Hazardous waste collection site to open in March
Building completed; agency hiring, training staff
-Messenger photo illustration by Joe Sutter Jessica Moffitt gives a tour of the new HHM facility at the recycling center in this image made from multiple photos. The large main building includes space for storing, packing, and loading household hazardous materials.
-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter Operations Manager Jessica Moffitt explains how various materials can be packed in 55-gallon drums for safe transportation.
-Messenger photo illustration by Joe Sutter Jessica Moffitt gives a tour of the new HHM facility at the recycling center in this image made from multiple photos. The large main building includes space for storing, packing, and loading household hazardous materials.
-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter Operations Manager Jessica Moffitt explains how various materials can be packed in 55-gallon drums for safe transportation.
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Area residents will soon have a place to take used oil, oil paints, lawn chemicals and other potentially hazardous waste.
The Household Hazardous Materials facility is now complete, and will be opening in March 2017.
All work is complete on the building located at the regional recycling center, 2150 S. 22nd St., and the agency is now in the process of hiring staff, said Operations Manager Jessica Moffitt.
"It's going to be nice," Moffitt said. "Webster County and some of the surrounding areas haven't had this, and it's been hard to dispose of hazardous materials."
Some chemicals may seem innocuous in the amounts most people have in their homes, but can pose problems when they collect and become concentrated in a landfill, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The site will take fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury, and aren't dangerous on their own but can become hazardous when everyone throws one away.
The site isn't just for throwing things away. People can drop off items like paint or gardening supplies that are still in good shape, which will be stored in a "swap shop" so others can use them.
"If we get in paint, any of your gardening hazardous wastes, any yard stuff, they'll come here and if it's still usable, if you've got a gallon of paint that's still three quarters full … the public can come here and take that stuff," Moffitt said. "Oil-based paints, latex-based paints, any lawn and garden products, floor sealers, glues, anything like that. We'll try to do some automotive -- oils, antifreezes, things like that. The only thing that won't be recycled here is pesticides."
The site will be open by appointment only, Tuesdays through Fridays and first and third Saturdays of the month.
"I'll have a supervisor and two techs to start with. We'll see how much we get in, how busy we are," Moffitt said. "It's going to be a real learning process for everybody."
There's a drive-through to one side of the building where the public can pull up and technicians will unload the materials. A door to the swap shop is there also.
The main building itself is mostly space for sorting and storage. There is also a haz store room for holding flammables and things that are a little more dangerous.
The site won't take ammunition, explosives, asbestos, medications, and certain appliances. Computers and old tube TVs will still be taken at the recycling center.
Waste is disposed of by multiple companies. One vendor will pick up light bulbs, Moffitt said, while another takes medical waste. Another picks up oil or flammables.
Some items are loaded into 55-gallon drums in smaller containers.
"Then you fill it with a little bit of vermiculite, put some more containers in, more vermiculite," Moffitt said. "It's a way to transport the material safely, so if a container does open that vermiculite is going to soak that up."
"At some point we want to get an oil burner to heat the building," she added. "The EPA likes to have that oil burned rather than try to dispose of it any other way."
Disposal of most things will be free for individuals, though Moffitt said there is a bit of a learning curve as workers learn what the vendors will take.
"We also have a different program we have to work with what they call small quantity generators. That's more of the businesses," she said. "Some of their stuff will have different pricing, because more than likely they'll be coming in with higher volumes of certain things."
Moffitt is now in the process of hiring staff. All will be trained in January in HAZWOPER -- Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response.
Iowa began a household hazardous materials disposal program in 1995. Facilities throughout the state take in about 6.5 million pounds of materials a year.
For more information, call the center at 955-2781 or visit http://www.fortdodgeregionalrecyclingcenter.com.
The North Central Iowa Regional Solid Waste Agency, which runs both the recycling center and the landfill, began talks of building an HHM site in late 2014.
An architect was hired to design the site in May 2015. Kolacia Construction, of Fort Dodge, constructed the site for about $700,000.