The annual Lawrence County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event has been scheduled for Saturday, October 28, 2006. The event is sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which provides funding for the collection.

Household hazardous waste will be accepted at the Lawrence County Waste Transfer Station on Baler Drive in Lawrenceburg from 8 am to 12 noon on October 28. There is no charge for participating households.

Proper disposal of household hazardous waste protects the environment and sanitation workers who may come into contact with these materials if thrown away in the garbage.

The mobile collection service is open to any Tennessee resident. The program is limited to households. Businesses, institutions, schools and agri-business operations may not use this service.

Common household hazardous waste items include household cleaners such as drain openers, oven cleaners, wood and metal cleaners and polishes, toilet, tub and tile cleaners and strong disinfectants; automotive products such as oil and fuel additives, grease and rust solvents, carburetor and fuel injector cleaners, starter fluids, grease, waste oil, and welding supplies; home maintenance and improvement products such as paint, varnish, stains, sealers, paint and varnish thinners, strippers and removers, adhesives and roofing tar; lawn and garden products such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers; miscellaneous materials such as dry-cell batteries, fingernail polish remover, pool chemicals, photographic processing chemicals, prescription medicines, aerosols, elemental mercury and mercury-containing devices and fluorescent bulbs; and electronics scrap such as cathode ray tubes, central processing units, and home computer printers.

Excluded items at the household hazardous waste collection event include medical and infectious wastes, ammunition and explosives, radioactive wastes, including smoke detectors, any empty containers, and wastes from non-household sources such as businesses, schools, farms, churches, etc. Small amounts of Latex paint may be dried until solid and thrown away in the regular garbage.

The mobile collection service has been provided to counties since 1993. To date, there have been more than 750 one-day collection events allowing more than 100,000 Tennessee families to safely dispose of almost 6 million pounds of household hazardous waste.