Clean out the shed, appease the spouse at Burnet County hazardous waste collection
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
BURNET — A walk through backyard sheds or garages often turns up old containers of toxic chemicals: a bottle of pesticide with a slight sheen on the outside as if the stuff is permeating through the plastic; a milk jug full of used motor oil from last year; or a couple cans of latex paint left over from the winter you repainted the bedrooms.
Every time you walk by these containers, you tell yourself you’ll take get rid of them.
But it’s always someday.
Well, someday has arrived. Actually, it’s Sept. 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Burnet Fairgrounds, 1225 Houston Clinton Drive (behind the municipal airport.)
Make plans to drop off dangerous chemicals during the 2014 Burnet County Household Hazardous Waste Collection. While the county and municipalities (along with the city of Horseshoe Bay) have hosted the event in years past, this one is a bit of change.
And a good one.
“This will be a little bit different because we’ll have a full-blown chemical collection,” said Burnet County Precinct Commissioner Joe Don Dockery. In past years, the collection was typically limited to batteries, oil, paint and antifreeze as well as tires and a few other things. Chemicals, such as household pesticides and cleaners, were left out.
People can now safely dispose of those items at the collection this year.
Dockery said the expansion of the collection not only helps people clean out their sheds, workshops and garages but also keeps area lakes, rivers and groundwater clean.
If people dump those items into the ground or just throw them out on a county road or an illegal dump, the chemicals can eventually work their way into the water supply. That could lead to possible contamination of drinking water and the environment.
A Saturday trip to the Burnet County Fairgrounds helps protect those resources as well as making room in your garage. Plus, your wife will quit asking you when you’re going to get rid of those four tires stacked up outside the back door before some critters decide to take up residence in them.
Some of the items you can drop off include: televisions; household hazardous chemicals; compressed gas cylinders (aerosols and camp stove propane); fluorescent lamp bulbs; household products labeled “caution,” warning” or “poison”; petroleum-based paints, stains and varnishes; lead-acid and rechargeable batteries; cell phones and telephones; computer components and parts; used motor oil and filters; transmission and brake fluid; latex paint; pool chemicals; antifreeze; lawn and garden chemicals; and tires up to 24 inches (no rims.)
There is a limit of 10 tires per household at no charge with a $2 charge per tire thereafter.
The event is open to residents of Burnet County and the city of Horseshoe Bay.
Go to burnetcountytexas.org and click the “News & Info” tab at the top of the page for more information.
editor@thepicayune.com