My mother (who always did the decorating in our house) stopped using gloss paints, varnishes and others with high VOCs years ago as the fumes affected our asthma badly. So in decorating my house, I don't use them. It's easier sticking with water-based acrylics as you don't need to use white spirit or anything to clean the brushes, either.
The thing I found shocking is, in Darlington anyway - I went to B&Q to ask where to dispose of waste paint. They didn't know! I went to the local waste tip, who also didn't know! (pretty worrying) Neither did a local decorator (very worrying) and the council just told me to ask the waste tip. (seriously worrying that they didn't know) So instead of all that hassle, most people will stupidly just pour it down the drain or chuck it in the tip. (I've hung onto mine, I have a garage full of paint! I've used most of it in redecorating my mother's house)
Instead of varnishing the wood in my house I've used a natural wax polish, beeswax and lavender I think, which has given it a lovely natural finish and not aggravated my asthma or my kittens' noses!
There should be easily accessed paint disposal sites available at the local tip AND preferably beside DIY stores. Also there should be more visible warnings posted on all gloss and high-VOC paint sections in stores and on the packaging itself. At the moment they're labelled, but like AdamW says, it's easily missed and people often don't realise til they're using the stuff.
