AUBURN #- As awareness increases about soil, water and air pollution, more people seem willing to go out of their way to make sure they dispose of dangerous chemicals properly.
Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of Cornell Cooperative Extension's hazardous waste collection day in Cayuga County.
Bruce Natale, an county environmental engineer, said events like this have been growing as more people get involved.
“These have been going on since at least the mid '80s,” Natale said. “Places like Florida and places in New England have been doing things like this for years. I think really we just looked at what was going on in these other places and the idea to do something like this here just evolved from there.”
Over the past decade more than 134,000 pounds of hazardous waste has been collected and properly disposed of through the efforts of these collection days.
In no small part this has been due to an increased awareness of the dangers hazardous wastes pose to the environment both inside and outside the home.
“I think people are becoming more aware of things like water quality,” Natale said. “And I think people are starting to realize that these aren't just things that happen outside that it can be dangerous to have these kinds of hazardous materials in their own household as well if they aren't properly disposed of.”
Items collected ranged from things like old paint and used motor oil and antifreeze and car batteries to televisions and computers and computer monitors.
Some items, like computer parts can often be salvaged and recycled, while others, like household chemicals need to be incinerated.
“We have Regional Computer Recycling here today,” Natale said. “They will go through and see if there is anything that can be reused. A lot of household things will just be incinerated at very high temperatures so they are completely destroyed.”
With an increased awareness, comes an increased turnout of Cayuga County residents.
“We are on par to have our biggest year ever,” Natale said. “It has been busy all day. We are expecting to have at least 500 cars by the end of the day.”
For many the collection day is certainly convenient, but using this collection goes well beyond simple convenience.
“You have to take care of the planet,” Elizabeth Fellows said. “To me it is more responsible to make an effort to get rid of this stuff the right way. It is easy to just throw it in the trash and not think about it, but really if we all just stopped and tried to do this right we could help clean up the environment we live in, at least a little bit at a time.”
It is this kind of attitude that Natale hopes to promote.
“It is just safer,” Natale said. “It is safer to do this for your neighborhood, for the environment, for the soil, for the water. If you take the time to get rid of these things properly you can make your home, your neighborhood, all a lot safer for yourself and for everyone else.”
Along with collecting hazardous wastes, Natale handed out information on how people can reduce their use of dangerous materials like pesticides and common household cleaners that can find their way into the water and soil. Some useful alternatives range form using things like vinegar or lemon juice with water in place of harsher chemical cleaners to simple repairs, such as keeping cracks and breaks in windows, screens and foundations repaired to avoid insect problems.
Other conservation efforts like only buying hazardous chemicals in amounts that can be complete used, avoiding the use or aerosol sprays and only using in the prescribed amounts, can help reduce the impact of these substances on the environment.
Based on the response from this and other recent years of these collections, Natale hopes to potentially increase the number of opportunities to hold these events.
“We might start to at least do a chemical collection in the spring too,” Natale said. “That way we'd have something in the spring and fall, which I think would be very beneficial.”
Bruce Natale, an county environmental engineer, said events like this have been growing as more people get involved.
“These have been going on since at least the mid '80s,” Natale said. “Places like Florida and places in New England have been doing things like this for years. I think really we just looked at what was going on in these other places and the idea to do something like this here just evolved from there.”
Over the past decade more than 134,000 pounds of hazardous waste has been collected and properly disposed of through the efforts of these collection days.
In no small part this has been due to an increased awareness of the dangers hazardous wastes pose to the environment both inside and outside the home.
“I think people are becoming more aware of things like water quality,” Natale said. “And I think people are starting to realize that these aren't just things that happen outside that it can be dangerous to have these kinds of hazardous materials in their own household as well if they aren't properly disposed of.”
Items collected ranged from things like old paint and used motor oil and antifreeze and car batteries to televisions and computers and computer monitors.
Some items, like computer parts can often be salvaged and recycled, while others, like household chemicals need to be incinerated.
“We have Regional Computer Recycling here today,” Natale said. “They will go through and see if there is anything that can be reused. A lot of household things will just be incinerated at very high temperatures so they are completely destroyed.”
With an increased awareness, comes an increased turnout of Cayuga County residents.
“We are on par to have our biggest year ever,” Natale said. “It has been busy all day. We are expecting to have at least 500 cars by the end of the day.”
For many the collection day is certainly convenient, but using this collection goes well beyond simple convenience.
“You have to take care of the planet,” Elizabeth Fellows said. “To me it is more responsible to make an effort to get rid of this stuff the right way. It is easy to just throw it in the trash and not think about it, but really if we all just stopped and tried to do this right we could help clean up the environment we live in, at least a little bit at a time.”
It is this kind of attitude that Natale hopes to promote.
“It is just safer,” Natale said. “It is safer to do this for your neighborhood, for the environment, for the soil, for the water. If you take the time to get rid of these things properly you can make your home, your neighborhood, all a lot safer for yourself and for everyone else.”
Along with collecting hazardous wastes, Natale handed out information on how people can reduce their use of dangerous materials like pesticides and common household cleaners that can find their way into the water and soil. Some useful alternatives range form using things like vinegar or lemon juice with water in place of harsher chemical cleaners to simple repairs, such as keeping cracks and breaks in windows, screens and foundations repaired to avoid insect problems.
Other conservation efforts like only buying hazardous chemicals in amounts that can be complete used, avoiding the use or aerosol sprays and only using in the prescribed amounts, can help reduce the impact of these substances on the environment.
Based on the response from this and other recent years of these collections, Natale hopes to potentially increase the number of opportunities to hold these events.
“We might start to at least do a chemical collection in the spring too,” Natale said. “That way we'd have something in the spring and fall, which I think would be very beneficial.”
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