Honey Island Group, Sierra Club -- St. Tammany Parish Household Hazardous-Waste Collection Day

Announcing St. Tammany Parish's Second
Household Hazardous-Waste Collection Day!
Saturday, March 24th, 2007 from 9:00am to noon

Want to help generate some buzz? Here's a printable flier to pass around!

Click here for some help finding Northshore recyclers.

Other Links:

We co-hosted St. Tammany's first two Household Hazardous-Waste Collection Days in October 2006 and March 2007. Click here for more on the first, here for info on the second, and here for stuff on household hazardous waste in general.

Contacts:
Diane Casteel
999diane@gmail.com
985.626.5268 (home)
985.875.0080 Ext. 10 (work)

Brett Henry
St. Tammany Parish Department of Environmental Services
bhenry@stpgov.org
985.898.2535
Link

Did you know...

All light bulbs contain mercury and lead!

Americans use an average of five cordless products a day. That's a lot of batteries!

CRT computer monitors contain almost four pounds of lead.

More than three billion household dry cell batteries are sold and discarded in the US each year, producing more than 125,000 tons of waste!

Consumer electronics constitute 40% of the lead found in landfills.

E-waste includes both poisonous and some reclaimable components (such as copper and other precious metals).

It takes almost three ounces of oil to produce a brand new toner cartridge and over ten centuries for the plastic in them to decompose.

Over the next few days and weeks, we'll be making changes to this page frequently, so please check back here often and see what's new!!

Many common household items contain heavy metals (mercury, lead, and others) and other chemicals that are harmful when released into the environment. This happens when rainwater percolates through a landfill and those contaminants merge with the ground water.

Then they are on their way into lakes and seas, where they can be absorbed by algae and bacteria, assimilated by seaweed, and passed on to fish. Other contaminants in the landfill can evaporate and later condense into acid rain which also joins the food chain.

Eventually they can arrive on our dinner tables!

You can help! The Honey Island Group and the St. Tammany Parish Department of Environmental Services have scheduled our second collection day at a central location where Northshore citizens can bring household hazardous waste. It will be on Saturday, March 24th, 2007 from 9:00am to noon at the

Koop Drive Parish-Administrative Complex*

We have two purposes:
1. To educate the public on the dangers of simply discarding some things into our trash cans; and
2. To provide an ongoing alternative.

* Location: 21490 Koop Drive, Mandeville. Turn north at the I-12 exit (#65) for LA59. The St. Tammany Parish Administrative Complex is about a half-mile north on the left (west). Signs will direct you to the Household Hazardous-Waste collection area.

(Click To here in the white balloon to the right of "Get Directions", key in your location, and press Enter or click Go -- and you'll have a map with driving directions.)

Here are the items we will collect:

Latex and oil-based paints, polyurethane coatings, and stains in original containers with readable labels (please do not mix the types and no spray paint!)

Mineral spirits, kerosene, lamp oil, turpentine, and tung, linseed, neat’s-foot, and cotton oils in original containers with readable labels

E-waste: Computers and miscellaneous computer equipment, monitors, copiers, fax machines, TVs, microwaves, stereos/radios, VCR/DVD players, typewriters

Cell phones

Printer and inkjet cartridges

Batteries of all kinds: Rechargeable, alkaline, lithium, car, phone, hearing aid, and so on

All incandescent and (especially) fluorescent light bulbs

Thermometers, thermostats, and other items containing mercury

Used tires (limit of 5 per household and no rims attached)

Pool your materials with friends and neighbors and come early, but -- please remember -- we can accept materials only between 9:00am and 12:00noon. And -- this is important -- we will accept no commercial waste and no waste oil (such as automotive motor oil). Please do not bring these to the site!

We still need...

Advertising: Articles in the press, spots on local TV, radio, and other media

Volunteers to pass out educational fliers and to help spread the word.

Also, based on the number of households participating in October, we estimate we will need upward of 60 volunteers the morning of the event (18 years or older). The early shift (8:00am to 1:00pm) will unload vehicles and sort materials; the later one (1:30pm to 4:30pm) will stow the materials for transport. Please contact Diane at 985.626.5268 or 999diane@gmail.com to sign up.

To offer monetary donations or donations of gloves, goggles, refreshments, printing of advertising fliers, and so on, please contact Brett Henry at 985.898.2535

If you have personal contacts with any groups (churches, schools, clubs, scouts, and any others) who could help to educate our community and encourage residents to bring items, please pass on this information. Click here for a printable flier here for a smaller dialup version.

*Links to more information:*
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)	Additional Web Links

Last updated: 3.3.2007