Household Hazardous Waste

You may not realize it, but hazardous materials surround you. Many items you normally use around the house could pose a serious threat to your family's health and/or the environment. Motor oil, car batteries, cleaners with acid, ammonia, or lye, pool chemicals, paint and paint thinner, turpentine, solvents, as well as pesticides, herbicides and other lawn and garden products can all mean trouble if not disposed of properly.

Fortunately, Kootenai County, in association with the Division of Environmental Quality, provides free household hazardous waste collection. The Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility located at the Ramsey Transfer Station accepts hazardous waste only from homes in Kootenai County.

NO COMMERCIAL HAZARDOUS MATERIALS ARE ACCEPTED.

Just bring in your hazardous products, preferably in their original containers. There is a 5-gallon liquid limit per household per collection day. Please pack the waste containers in a box and be careful not to spill them when loading.

HHW collection days are Wednesday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please wait for a technician to assist you at the facility. Do not leave your materials outside the gates. No hazardous waste can be collected at any other time.

Hazardous Waste Materials consist of the following items:

Home: Paint, thinners, solvents, cleaning fluids, adhesives & glues and stains.

Lawn/Garden: Pesticides, herbicides, rodent poison, garden dusts, tree spray, and Weed & Feed.

Auto: Gasoline, diesel, antifreeze, contaminated oil* and carburetor cleaners.

(*Contaminated oil is used oil that has been mixed with water, antifreeze or other fuels)

DO NOT MIX SEPARATE PRODUCTS TOGETHER

Anything with a label that uses any of the following: Caution, flammable, Poison, Dangerous, etc. should be considered household hazardous materials and brought in on the appropriate collection days.

How to use the HHW facility

• Please tell the scale house attendant that you have hazardous waste for disposal, even if it is only a small amount. This gives the attendant a chance to radio HHW and let them know of your pending arrival.

• Please turn off your vehicle when you arrive at the collection location.

• NO SMOKING - Please extinguish all smoking materials for your safety and the safety of our employees.

• Stay in your vehicle. For your safety, you are not allowed outside your vehicle in the collection area.

• An attendant will be with you shortly. If, after a short while, an attendant is not with you, please honk your horn. The attendants have other responsibilities and are sometimes working with noisy machinery that would inhibit them from hearing your arrival.

• Be prepared to inform the attendant of the type, quantity of the waste and where it is located in your vehicle.

• The attendant will remove the waste from your vehicle.

According to federal law all commercial hazardous waste generators are responsible for the proper disposal of their hazardous waste. The HHW facility cannot accept any commercial hazardous waste.

Commercial generators of hazardous waste cannot dispose of these types of materials within the Kootenai County Solid Waste System. Currently the solid waste department has an agreement with Phillip Environmental Services to provide an area on the transfer station facility to conduct transactions with commercial customers.

Small quantity generators of hazardous materials should contact the Solid Waste Department at 446-1430.

Household Hazardous Waste Exchange Program: As of March 1999, we offer a material exchange program. Usable HHW products may be dropped off or obtained through this program. Many household products that are still usable are placed on a cart outside the facility for reuse. Residents of Kootenai County, over the age of 18, are able to select up to five products free of charge to be reused.

It is open only to residents of Kootenai County. No commercial businesses may use the program. For further information regarding this program, please call 446-1430.