Talking Trash

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

"Going Green: Local Products & Services" - June 30, 2007

The next event in Montgomery County's Save Our Planet series is Saturday, June 30, 2007.  Held at the Rockville Library from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., this expo will feature local businesses offering environmentally friendly products and services.  We'll be there, too. Visit our table to learn more about our recycling programs.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Please watch your weight... with your Transfer Station loads

Montgomery County residents are welcome to take trash from their homes to the Shady Grove Transfer Station.  When you do this, please remember to watch your (load) weight.  Residential trash loads must be under 500 pounds.

What if your trash load weighs more?

If your load exceeds this amount, we can accept it Monday through Saturday via the Truck Entrance on Shady Grove Road (it is closed on Sundays).  This entrance has vehicle scales to measure your load weight.  The fee schedule applies to loads 500 pounds and more, and is prorated for the actual weight of your trash.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Household Hazardous Waste Collection in Bethesda - June 30, 2007

Our next Household Hazardous Waste community collection event is on Saturday, June 30, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Location:
Westland Middle School
5511 Massachusetts Avenue (west of Little Falls Parkway)
Bethesda MD 20816

We have a Household Hazardous Waste drop-off facility at the Shady Grove Transfer Station. It is open daily, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.   Depending on where you live within the County, however, traveling out to the Transfer Station for drop-offs may not be convenient.  We offer our community collection events to make proper disposal of your household hazardous products easier.

Want to receive email notices about our Household Hazardous Waste community collection event schedule?  Subscribe to our email list for this topic.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Shoe recycling at the Shady Grove Transfer Station

From our mailbag:

A few months ago, there were a couple of cans labeled "shoes" near the clothing recycling trailer. They are no longer there. I have continued bagging old shoes and placing them in the trailer. Now, I am wondering if you still accept shoes? What about leather purses? Is it correct to put these in the trailer?

Thanks for your questions, L.

Yes, we continue to accept shoes and purses in our Clothing and Textiles container at the Shady Grove Transfer Station.  Please keep shoes in pairs, and put all of your items into a plastic bag to help keep them clean and dry.  They will be reused or recycled, depending on their condition.

What happened to the separate shoe cans you saw a few months ago?  We were working with an organization that collected only shoes.  They shipped the shoes to Honduras.  Students there are required to have shoes to go to school.  So, the shoes you contributed to this project helped enable children to attend classes.

Friday, June 15, 2007

How to dispose of leftover latex paint

In my last post, I hinted that latex paint from your home projects could be easily disposed of at home.

Ideally, you'll use up all of the paint from your project (with the possible exception of a small amount for touch-ups), or you'll be able to give the remainder away.  When neither is an option...

Simply dry up the remaining latex paint, and then put the solidified paint into your regular household trash.  Allow small amounts to dry in a well-ventilated area.  For larger amounts, use paint hardener, or alternatives like mulch, kitty litter, or shredded paper.  (Detailed latex paint disposal instructions)

If the paint can is metal, we'll recycle it for you!  After trash is burned in our waste-to-energy facility, a magnet pulls ferrous metals out of the remaining ash.  That collected metal is then recycled.

Remember, please do not bring latex paint to our Household Hazardous Waste Collections, because it is not a hazardous material.  However, leftover oil-based paint should always be disposed of as hazardous waste.

 

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Paint giveaway mentioned on Craigslist

This morning, someone posted an "offer" for the free paint we have at the Shady Grove Transfer Station to the "free items" section of Craigslist.  Thanks for the publicity! 

The paint comes from residents who bring it to our Household Hazardous Waste drop-off program.  Instead of disposing of it, we are pleased to offer the full cans we receive back to you for reuse.

Latex/water-based paint is not a hazardous waste.  In fact, it is very expensive for us to handle it as such.  We found that paint disposal was taking a significant amount of money from our hazardous waste budget.  The free paint program is one way for us to more cost-effectively handle the paint brought to us.  That leaves more money available for processing the materials which truly do need special disposal.

It's easy to dispose of  the leftovers from your latex painting projects at home.  Details to follow in my next post...

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

May flower pots and trays be recycled?

You've put the plants into your garden.  It's time to clean up... can you recycle the plastic flower pots and trays?  It's tempting... they've got the recycling arrows on them.  But... please don't add them to your recycling bin.

We are able to accept all plastic bottles with necks.  What about those pots and trays, then?  Gardeners are often happy to take these for use with their own seedlings.  Otherwise, please put these items into your household trash.

However, if a plastic bottle has held hazardous contents -- that purple bottle in the photo is labeled "Wasp & Hornet Killer" -- then please put the empty bottle into your household trash as well.

Update, February 15, 2010: Our blog entries are accurate when published.  But, our programs do change over time.  We now accept flower pots in our plastic recycling program.  Please check our plastics recycling webpage for the most current information on this program element.

 

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

How to dispose of compact fluorescent light bulbs

Updated information posted November 20, 2008.

From our mailbag:

Do electric light bulbs and fluorescent tubes go into the recycling bin?

Thanks for asking! No, the only glass we accept in our curbside blue bin recycling program is that used for bottles and jars.

To dispose of incandescent ("regular") light bulbs, please wrap them in paper, and place them into your regular household trash. (Why put otherwise recyclable paper into the trash? Recycling as much as possible is important, but your safety and the collection crew's safety is even more important. Wrapping the bulb in paper helps prevent injury by containing the glass shards if the bulb breaks.)

To dispose of your compact fluorescent light bulbs, please take them to our Household Hazardous Waste drop-off sites, if this is practical for you. (They contain a small amount of mercury.) If it is not practical, please wrap and put the compact fluorescent bulb into your regular household trash, as you would an incandescent bulb.

What if a bulb breaks? The US EPA website has clean-up instructions for broken compact fluorescent light bulbs.

To help your household be prepared, I've updated our "How to Recycle/Dispose of: Fluorescent light bulbs and tubes" page with this information.