Hazardous Waste Collection Day Coming Up

From Alice Dahms –

Start collecting your materials to bring to Suffield’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection scheduled for Saturday, April 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the town highway garage on Ffyler Place (across from the CVS Plaza).

This collection day allows residents to dispose of hazardous materials and protect the environment from contamination. The average household has almost 10 gallons of hazardous waste that, if improperly stored, can jeopardize the family’s health. Proof of residency is required for this free service and business waste is not accepted.

Residents are asked to bring qualified items in their original containers if possible, or identify them to ensure proper disposal. Products should not be mixed together in one container.

Household products that will be accepted for proper disposal include: poisons and pesticides; oil-based paints, preservatives, turpentine and solvents; paint strippers; hobby chemicals and glues; bleaches, ammonia and disinfectants; oven, toilet bowl and drain cleaners; nail polishes and removers; pharmaceuticals; photographic chemicals and swimming pool chemicals.

Items that will not be accepted include: commercial or industrial wastes; automobile batteries, tires and gas cylinders; antifreeze and oil (Oil may be taken to Suffield town landfill).

Anti-freeze and oil may be placed curbside on regular trash collection days provided they are in sturdy, screw top plastic containers (not milk cartons) and properly identified. The limit is one gallon per week.

Dried latex paint cans should be placed in the trash. Full or partially full latex paint cans should be left open to allow the paint to dry before disposing in the trash.

Also not accepted are water reactive materials; explosives; radioactive materials (smoke detectors); pathological materials (bio-medical); and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The Suffield Public Works Department provides this service in cooperation with the Suffield Garden Club. Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc. has been contracted to receive, identify materials and dispose of them in proper locations.