Beware! These 4 Things Are Surprisingly Illegal to Throw Out in Maine

It’s funny, when you move to Maine you get surprised by a lot of things that this state finds illegal.

It’s legal to walk around topless, according to sunjournal.com, but it’s not legal to throw away a few of your everyday things you’d never think twice about.

Really? Who else didn’t know about some of these things?

Thankfully, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection breaks down “how you can safely handle and recycle or dispose of common household hazardous wastes.” And in doing so they highlight items that you just can’t throw away like any old trash.

What are the most shocking items that are illegal to throw out in Maine?

1. Cell phones
If you’re like me, and you’ve saved every single cell phone you’ve had since middle school in a drawer for no reason, ignore this.

However, for those of you that aren’t a “hold onto your past for no reason” kind of human like me, an old cell phone battery is actually very dangerous.

Time Magazine highlights that technology like cell phones has toxic stuff like “arsenic, lead, and cadmium.” That could potentially leak into the landfill. Not good.

2. Thermostats
Yup! You can’t just put your old thermostat in the trash when you’re moving out or onto a new one. That’s because they actually hold mercury paste and leaded glass, which I had to Google.

Thanks to cbsnews.com, I now know these elements can be extremely toxic to humans and the environment.

3. Old Paint
Do you really have a basement if you don’t have old paint cans you’ll never use again piling up in the back storage room?

Well, since we are one of the states that believe in recycling and reusing things, Maine offers a program where you can drop off your old paint cans at a paint retailer, which will recycle the oil & latex-based ones.

Lowe’s mentions how hazardous and dangerous it can be to just throw paint away. Check out their site for a few helpful tips on how to get rid of paint.

4. Antifreeze 

We all use it in our cars, and me, in my Jeep, of course. It only makes sense, especially with how cold it gets in Maine. But nope, don’t just throw that away.

Sidenote: Did you know that old antifreeze is readily processed into clean antifreeze? This girl just found out from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s website. Were you surprised?

You can get the full list of items you can’t throw away over at Maine.gov if you want to know more.

Have you been accidentally throwing away some of these items?