What to do with your hazardous waste

What to do with all of collection event on Saturday, April 26. This is a great way to get rid of the kind of stuff--cleaning supplies, old batteries, insecticide, etc.--a lot of people hold onto simply because you can't really throw it out. (Well, OK, you CAN...but that's a particularly nasty thing to do.) Also, you can bring your old computer and other electtronic equipment for disposal. Pretty much anything short of radioactive waste is fair game 9and I'm not certain I want to know who is keeping radioactive waste around their home.)

Details are below--courtesy of Mike Bernardo's blog.

The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) will hold its annual spring Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling collection event Saturday, April 26, 2008, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot at 16th and Kennedy Streets, NW. This drop-off service is free and open to all District residents.

DC residents can bring items including leftover cleaning and gardening chemicals, small quantities of gasoline, pesticides and poisons, mercury thermometers, paint, solvents, spent batteries of all kinds, antifreeze, chemistry sets, automotive fluids, and even asbestos floor tiles to the collection site for environmentally safe disposal.

Additionally, an electronics recycler will be onsite to take end-of-life consumer electronics including computers, computer monitors and other accessories, televisions, and office equipment. These machines will be broken down into their component parts (plastic, glass, toxic/heavy metals) and recycled or disposed of safely.

To help protect against identity theft, computers and hard drives brought to the event will be wiped clean three times using US Department of Defense high-level security wiping procedures.

Items that will NOT be accepted during the Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics Recycling Collection include ammunition, bulk trash, wooden TV consoles, propane tanks, microwave ovens, air conditioners and other appliances, as well as radioactive or medical wastes.

Learn more information about household hazardous waste and e-cycling by visiting DPW's website at www.dpw.dc.gov or by dialing 311.