Post #33: Too Dangerous to Discard or Recycle?

August 31, 2009

Welcome back to Fairfield University, everyone!

Last April we were congratulating ourselves on the environmental initiatives Fairfield University was taking.

And that’s good.  But there’s plenty of room for improvement.  It’s a big planet.

This year, I thought we’d change our nickname from “Reluctant Environmentalist” to “Re-energized Environmentalist,” because there’s so much MORE TO DO.

BACKGROUND
For instance.  Yesterday, August 29th, Mr. Reluctant (or is he now Mr. Re-Energized?  I’ll have to ask him) and I took advantage of the annual Hazardous Waste Collection Day in Fairfield—at Veterans Park, near Rowland Road.   Drive-thru.

We had packed our car with 50 or so containers of household chemicals that were lying around our house being hazardous.  We used the HazWaste official list:

Kitchen and Bathroom: aerosols, floor care products, metal polish, furniture polish, oven cleaners, drain cleaners, bathroom cleaners, tile cleaners, disinfectants, toilet bowl cleaners, nail polish remover.

Garage and Workshop: antifreeze, bug sprays, gasoline, auto batteries, brake fluid, auto body repair products, transmission fluid, other oils and cleaners, oil-based paints, paint thinner, paint stripper, varnish, waste oil.

Garden and Miscellaneous: chemical fertilizer, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, rat poison, artists’ paints, dry cleaning solvents, fiberglass epoxy, moth balls, batteries, photographic chemicals, swimming pool chemicals, small camp stove propane cylinders, fluorescent bulbs (including CFLs), mercury and mercury-containing items.

Who knew?

I mean, who knew we were pack-ratting so many chemicals suitable for the HazWaste guys?  Too reluctant, I suppose.

Maybe 30 or 40 HazWaste guys were there yesterday—many in protective suits, steering us on and unloading our car for us, free. We just sat in the front seat and watched as the dangerous chemicals disappeared into custody.

This HazWaste Collection Day happens once a year in Fairfield, late August or early September.

MORE TO DO:
(1) If you don’t want to wait another year to rid your house of dangerous chemicals, you can drive to New Haven.  Call 203-401-2712 or check the website.  There also, professionals will take a load of hazardous wastes off your hands, six days of the week.

(2) We might request one more Hazardous Waste Collection Day in Fairfield, say in late April or early May, when students are cleaning out their rooms to go home.  This day might save a lot of aerosol cans and paints and plant fertilizer and such being tossed into the campus trash.  And this day might help Fairfield residents during spring cleaning.

I’m going to call the Fairfield Solid Waste & Recycling Department at 203-256-3023.  I’ll ask them if one more HazWaste Collection Day per year is possible.

Maybe I’ll even call the New Haven number, too.

Want to join me?  Phone if you wish.  And post further ideas!