Hazardous Materials

Many items that are regularly used around the house can pose a serious threat to your family's health and/or environment if they are not used and disposed of properly. Kootenai County provides a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection facility at both of our transfer stations to responsibly dispose of these household chemicals. 

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Kootenai County's HHW program is provide in conjunction with Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (Idaho DEQ) and Panhandle Health District (PHD)

Facilities

Each facility allows residents of Kootenai County to drop off up to 10 gallons of HHW per collection day. This free program is only available to residential customers; no commercial customers are allowed to use this service. 

When bringing in material for hazardous waste drop off, please alert the inbound scale house attendant that you have material to drop off. 

After arriving at the hazardous waste area, please turn off your vehicle and no smoking. Please stay in your vehicle, an attendant will be with you shortly. Be prepared to inform the attendant of the type, quantity and location of the waste within your vehicle. The attendant will either remove the hazardous waste from your vehicle or communicate with you on the preferred method of removal.

Collection Days

Collection days for the following facilities are:

  • Ramsey Transfer Station is Wednesday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Prairie Transfer Station is Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Do not leave your materials outside the gates at either site. No hazardous waste can be collected at any other time besides the designated collection dates and times.

Common Hazardous Waste

Some common hazardous waste materials:

  • Auto
    • Antifreeze
    • Carburetor Cleaners
    • Contaminated Oil (contaminated oil is used oil that has been mixed with water, antifreeze or other fuels)
    • Diesel
    • Gasoline
  • Home
    • Cleaning Chemicals
    • Paint
    • Pool Supplies
    • Solvents
    • Stains
    • Thinners
  • Lawn/Garden
    • Garden Dusts
    • Herbicides
    • Pesticides
    • Rodent Poison
    • Tree Spray
    • Weed and Feed

Do not mix separate products together.

Household Hazardous Materials

Anything with a label that uses any of the following should be considered household hazardous materials and brought in on the appropriate collection days: 

  • Caution
  • Combustible
  • Corrosive
  • Danger
  • Flammable
  • Poison
  • Warning

CFL (compact fluorescent light bulbs) can be recycled on hazmat days. View our flyer (PDF) if you have any questions on how to properly dispose prescription medications.

Commercial Generators of Hazardous Waste

Commercial generators of hazardous waste cannot dispose of these types of materials within the Kootenai County Solid Waste System. According to federal law, all commercial hazardous waste generators are responsible for the proper disposal of their hazardous waste. Although solid waste will not take commercial hazardous waste, we can recommend that commercial generators call Safety-Kleen at 509-220-3432 to schedule an environmental assessment review for their business.

Household Hazardous Waste Exchange Program

The household hazardous waste exchange program are in the hazardous waste area at both transfer stations, check out our free exchange program. Attendants sort through the material collected in the hazardous waste program and offer up useable material to the general public on a specified cart near hazmat receiving. Residents of Kootenai County, over the age of 18, who sign a waiver, can utilize this service by selecting up to five free products to be reused per day. The reuse program operates at the same times as the hazardous waste program at each site. This program is available only to residential customers; no commercial businesses may utilize this program.

Asbestos

View information on proper disposal of asbestos (PDF).