As detailed in the book Getting To Zero Waste, definitions are a potent weapon for controlling public thinking. When it comes to anything which might have any kind of toxicity, defining a product as Hazardous Waste controls the way in which it must be treated while giving the reassuring and convenient impression that all that is intended is public safety. The term “Hazardous Waste” when applied to a product, means “dangerous garbage”, thus implying that:

1. Nothing useful is possible or intended (because it is garbage), and;
2. The proper attitude is fear (because it is dangerous).

This simple characterization thus excludes the possibility that:

1. This product is actually useful. That there are people who value and understand this product who are quite capable of putting it to good use.
2. That the product should not be contaminated or mixed with other garbage but should be kept clean and secured (because all garbage is equal – mixing it together just means mixing something with itself);.
3. That the history which caused this product to be called hazardous waste could be faulty, and should not be applied to the next batch or instance of this product (since reuse is a higher goal than creating garbage);
4. That the proper attitude, instead of fear, would be respect for a significant value; and lastly;
5. That the proper way to manage this product is to take advice from, or place it in the hands of someone with advanced theoretical and practical training in using it, before it ever became a waste.