Universal Waste (UW) describes specific wastes that are generated by businesses as well as unregulated households. The types of waste regulated under the Universal Waste Rule (UWR) include unused pesticides, mercury-containing thermostats, fluorescent light bulbs, and spent batteries. Our goal is to reduce the quantity of these wastes going to landfills or combustors and instead treat or recycle the waste pursuant to federal regulations (40 CFR Part 273).

Tradebe manages Universal Waste according to all Federal and State regulations

Universal Waste

The Universal Waste (UW) category includes batteries, such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and small sealed lead-acid batteries which are found in many common items in home and business settings including electronic equipment, mobile telephones, portable computers etc. Additionally, mercury-containing products such as thermostats, are also considered UW. Thermostats can contain as much as 3 grams of liquid mercury and are commonly found in most any building. TRADEBE Treatment and Recycling LLC accepts these and other Universal Wastes at each of its locations.

Lead acid, lithium, nickel cadmium batteries, mercury batteries, magnesium, and silver oxide batteries are ok to be shipped in as universal waste as long as they are not leaking, and are marked accordingly with the words Universal Waste. When shipping these kinds of batteries, the proper shipping name must be used followed by the words UNIVERSAL WASTE, on the label, and on the manifest. For more information on shipping batteries, go to our Battery Packing Guidelines .