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Lucky for Lakes area residents, the Dickinson County Conversation Board's Landfill Commission serves as a drop-off site for hazardous materials. Recently, John Walters, executive director of the DCCB, shared some tips and offered answers to frequently asked hazardous waste disposal queries.
Read the fine print
To better navigate the rules of safe disposal, Walters recommends first checking container labels.
"Every caustic or hazardous item on its container should have a warning word; whether it be 'caution,' 'warning,' 'danger' -- that's what people need to look for," Walters said. "If you're looking on a label and you see 'flammable,' (or) anything that (is) petroleum-based; that needs to be brought into us."
While it is often better to be safe than sorry with hazardous waste queries, Walters offers some tips to make safe disposal judgment calls, a way to avoid overloading the DCCB with waste that is already landfill-ready.
"We have a lot of materials that really can go right down the drain," he said. "What it comes down to is if you end up with a water-based product; which, a lot of your cleaners are; that can go right down the drain."
Painting an eco-friendly picture
While some materials may be safe for in-house disposal, Walters points to one common item that is not safe to throw away at your abode: latex paint.
While it may be tempting to toss the half-empty can into the trash, Walters knows all too well the headaches this causes for city maintenance crews.
"(If you) try to throw that in with your regular garbage, the garbage man gets upset because when he compacts the garbage, all the paint runs out on the road," he said.
The problems with improper latex paint disposal expand past the trash compactor.
"Your next concern is the landfill because basically you've got a liquid material laying there that could be a potential pollutant to our groundwater," Walters said.
What Walters and his coworkers do is complete the process, making latex paint landfill-ready.
"Somehow it's got to be dried," Walters said. "If you don't want to dry it out yourself, you can bring it down to us and we'll dry it out for you."
Going, going gone: Disposing of batteries
When it comes to disposing of batteries, the rules have changed, according to Walters.
"The new batteries have been configured so they're not hazardous anymore," Walters said. "Those can go straight into your garbage; (but) you've got to make sure they're alkaline and they're not your Nicads or your rechargeables."
Disposal methods used by conservation board
The DCCB serves as a hazardous waste middleman, collecting materials for pick up by Clean Harbor, a hazardous hauler based out of Massachusetts.
After Clean Harbor collects the materials, the disposal methods are up to the company; however, Walters has a guess at common disposal methods.
"A lot of this material is burnt," Walters said. if there's any BTU value in it, it's going to be incinerated somewhere and usually its being done as a fuel additive to actually help keep their costs down."
Collection hours/times
Those wishing to dispose of materials at the DCCB's site need to fill out a self-inventory form, available online, before they can deliver their materials.
"They're basically showing us what they want to bring in for disposal, quantities of that, and then we review, and we set up a time for them to bring it in," Walters said.
Currently, the DCCB Landfill Commission is operating under their winter hours, and will accept materials on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. and the first and third Saturdays of the month from 9 a.m. -1 p.m.
Summer hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. While Walters and his crew don't yet know what date the operation hours will transfer, he did offer up one common go-to date for the switch.
"Tax day is a pretty good day," he said. "Somewhere in or around April 15."