Wellington County is planning to make it easier for residents to dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW) with the addition of a mobile service at local waste facilities.
Currently the county’s Solid Waste Services (SWS) division operates five permanent HHW depots, located at all county-owned waste facilities except the Rothsay site, county engineer Gord Ough explained in written report received by county council on Sept. 24.
The depots are licensed to accept used motor oil and filters, antifreeze, household batteries, aerosol containers, propane cylinders, and vehicle batteries.
For hazardous materials not accepted at the HHW depots, SWS also provides seven HHW event days, one per year in each of the county’s member municipalities from May to October.
“While county residents can attend any one of these event days and they are well utilized, staff have received feedback that they are inconvenient, primarily due to their infrequency,” Ough stated.
“The HHW depots have limited space and there is no storage available to accept all types of HHW materials.”
An application was made to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) in June 2012 to operate a licensed mobile HHW service. The application was approved last year.
Under the Environmental Certificate of Approval (ECA) issued for the mobile HHW unit, the following waste types are approved for collection: aerosols, antifreeze, household batteries, industrial stationary and non-lead motive batteries, corrosives, fertilizers, portable fire extinguishers, flammables, fluorescent bulbs and tubes, mercury devices, oil containers, oil filters, paint and coatings, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, pressurized containers, reactives (such as cream hardeners used in auto body repair), sharps and syringes and toxics (i.e. nail polish removers, paint strippers and some adhesives).
The bin would be located at each waste facility for a month at a time before being moved to another county facility. Each waste facility would have the mobile unit available for two months per year.
This would increase the opportunities for residents to divert the full complement of HHW materials from the current seven days per year to 150 days per year.
“I think that’s a great improvement,” said councillor Don McKay, chair of the SWS committee.
As the Town of Erin and the Township of Guelph-Eramosa do not have waste facilities within their boundaries, SWS would continue to provide an event day in each of those two municipalities.
After factoring in increased staffing and processing costs against increases in available funding, the mobile service is expected to result in annual net savings of $8,000.
Council approved a staff recommendation to implement a mobile HHW service as soon as practical in 2016.
