Hazardous waste lurks in your garage, closets

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

By Melanie Stein

We’ve all got it stored in some dark corner in our basement – oil-based paints, batteries, motor oil. We want to get rid of it, but we have a sneaking suspicion, or know outright, that we can’t just dump them in the trash and let it end up in a landfill.
That’s exactly why we have the Jackson/Teton County Hazardous Waste Collection Facility. But what do we need to bring there and what happens to the household hazardous wastes after we relinquish them?

Located south of town on Adams Canyon Road, the hazardous waste facility is attached to the Jackson Community Recycling facility and is open for collection by appointment only on the first and third Tuesday of the month from April through November.

The facility has been in operation since 1999 and accepts general household waste and waste from businesses that generate only small quantities of hazardous waste.

Generally, the facility accepts flammables (solvent-based glues, for example, or auto paint and primers), poisons, oil-based paints, pesticides, herbicides, reactives (bleach-based cleaners), oxidizers, corrosives (pool or photographic chemicals), light bulbs and electronic waste.

“Electronic waste isn’t technically hazardous waste,” said Heather Overholser, executive director of Jackson Community Recycling. But several years ago, the county banned electronic waste – monitors, CPUs, televisions, laptops – and fluorescent bulbs from the trash transfer station.

Therefore the hazardous waste facility began accepting them.

“The list of what we take doesn’t really change,” Overholser said. “Most labels will explain what to do. We recommend that people get in the habit of reading labels, even household cleaning products. … Nail polish, shoe polish, things people use all the time. If you have some left over, you should dispose of it properly.”

Overholser and Caroline Meyer, operations and finance director for JCR, also recommend buying only the quantity you actually intend to use of stuff like paint, cleaners and pesticides. If you buy more, you’ll have to make a trip down south during the summer months.

“People call to make appointments. We don’t just let people show up,” Overholser said. “When they call, we get all the information about what they’re bringing in.”

At this point, the facility’s staff tells residents whether their products are accepted at the facility or if the waste is non-toxic and can be disposed of in the trash. One common misconception is that you must dispose of batteries responsibly. In fact, alkaline batteries are safe to go in the trash because they no longer contain mercury, Overholser said. Other items, like latex and water-based paint, can be dealt with on your own.
“Let them dry out. They’re non-toxic when dry,” she said. “You can mix cat litter in, or any absorbent. When it’s a dry solid, put it in the trash.”

When residents or commercial entities bring hazardous waste to the facility, men and women in full Hazmat suits greet them at the drive-through.

“All these hazardous materials can be ingested,” Meyer said. “They are inhalants, they come into contact with the skin. There are different ways they are toxic to the human body. We wear glasses when working with certain materials, or respirators. We get stuff that comes unlabeled and people don’t know what it is. It’ll be, ‘My grandfather passed away’ and they cleaned out 100 years of rusty, nasty stuff.”

To deal with these dangers, each employee in the facility have to obtain a HAZWHOPPER certification every year – training in safety measures and safe handling of materials.

At the facility, paint is stored in large barrels. Elsewhere, reactive, oxidizing and corrosive agents sit on shelves. When the facility fills up – three or four times a year – Clean Harbors Environmental Services comes and picks up the waste. The volume has increased dramatically since the facility opened. In fiscal year 2006, it collected 39,000 pounds of waste, excluding electronic waste.

There are fees associated with each particular type of hazardous waste, but Overholser said that they will never turn anyone away and she encourages residents to pay whatever they can.

 “A little bit of toxic material in our water or soil can cause very widespread contamination. It’s astounding,” Overholser said.

Overholser and Meyer encourage residents to call and inquire about hazardous waste. To schedule an appointment or learn more, call 733-7678.

Photo by Derek Diluzio
Lane Raper wears a Hazmat suit to handle hazardous waste at the county facility.


PERMALINK:
Hazardous waste lurks in your garage, closets | Planet JH News Article: General Environment

Leave a Comment