Hazardous Waste Facility to Make Disposal Easier in Putnam County

Putnam County’s hazardous household waste facility is expected to open by the end of this fiscal year in June.

County Executive Randy Porter said the facility will be important in helping keep toxic materials out of the county’s environment.

“If you have those kinds of materials being put in the regular garbage, they’re in the trash trucks, they’re at our transfer station, they’re in the big trucks going to the landfills,” Porter said. “You’re risking people’s lives that are doing that work and transporting that garbage if you’re putting those kinds of materials in the typical household waste.”

Porter said plans are being drawn and environmental tests are underway prior to the construction of the new facility. He adds the new facility will allow people to dispose of the materials much sooner.

“As soon as we get this facility open next spring, they’ll have a place Monday through Friday to be able to drop off those kinds of materials and not have to store them  for a year at a time,” Porter said.

Currently, residents with hazardous waste are only able to dispose of it via a mobile waste unit that visits the area once a year.

Shannon Reece is the Executive Coordinator of the Keep Putnam County Clean Commission. She said having the facility will allow residents to dispose of hazardous household waste quicker and easier.

“People have [chemicals], they want to get rid of them, and when they decide they want to get rid of them, they want to get rid of them now,” Reece said. “Sometimes people will dispose of them improperly because they do not want to hold onto them until the one-year event.”

The mobile waste disposal unit will be at the Putnam County Fairgrounds this Saturday beginning at 8 a.m., potentially the last visit until the new facility opens next year.