Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 3, 1993 TAG: 9312030029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Another Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is in the works for spring.
You may remember the first one, in April 1991. You may have been one of the people who scoured your garage for old paint cans, reached into the recesses under your bathroom sink for that bottle of toilet bowl cleaner.
You may have packed it all up into your car, patting yourself on the back for doing the environmentally responsible thing with these household chemicals.
And then you may have waited in line in your car at the collection point that clear Saturday afternoon. Only to be turned away.
"We were very happy we had such a good turnout. We were extremely sorry we had to turn anyone away," said Salem Fire Chief Dan Hall, who helped coordinate the event.
"I would imagine a lot of it would have ended up in the regular trash," he said, and then in the landfill, which isn't designed to handle hazardous waste.
This time around, the planners have almost doubled their budget, expanded the hours for collection, and aim to turn no one away.
The Roanoke Valley Resource Authority has allocated $150,000 for the one-day event, scheduled for May 7 at the Salem Stadium parking lot. The exact time has not been set.
The Clean Valley Council is helping organize and publicize the event. Roanoke, Roanoke County, Vinton and Salem also are helping to plan the event, as is the Junior League of the Roanoke Valley, which held the 1991 collection.
On Thursday, they reviewed proposals from various environmental contractors to transport, store and dispose of the waste.
Many cleaning products, kerosene, photo chemicals, batteries, garden herbicides, roach sprays and other household items - things that can be bought at the grocery store and hardware store - contain toxic compounds harmful to the environment and human health.
But you don't have to have a permit to buy or use them, and most people pour leftovers down the drain or out in the driveway or toss them in the trash.
Clean Valley Director Ellen Aiken said 32,000 pounds were collected last time, "which was more than anticipated." The group's research had showed that other communities, in holding their first household hazardous-waste collection, get an average of 30 pounds of waste per car.
Roanoke Valley residents hauled in an average of 93 pounds of gunk per car. That's probably because folks got together with their neighbors and combined loads, Aiken surmised.
Much of it went to a hazardous-waste incinerator in South Carolina and a chemical landfill in New York. Antifreeze and motor oils were recycled.
The May collection day will help raise awareness about these household poisons, as well as properly dispose of those still lurking in the corners of Roanoke Valley homes and garages.
But, said Hall, "A yearly household hazardous-waste collection is not the answer. It needs to be an ongoing thing."
John Hubbard, chief executive officer of the Resource Authority, said there is talk of setting up a permanent collection site for the bad stuff, which could be cheaper and more efficient in the long run.
Clean Valley Council will be disseminating more information about the program as the day draws near. In the meantime, you might want to start setting aside those bottles and containers that read "CAUTION" and wait until May 7.
by CNB