Household Hazardous Waste Collection Agreement Renewed

Stephen Vance, Staff

householdhazardouswaste Brandon Bankston270 At their February 29 meeting, Meaford’s council approved the renewal of their agreement with the City of Owen Sound for the collection of household hazardous waste. The program has served the communities of Owen Sound, Chatsworth, Meaford, Georgian Bluffs, West Grey and Grey Highlands for several years.

Residents of participating municipalities can bring their hazardous household waste to the depot located at the Owen Sound Public Works building at 1900 20^th Street East on specified hazardous waste collection days (see below for dates for 2016), at no cost to the resident – though there are costs borne by the participating municipalities.

The agreement for 2016 approved by Meaford’s council carries a $1,400 administration fee, as well as a charge of $25 for every 56 litres of household hazardous waste dropped off by Meaford residents.

Meaford’s Director of Planning, Rob Armstrong, told council that though there is an increase in cost with the new agreement, it is the first increase since 2002. Armstrong also noted that it would cost Meaford much more if it were to undertake hazardous waste collection on its own.

The items that can be dropped off at the hazardous waste collection days extend beyond popularly discarded items like unused paint or motor oil. Pesticides, unused pharmaceuticals like cough syrups and pills, cosmetics, old batteries, and fluorescent bulbs are among the long list of items that can be discarded at the collection depot (a full list can be found on the Owen Sound website www.owensound.ca/household-hazardous-waste-material-list).

Armstrong noted that empty paint cans cannot be discarded at the hazardous waste depot, and residents should instead remove the lid to allow any paint remnants in the can to dry, and then discard the paint cans in the standard blue box for recyclables.

A recent addition to the items that can be dropped off on hazardous waste collection days is cooking oil.

“It has been brought to the attention of the City that residents have difficulty disposing of used fryer oil and in response the City has arranged to accept it at the Household Hazardous Waste Depot,” informs the City of Owen Sound on their website.

Cooking oil to be discarded must meet the following conditions:

The fryer oil must be liquid and not include lard or grease.
The fryer oil must be in a container that is clearly labelled as fryer or cooking oil.
The fryer oil can only be delivered between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Household Hazardous Waste Days.
The fryer oil must be from a residential source and not a restaurant or commercial enterprise.
The City will accept no more than five gallons of fryer oil from any person on any Household Hazardous Waste Day.
This program is also available to residents of participating municipalities.
The City reserves the right to turn away residents once the fryer oil tank is full.