The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s (TDEC) mobile household hazardous waste collection service starts Saturday in Cheatham and Marion counties.
TDEC’s collection service allows all Tennesseans to discard household hazardous waste at a designated drop-off location safely. The collection service is free and does not require an appointment.
This weekend’s drop-off locations are:
- Cheatham County – Harpeth Middle School, 170 Harpeth View Trail, Kingston Springs, 8 a.m.-noon. The contact is Mike Russell at (615) 792-2059.
- Marion County – Lowes Parking Lot, 525 Dixie Lee Center Rd., Kimball, 8 a.m.-noon. The contact is Matthew Deist at (423) 942-2656.
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) is “any unwanted or spent household product that can catch fire easily (flammable), eat away at or irritate living tissue (corrosive), react violently with water or other chemicals (reactive), or be poisonous to humans and animals (toxic),” according to TDEC.
The average home in Tennessee produces 20 pounds of household hazardous waste each year, TDEC notes. Since the program’s formation in 1993, more than 360,000 Tennessee households have properly disposed of more than 23 million pounds of material for more than 1,400 one-day collection events., according to the department.
“We are pleased to provide this opportunity to dispose of household hazardous waste properly,” TDEC Commissioner David Salyers said in a statement. “We want to make it as convenient as possible for Tennesseans to demonstrate their commitment to protecting the environment.”
TDEC advises those taking advantage of this weekend’s collection service to transport their materials in sturdy boxes lined with newspaper to prevent spills and cross-contamination in the trunk of a car or the back of a truck. In addition, materials should either be kept in the original container or placed in a labeled plastic jug with a secure lid.
For a complete list of what items are considered acceptable and unacceptable for TDEC’s mobile household hazardous waste collection service, please visit https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/environment/sw-mm-household-hazardous-waste-program/sw-mm-household-hazardous-waste-acceptable-unacceptable-items.html
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Hazardous Waste Material Collection” by U.S. Army Environmental Command. CC BY 2.0.
