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11th Annual Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection, May 22

The 11th Annual Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Day sponsored by Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency, City of Santa Fe, Santa Fe County and Keep Santa Fe Beautiful, will be held on May 22, 2011.Day From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. City and County residents can take household hazardous waste (HHW) items to BuRRT on 2600 Buckman Road, which is adjacent to the old city landfill on 1686 Paseo de Vista. If coming from 599, BuRRT is located at 2600 Buckman Rd. No HHW from businesses, large or small, can be accepted at the event. "We hold these events as a public service to help keep our environment as clean and safe as possible. For example, it only takes one quart of motor oil to contaminate about 250,000 gallons of water,” says BuRRT Site Manager Mike Smith.

As a general guide for citizens as to what can be included in this collection event, HHW product container labels will include words like CAUTION, WARNING, POISION, or FLAMMABLE. Also, HHW will generally falls into six categories:

• Cleaning Products: kitchen cleaners, bathroom cleaners, drain cleaners, toilet cleaners, oven cleaners, furniture polishes, solvents, and aerosols.

• Auto Products: motor oil, gasoline, brake fluids, anti-freeze, transmission fluids, solvent cleaners, car batteries, starting fluids, and repair products.

• Home Improvement Products: oil-based paints, latex paints, stains, varnishes, paint thinners, chemical strippers, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, rechargeable batteries, insect repellents, lighter fluids, kerosene, and pool chemicals.

• Hobby Products: glue, paints, contact cement, and photographic chemicals.

• Personal Care and Pharmaceuticals: nail polishes and removers, hair color, and non controlled prescription drugs.

• Lawn and Garden Care: weed killers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and other lawn products.

• Regular sized BBQ grill propane tanks or small fuel cylinders for camping equipment.

Used motor oil may also be taken to local businesses in the city and county year-around. Call the City or County for a list of those locations.

Paints normally constitute the largest percentage and volume of all materials delivered to HHW collection events, but dried latex paint is not a hazardous waste material. It can be solidified by mixing sand and kitty litter in the can and letting it dry, and can then be placed with regular household trash. If in doubt, though, bring it to the HHW collection event.

The Agency has contracted Rinchem Company, an Albuquerque hazardous waste firm, to package, transport, and dispose of the household hazardous waste collected. The majority of these household hazardous wastes will be recycled.

E-WASTE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS PART OF THIS YEAR’S EVENT because BuRRT accepts e-waste every day of the year, including computers, CPU’s, monitors, keyboards, mice, and peripherals. Also, the following materials will not be accepted at the HHW event: televisions, business or commercial waste, industrial waste, medical waste, explosives or ammunition, large pressurized gas cylinders or helium tanks, asbestos or radioactive materials.

For more information, call
Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency at 820-0208, ext. 420 or 424-1850
City of Santa Fe Solid Waste at 955-2200
Santa Fe County Solid Waste at 992-3025
Keep Santa Fe Beautiful at 955-2215

Or go to:
www.sfswma.org
Click on FAQ/News and look for HHW Flyer-2