Household Hazardous Waste Day
Next Collection Event: TBA, 2012
The Hazardous Waste collection at the Fairgrounds will be to collect the following:
-- Household cleaners e.g. oven cleaners, wood and metal cleaners and polishers, toilet bowl cleaners, disinfectants, drain openers
-- Automotive products e.g. oil and fuel additives, grease and rust solvents, carburetor and fuel injector cleaners, air conditioning refrigerants, starter fluids, body putty, antifreeze/coolant, contaminated motor oil, gasoline
-- Home maintenance and improvement products e.g. paint thinners, paint strippers and removers, adhesives
-- Lawn and garden products e.g. herbicides, pesticides/rodenticides, fungicides, wood preservatives
-- Miscellaneous e.g. lithium and button batteries, fingernail polish remover, pool chemicals, photo processing chemicals, reactive material, aerosols/compressed gas, fluorescent bulbs and tubes
THE FOLLOWING WILL NOT BE COLLECTED:
Electronics
Paint
Ammunition, fireworks, explosives
Infectious and biological waste
Syringes
Radioactive waste
Unknown compressed gas cylinders
The State of Tennessee is encouraging counties to accept some semi-hazardous waste for proper disposal throughout the year instead of having only a statewide event once per year. The following items WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AT THE HAZARDOUS WASTE DAY and must be taken to the Putnam County Solid Waste Department, 1846 S. Jefferson Ave., Cookeville, TN six days a week (closed Sundays) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
BATTERIES - Rechargeable batteries, cell phones & wet cell (vehicle) batteries.
E-SCRAP - Electronics. Anything that plugs in is accepted.
VEHICLE WASTE - Anti-freeze can be recycled properly at the 1846 S. Jefferson Ave., Cookeville, TN Solid Waste Department.
USED MOTOR OIL and HYDRAULIC or TRANSMISSION OIL - Used oil can be collected and disposed of properly at any convenience center or the Putnam County Solid Waste Department except the landfill.
USED OR TAINTED GASOLINE - Call 931-498-6506, Protect Services, and make an appointment to bring in old gas. It costs 80¢ per gallon to dispose of the gas because of the cost involved in transporting and recycling. They will direct you to the right location to dispose of the gas.
PAINT - Small quantities of latex paint can be dried and put in your garbage for disposal in the landfill. Latex and oil base paint both can be recycled at 300 Dacco Quarry Road paint collection site. Their phone number is 528-9094 for questions about paint disposal. They only take paint on Tuesdays and Saturdays ONLY from 10:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
In addition, Lowe's recycles the following:
COMPACT FLUORESCENT BULBS - Recycling bin right inside the front door for compact fluorescent bulbs -- across from Customer Service Returns at Lowe's.
BATTERIES - Recycling containers for all kinds of batteries, right inside the front door across from Customer Service Returns at Lowe's.
The Cookeville-Putnam County Clean Commission is working to establish locations in the county to collect expired or unused medications. If you have medication you have been holding, please hold a little longer until we can get a location set up. Call us at any time with questions about your hazardous waste - 931/537-3278. Do not dump cleaners, or chemicals on the ground. Do not dump anything into storm drains or sewers. Thanks so much for holding onto your waste out of concern for the environment and all of our good health. We are working hard to keep hazardous waste out of our landfills.
What is household hazardous waste?
Hazardous waste is called "hazardous" because it is waste that can contaminate our landfills, filtering down into our groundwater releasing toxins into the atmosphere and introducing potentially cancer-causing elements into the food chain.
Anything found in the household that is a chemical compound and chemical wastes that have at least one ingredient that is environmentally harmful. Waste that can burn easily (flammable), corrode or irritate the skin (corrosive), generate heat or explode (reactive) and are poisonous to humans and animals (toxic) are potentially dangerous.
What to do with household hazardous waste while waiting for the upcoming event.
- Store waste out of reach of children or pets
- Try to keep all chemicals in original labeled containers for identification
Why is properly disposing of household hazardous waste important?
- Burning hazardous waste can add to the toxicity of air emissions
- Pouring waste down drains and septic systems can lead to the contamination of groundwater and interfere with the "good" bacteria in the septic tank
- Putting hazardous waste directly into your ordinary trash can be harmful to sanitation workers, can contain incompatible chemicals that can cause fires in garbage trucks or dumpsters
- Placing hazardous waste directly into landfills can produce toxic leachate
- Improper storage of waste in home can lead to a higher risk of accidental poisoning or injury.
What happens to the household hazardous waste once it is collected?
- Lead-acid batteries and mercury are recycled
- Paints, kerosene, motor oil, gasoline, solvents and other flammable or combustible liquids are blended to make a fuel for industrial kilns and boilers
- Liquids such as antifreeze and some oil based paints and cleaners are treated to make their hazardous parts immobile
- Most pesticides, herbicides, aerosol cans, cleaners, waxes and flammable materials (not suitable for fuel use) are burned in special high temperature incinerators equipped with monitoring instruments and air pollution control devices.
- Materials not suitable for other disposal methods will be placed in a secure chemical landfill. This is also used for residues produced by other treatment methods.
What can you do to reduce waste?
- Buy only the amount of a product that you need.
- Use all of the product according to the directions on the label.
- give leftover products to someone who can use them.
- Choose and use other safer products.
- Handle all products with care.
- Properly dispose of unwanted leftover products by bringing them to the household hazardous waste event.
