Household waste drive to collect hazardous materials

The city will be collecting a variety of household hazardous waste items this weekend at its waste disposal facility on Evergreen Avenue.

Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad said the doors at the center will be open to residents this Friday and Saturday, where up to 200 pounds of items per household can be disposed of free of charge. Hazardous wastes being sought include various cleaners, sprays, waxes, solvents, paints, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, fuels and lubricants – anything that cannot ordinarily be thrown into the garbage or poured down the drain.

“The purpose of the drive is to capture that household hazardous waste that might otherwise go into the solid waste stream, or down the drain,” she said. Over the course of the year the crew at the solid waste facility tries to sort out such items as they turn up in the garbage, but it is not a thorough or at times safe process.

“A lot of that stuff we can’t monitor. If we see it we’ll pull it out,” said Al-Haddad. Anything that does wind up separated from the regular refuse gets held for eventual shipment, generally after the annual hazardous waste drive. A 20-foot container serves as the holding area for it until the materials all get shipped out for proper disposal.

Contracted to undertake this end of the disposal is firm Carson Dorn of Juneau, which has been involved in Wrangell’s efforts the past half-decade. Al-Haddad estimated the drive in all costs around $17,000, paid for through the city’s sanitation enterprise fund.

One type of item of particular interest the department also hopes to round up this weekend is car and boat batteries, which contain a cocktail of corrosive and poisonous materials that shouldn’t be left leaching into area soils and waters. Batteries were major culprits behind the extensive contamination of the Byford junk site near Shoemaker Bay, which last year was cleaned up through an extensive, expensive process by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and federal Environmental Protection Agency. Costing $6.5 million in all, the end goal for the site was to make it suitable for eventual residential development.

The drive is only gratis for residential wastes. Commercial users are still encouraged to bring their hazardous items for disposal, but will be charged at the usual rate.

Hours for the drive tomorrow will be from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and from noon to 4:00 p.m. Saturday’s hours will be 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 4 p.m.