.png)
HART — It’s time to clean out your medicine cabinet, basement, garage, or barn and look for old, unusable, or mystery products that require safe disposal. The Oceana County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 17, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hart Department of Public Works, 1010 State St.
The event takes place once a year on the third Saturday in August, so don’t miss the opportunity.
Accepted materials include: used motor oil and automotive fluids, electronics, pesticides, appliances, alcohols, oil-based paints, batteries, pharmaceuticals, and more. These items are considered hazardous because they could cause contamination to the environment, particularly drinking and surface water, if dumped or leaked. They are also rarely accepted through regular landfills. By bringing these items to the HHW event, these products are reused, recycled, or safely disposed of by certified contractors which ensures that they stay out of our local soil and water.
Items that are NOT accepted include: tires, styrofoam, ammunition, household trash, latex paint, fiberglass, large appliances and others.
For a full list of acceptable and unacceptable materials, visit the Oceana Conservation District website at www.oceanaconservation.org or pick up a brochure at your local township or library.
A topic of confusion every year is latex paint vs oil-based paint. Latex paint is not considered hazardous, and is therefore not accepted at the collection event. Oil-based or lead based paint will be accepted. Participants wishing to dispose of paint should check the label before bringing it to the event. To dispose of latex paint, it can be dried out using a drying agent such as kitty litter or sawdust and then disposed of in your regular trash once fully dry.
The annual event is coordinated by a three-county committee that includes Manistee, Mason and Oceana counties. The event is made possible thanks to financial support from the counties, townships and municipalities in the three-county area as well as donations from supporting organizations. However, the event has been challenged in recent years with continued rising disposal costs. Every pound of waste costs $1.14 to dispose of, and the average carload drops off $84 worth of materials. Donations at the time of drop-off are essential to keep the event running. A suggested donation of $15 per car/truck load will help support this year’s collection.
Residents wishing to bring in materials over 200 pounds should call the conservation district ahead of time at (231) 861-5600 x5. Adult volunteers are encouraged to call if interested in helping on collection day or to serve on the Household Waste Steering Committee — meetings are held quarterly in Ludington. Sponsors and donations are always welcomed.
___________________________________________________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
The easiest way is to sign up for an automatic monthly payment on Paypal. Click this link.
Alternative methods:
We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
If you would like to support MCP/OCP but do not wish to receive daily emails, please consider sending a contribution to any of the above methods or pay by Venmo (@masoncountypress).
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2024, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
Please consider helping to fund local news. Mason County Press and Oceana County Press are available for free thanks to the generous support of our advertisers and individuals. Three ways to help us: Venmo: @MasonCountyPress; Paypal: MasonCountyPress@gmail.com; Mail a check to PO BOX 21, Scottville, MI 49454.
fb.com/stars
.jpg)
