It's a long running program to keep hazardous waste out of our landfills.
Rockford approved renewing its contract with the state E.P.A. to continue its household hazardous waste program.
Weekends in Rockford can seem kind of scary at this disposal site. But the haz-mat suits allows these workers to get rid of dangerous garbage.
"It's getting rid of things that if they were put into the regular waste stream, would be a problem for the landfills to handle and so they don't dispose of in a random fashion by the homeowners."
The state E.P.A. picks up the cost of picking up paint, tires, oil, and chemicals. Keeping them from getting into ground water. The contractor will sort them out and hand them off to the proper disposal sites. Property Improvement Manager Charles Schaefer says they can get overwhelmed.
"It's really popular, in fact that's why we need to schedule people for special pickups when they have large items because it holds up the line."
The waste pickup started in the early nineties after a huge turnout for an Illinois clean up day.
"People were lined up for four hours waiting to dispose of their hazardous waste there was no other option."
Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful takes calls regularly from people asking how to dispose of hazardous materials. Rockford's collection is open to any Illinois resident. And Executive Director Lori Gummow says the collection was unique.
"Rockford was number two, and for years we were only one of two permanent facilities in the state of Illinois, other communities were still applying for the one day sweeps."
Other cities have started up permanent collection facilities as the E.P.A. has phased out one day collections because of a lack of money. Gummow says it's important to keep the pickup going.
"You don't want it going in the garbage truck and leaking as its taken down the city street, you don't want the chemicals going into a landfill."
For times and a list of what's accepted, click here.
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