As a reminder, your last chance to take your Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) for 2024 is Saturday, November 16, from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, rain or shine, at 220 Leisure Lane, Dallas Park, Dallas.
This event is for domestic use only. What qualifies as “residential use”: A DIY project or from your own personal home. We do not accept commercial waste. Why is that? Entrepreneurs live here and should have access, they believe. But it’s not that easy. We’re not allowed to take the quantities that companies produce, so the bottom line is that it’s just not worth losing money if we get fined for taking a “small amount of supplier waste ”. lie to the people with the proper permits. When someone stops at the event and is from a business, they take up space in line and are turned away. If you are a house cleaner or lawn care company, you must include the “disposal costs” for any leftover waste that is specific to a particular project or the cost of doing business. I encourage you to consult the “Business Recycling” page on the Solid Waste Gaston County page to review resources for properly disposing of hazardous waste generated by your business.
Why is it important for real homeowners or renters to dispose of this hazardous waste in the right place? For starters, we don’t want liquids going to landfills, and we don’t want them contaminating our water systems. So while water-based paint is non-toxic, we don’t want gallons and gallons of it sloshing around in trash cans. or garbage trucks, dumping down storm drains or ultimately having to remove wastewater from your sewer lines. It makes a mess for someone to clean up and there is no need to burden other people when there is simply no need to. If you only have a little left in a can, you can leave the lid open and let it dry, or add some kitty litter to it and it will harden. Dried paint or empty paint cans can go straight into the regular trash can. But if you have too much in a can, just bring it to us. We will take all the paint with us on Saturday. Includes leftover spray paint in aerosol cans (anything that comes in a spray can, such as leftover sunscreen, bug spray, hairspray). If it’s liquid, it doesn’t belong in the trash. If you inherited or used oil-based paint (the kind you clean with turpentine), then it really needs to come to an event like this next Saturday for proper disposal. It is flammable or combustible, which is a landfill hazard.
Furthermore, in view of causing fire, lithium batteries should never be placed in the trash. Did you know that most small flashing light toys contain small lithium-ion button batteries? Many children’s toys have button batteries, so before you throw them away, save the batteries and put them in a plastic bag or a plastic jar (a cleaned peanut butter jar makes a great collection area). Rechargeable batteries can be found in many items today. They often have USB cables to charge the batteries, so when making room for your new Christmas items, think about the batteries and don’t throw the whole toy in the trash before removing the batteries. Alkaline or carbon-zinc batteries are no longer considered hazardous in North Carolina, so your A, C, D batteries and 9V batteries (check the label to see) should all be able to be thrown in the trash, No problem.
A note about fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, as many people are in replacement season with the recent time change: You can bring your expired fire extinguishers to us on HHW day. However, the smoke detectors must be returned to the manufacturer. As of this writing, I have asked our webmaster to update a list of branded production options. So you can usually contact us to request a way to mail them back or send them along with the paperwork. Why? Some models of smoke detectors contain a small amount of radioactive material, which although levels are safe, must still be disposed of properly.
I hope to have the dates for next year available to you in early 2025. We look forward to serving you. Last time we had over 225 cars, so please stay in your vehicle to keep the line moving and put your trash in a box so you can quickly remove it from your car. See you on the 16th.
Becca Hurd is Gaston County’s recycling coordinator.
This article originally appeared in The Gaston Gazette: YOUR TURN: What to bring to the hazardous waste disposal event
