How Do You Dispose of a Smoke Detector?

The EPA says ionization smoke detectors use a small amount of radioactive material, americium-241, to detect smoke, and that there are no special disposal instructions for them. It says they may be thrown away with household garbage, or your community may have a separate recycling program. On its americium page, the EPA says to follow manufacturer instructions or check with your local fire department for instructions when disposing of a smoke detector.

The NRC says most units sold today use one microcurie or less of americium-241, and that a 2001 NRC study found people with two of these units in their homes receive less than 0.002 millirems of radiation dose each year. It says a 1979 analysis of the dose from normal use and disposal of these detectors, using conservative assumptions that overstate the risk, found that 10 million unwanted smoke detectors each year can be safely put in the trash.

Do not take one apart. The NRC says the radioactive foil is sealed inside the ionization chamber, that the seal can only be broken by the deliberate use of force, such as taking a hammer to the smoke detector, and that it discourages this kind of intentional destruction. The EPA says there is no health risk from americium in smoke detectors as long as the detector is not tampered with and is used as directed. NIST describes the other commonly used detection technology, photoelectric, as working by detecting light reflected off particles from a light beam inside the sensing chamber.