Issue No. 14 — Spring 2026
We started this blog after watching too many friends pay $400 to a "junk removal" service for a job the City of Chicago would have done for free. Here is what we have learned since.
The basics: what counts, what doesn't, where it goes, and what it costs.
Latex, oil-based, stains, thinners, and the stuff at the back of every basement.
Tritium, photoluminescent, electric — and which of them you can just recycle.
Why ionization detectors aren't trash, and what to do with the old ones.
Small sources from medical, industrial, and consumer devices — handled correctly.
Undeployed airbags are explosives, not scrap. The rules apply everywhere.