmful to human health, and “warning” and “caution” mean the product is moderately toxic.
Labels without signal words are considered the least hazardous, or they might be mislabeled. The educators say to read the precautionary statements on the back label to determine if the product is hazardous and to always follow the label directions for safe use, storage, and disposal.
Other ways to create a healthier home include:
- Make your own inexpensive cleaners using vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap.
- Open windows daily to bring fresh air in and dirty air out instead of using air fresheners.
- Vacuum with a HEPA filter and dust with a damp cloth to reduce toxics in household dust.
- Use vent fans during and for at least 30 minutes after bathing and cooking to reduce moisture and prevent mold growth.
- Take shoes off at the door to avoid tracking in toxics that can come in on shoes and collect in house dust.
Safe Storage of Household Hazardous Products
Johnson, Graber, and Goulet remind residents to always read the product label and follow the instructions for safe storage. Make sure to keep products in their original containers with their original labels so all the important safety information remains with the product. Store products upright in a second, leakproof container (like a plastic tub) with a lid that is difficult for children to get into and is out of reach of children and pets, like in a locked cabinet.
Safe Disposal of Household Hazardous Materials at HazoHouse, and Other Thurston County Resources
Never dispose of household hazardous products in the trash, sink, drain, toilet, storm drains, or onto the ground. Since the 1990s, Thurston County has offered residents free hazardous waste collection at HazoHouse, at 2420 Hogum Bay Road NE, Lacey. Residents can drop off expired or unwanted products with the signal words “poison,” “danger,” “caution,” or “warning,” if the container still has product inside (not empty containers). Businesses must register and make an appointment (fees apply). Their website has a list of accepted and non-accepted materials, hours, and other details.
To learn more, see the Thurston County Household Hazardous Products webpage. Sign up for their free Thurston Home and Garden e-newsletter subscription. For more information, contact the Healthy Homes and Yards team at 360.867.2674, healthyhomes@co.thurston.wa.us, invite them to speak to your group or organization, and find them at one of these spring events:
- Create a Healthier Home Workshop, March 24, 2026
- Bob’s Kids Fishing Day and Family Fun Fair, May 9, 2026
- Prairie Appreciation Day, May 9, 2026
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