ShawneeDispatch.com

Before trying to throw out those half-used cans of paint and wood stain, or especially those old bottles of pool chemicals or pesticides, county officials are hoping residents remember the harm it might do to the environment and consider disposing of it properly.

The Johnson County Environmental Department's Household Hazardous Waste Collection facility will have a special waste collection event this weekend to encourage residents to help protect the environment by properly disposing of hazardous wastes like cleaners, chemicals and auto products.

After making an appointment, waste either can be taken to the facility in Mission near Interstate 35 and Lamar Road or the Olathe Municipal Service Center. The locations also will accept electronic waste, like computer monitors or TVs, for nominal charges.

While residents can make appointments to drop off hazardous waste at the facilities year-round, Betsy Betros, pollution control director, said additional county funding allows up to 300 appointments to be made on this day between 8 a.m. and noon.

Things that should be brought in range from bottles of antifreeze or brake fluid to photographic chemicals and rat and mouse poison.

"Even if it's a bottle of who knows what, they can certainly bring that and our contractor will identify it for us," Betros said.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs also are accepted and recycled. Since it's fall, Betros said residents may need to properly dispose of mixed oil and gasoline drained from boats or other summer recreational vehicles. But Betros said the item the facility gets the most of is paint, and the items people often bring in that it cannot take are medical waste, roofing tiles and linoleum.

Betros said it may not technically be illegal to throw some hazardous items in the regular trash, but there are inherent dangers to doing that. The trash collector could drop it and get covered with chemicals, also letting them loose in the environment. Properly disposing of chemicals also makes a home safer.

"Why have hazardous chemicals in your home if you're never going to use them," Betros said. "Why have these chemicals sit on shelves to be knocked off."

And taking things to the facility isn't just disposing of them properly - it's a recycling opportunity.

"Ninety percent of what we get actually gets a second life," she said. "A lot of the latex paint is reblended and redistributed for no charge."

The facility includes an area where paint and some other household chemicals are available for whoever can use them. Most of the things that must be properly destroyed are pesticides and corrosive materials, Betros said, though the facility even is able to distribute some those to public works departments that have the proper permits to use them.

Shawnee-based Deffenbaugh Industries, which runs the Johnson County Landfill in Shawnee, largely funds the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility. Tom Coffman, spokesman for Deffenbaugh, says the company sees the facility as a valuable service.

"We have an incentive in the responsible disposal of household hazardous waste, because otherwise people will try to potentially sneak it into the landfill," he said.

To try to stop such improper disposal, Coffman said Deffenbaugh crews are trained to recognize items considered hazardous, and crews also do periodic audits of loads, sorting through them before they go into the landfill. If anything hazardous is found, they try to identify the area from which it came.

"We have multiple truck fires a year because of people sneaking pool chemicals into their household trash," Coffman said. "There's a reason why these things are prohibited in landfills."

To make an appointment, and for directions to each facility, visit http://jced.jocogov.org/ or contact them at the following numbers: Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, (913) 715-6900; Olathe Municipal Service Center, (913) 971-9311.

Here's a partial list of items that can be taken to the Johnson County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility:

¢ Adhesives

¢ Arts and Crafts Materials

¢ Brake Fluid

¢ Car Batteries

¢ Cleaning Products

¢ Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

¢ Disinfectants

¢ Gasoline

¢ Herbicides

¢ Insecticides

¢ Kerosene

¢ Motor Oil

¢ Photo Chemicals

¢ Pool Chemicals

¢ Paint

¢ 1-3 lb. Propane Cylinders

¢ Solvents

¢ Wood Preservatives