October 10, 2007

Do you have any kind of household products, such as paints, cleansers, solvents, antifreeze, batteries, used motor oils or electronics that you know can be dangerous to the environment but you want to get rid of? Hang on to them for a few more weeks until the City of Hickory and Catawba County provide you with a free opportunity to dispose of them safely.

The second one-day household hazardous waste collection for 2007 will be held at L.P. Frans Stadium, home of the Hickory Crawdads, at 2500 Clement Boulevard off Highway 321 in north Hickory, on Saturday, November 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All types of electronic products will also be accepted for proper disposal.

Organizers of the collection say this is a very important event, because these are products which should not just be thrown away as one might throw out other garbage. These substances are hazardous and must not be poured out on the ground, thrown in with other trash or buried because they could easily contaminate ground water.

“The County has contracted with Ecoflo, Inc. of Greensboro to again handle the collection of household hazardous waste, and we will also collect electronic equipment on November 3,” said Amanda Kain, Catawba County’s Waste Reduction Coordinator. “The contractors will be in the parking lot of the LP Frans Stadium to collect a variety of household hazardous wastes that day. Categories which we will accept include: household cleaners, including drain openers, toilet bowl cleaners, oven cleaners, disinfectants and pine cleaners; paint products, such as latex and oil based paints, solvents, thinners, shellacs, varnishes, wood preservatives and sealers; automotive products including lead acid batteries, used motor oil, antifreeze, brake fluid and auto starter fluid; pesticides and insecticides including poisons, aerosols, and weed killers; and miscellaneous materials such as acids, bases, kerosene, household batteries, photographic chemicals, pool chemicals, gas cylinders and metallic mercury.”

The organizers of the collection have again contracted to accept a wide range of computer-related and other electronic materials for proper disposal. These include cell phones, old television sets, computer monitors, laptops, floppy drives, hard drives, ink/toner cartridges, modems, answering machines, CD players, tape players, calculators, copiers, duplicators, electronic typewriters, pagers, remote controls, scanners, stereos, radios, cable and wire, and VCRs.

Certain kinds of particularly hazardous wastes, which must be disposed of in special ways, will not be accepted at the November 3 collection. These include: radioactive wastes; biologically active or infectious wastes; unknown gases or chemicals; dioxin related waste and explosives. Tires also will not be accepted at this event.

Ecoflo will have procedures in place to make sure the waste is properly disposed. Waste collected from citizens who come to L.P. Frans Stadium on November 3 will be placed in a designated area for further identification and separated into different hazard classes. Most of the waste products will be safely consolidated or loose packed at the site to reduce costs. Paints, automotive fluids, solvents, cleaners and paint-related products with a low solids content will also be consolidated on-site, then packaged in the largest practical container in compliance with all regulations and facility requirements. Packaged waste products will be placed in another staging area for inventory and final inspection. Bulk liquids, loose packs and aerosols will be packaged in separate boxes, drums or pails, as needed.

Catawba County is sponsoring the event along with the City of Hickory. Garbage Disposal Service, Inc., the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Catawba County Cooperative Extension Service and Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina are co-sponsors.

For more information on this one-day collection, you may contact the Catawba County Department of Utilities and Engineering at 828-465-8217 or the City of Hickory's Solid Waste Division at 828-323-7500.