Good to test old pieces for lead
I was so excited when I found an old chinois that had very tiny holes to strain out raspberry seeds and such. I had been looking for one for a while. The piece was very heavy tin/metal with its wooden pestle but missing the stand. It looked like it might be either a turn of the century piece or early 1900's. For $2, I couldn't go wrong-or so I thought. I tested it for lead with a home testing kit and the test was reactive for a high amount of lead-the brighter the purple color on the indicator, the more lead! The indicator was a bright purple! Into the trash it went. I didn't need my gooseberry jam to be lead lined. I am so disappointed.
Antique pieces can be sturdy and well used but can be lead-laden. Home test kits are available at most hardware stores and are very easy to use. Lesson learned.
should be taken to a recycle center (hazardous waste.) I know mine has a special barrel for lead.
I just checked our community recycling site as a result of your question so thank you for raising it. We do recycle here and we do have hazardous waste disposal for electronics, lead acid batteries and such but this kind of item goes into the garbage, apparently. Perhaps it is too small an amount of lead for special handling?? Just guessing.
Be aware that lead testing swabs found at your local hardware etc. are made strictly for testing paint. For more information on this try this link:http://leadsafeamerica.org/leadcheck/ There is a great deal of misinformation about testing cookware with these swabs, so I hope this helps.