It has been more than a decade since Athens and Limestone County offered its residents a way to safely dispose of household hazardous waste.

After years of lobbying by Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful and some city and county residents, that is about to change.

Lynne Hart, executive coordinator of KALB, said city and county officials have agreed to share the expense of holding another Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day. The upcoming event is scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 2020, but a location has yet to be determined, she said.

Residents of Limestone County, including Athens, will be able to drop off paints, paint strippers, solvents, household cleaners (including oven and toilet bowl cleansers), gasoline, kerosene, 3-IN-ONE and similar household oils, fluorescent tube lights, aerosol cans, pool chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, roach and flea powder and rodent poisons. They cannot drop off explosives, radioactive or biological wastes, tires or motor oil. Tires can be taken to any of the four Limestone County district sheds, and the motor oil can be taken to the Athens-Limestone Recycling Center.

Residents should bring their hazardous waste in its original container, if possible.

Kittens helped

Hart and others have been pushing for years for another chemical collection day. She believes an incident in August in which kittens living in a storm drain were accidentally doused with paint and paint thinner by someone dumping hazardous waste brought to the forefront the need for another chemical collection day.

However, she believes credit for the upcoming event should go to Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly and Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks, who agreed to pay a total of $35,000. The county’s half will come from the public health tax.

“We appreciate the fact that our political representatives recognize the importance of disposing of these items in a safe and proper way, and in turn, protecting our environment by keeping these items out of the landfill and the waterways,” Hart said.

What to do

With the last chemical collection day held in 2008 and no promise of another one any time soon, residents with hazardous waste had to devise ways to deal with their leftover gunk. Some stored it for the next chemical collection day. Others tossed it in their household garbage, dumped it on the ground or poured it down the drain, none of which are environmentally safe.

Although the cost of a chemical collection day is high — $24,000 for the last one and $35,000 for this one — the cost of tossing hazardous waste in landfills, dumping it on the ground or pouring it in waterways is higher, Hart said.

“It has expensive consequences,” she said.

Dumping hazardous household waste poisons groundwater and waterways, and burning it simply results in smaller particles of waste raining down on crops that people consume, Hart said. Dumping hazardous chemicals in with the household garbage can cause them to mix and explode.

What other cities do

Despite the cost of hazardous household waste collection, some surrounding cities and counties offer regular collection days. Decatur collects the second Saturday of each month.

Huntsville and Madison County recently began offering a drive-thru service five days a week for residents of Madison County and the city of Huntsville only. Now residents there can quickly drop off their hazardous waste at one location throughout the week rather than drop it off once a month.