A new facility, dedicated to the collection and proper
disposal of Latah County's HHW, has been constructed at the Solid Waste
Processing Facility in August of 2002. Spring and Summer
Hours: Open every weekend, April though
October from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Fall and Winter Hours: Open the first Saturday of each month of
November though March from 8:00 a.m. till 4:00.
If you have an emergency regarding HHW or an unusually large
accumulation of HHW during this time, please call us at 882-5724
to make an appointment. If
you have additional questions regarding this new facility, please contact
us.
Please remember that the HHW Collection Facility is only available to
Latah County residents and is provided free of charge.
What
is Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)?
How Can I
Safely Dispose of HHW?
I
Own a Small Business--Can I Participate in HHW?
Unacceptable Items
Check that Paint Before Bringing it to the HHW
Facility!
Many of the products we use every day in our homes can
be hazardous to people and the environment if they are used or disposed
of incorrectly. Read product labels carefully and look for the
words danger, warning or caution. These
signal words are required by federal law to be placed on products with
any of the following properties?
Businesses that generate less than 220 pounds of
hazardous chemical waste per month are subject to a reduced
disposal rate. If you own a small business that generates
less than 220 pounds of chemical waste per month and would like to
participate in the small business collection program, please contact Pat
Hymas with Phillip Serives at 1-800-547-2436 to schedule an appointment.
If you are a farm operation that has unusable pesticides
for disposal, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture sponsors an
annual Pesticide Disposal Program. For more information, please
visit the PDP
Program Page.
We're sorry, but we cannot accept ammunition, explosives
or explosive waste; asbestos; radioactive waste; biological, biohazard
or medical waste; or large, compressed gas cylinders at the HHW Facility. If you need to dispose of items with these
qualities, please contact Latah Sanitation, Inc. at 208-882-5724.
Household Hazardous Waste is expensive to dispose of
properly, but you can help us keep costs down! If you have old paint, please follow these
simple suggestions first:
Throw Dried Paint Away With Household Trash--Once
paint has dried, it is virtually harmless to the environment. Open
all paint cans and check the paint inside. If it is dried, throw
the can (with the lid removed) directly into your household trash.
Is Your Paint Oil-Based or Water-Based (Latex)?--Read
the label. If the paint can be cleaned up with water, it is
water-based paint. If the paint must be cleaned up with
turpentine, mineral spirits, or other chemicals, it is oil-based
paint. PLEASE BRING ALL WET OIL BASED PAINT TO HHW Facility FOR PROPER
DISPOSAL. Oil-based paints pose a greater environmental hazard
than water-based paints, so if you have oil-based paints that are not
dried out, bring them to the collection event to be processed with other
hazardous materials.
Is Your Non-Dried Water-Based Paint Good or Bad?--Open
the paint and give it a stir. If it stirs into a smooth, even
consistency, your paint is good paint. Please Check with
organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or Sojourners Alliance to see
if they could use your paint. Good paint may also be brought to the HHW
Facility. If the paint stirs into
a lumpy, "cottage cheese" consistency or if the liquid and
pigment remain separated after stirring, your paint is bad paint.
Solidify and Dispose of Bad Water-Based Paint--If
your water-based paint has gone bad, please help keep HHW Collection
costs down by solidifying and disposing of the paint on your own.
To solidify water-based paint, mix clumping kitty litter into the paint
until it solidifies into one mass. Once latex paint has been
solidified in this manner, it can be treated the same way you would
treat dried paint--leave the lid off the can and throw it into your
regular trash.
