Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Hazardous Waste Collection Problems

Photo credit: Matt Robert / Spotted in Chambana

The Champaign area had a long overdue Illinois EPA one-day collection event (see older Cheat Sheet post on local demand for this event) for hazardous materials collection. Unfortunately the event was overwhelmed by the turnout, in spite of the registration process meant to avoid congestion. From the News-Gazette yesterday:
More than 1,450 people signed up to bring their unwanted hazardous household products such as pesticides and weed killers to the drive-through collection in Champaign, according to Susan Monte, the county’s recycling coordinator.

Only about 700 people actually reached the head of the line, where disposables were being unloaded, and many of the rest either gave up and left due to the long wait or were turned away when participation was cut off in the afternoon, according to Monte...

The cities of Champaign, Urbana and Savoy joined Champaign County in partnering in the event with the IEPA, but local governments were responsible only for providing the host location, traffic control and publicizing the event, Monte said.

She observed a lot of frustration with what, at various times, was a one-to-three-hour wait in line...

Local governments are now waiting to learn whether the IEPA will hold another collection event in Champaign-Urbana soon, Monte said.
Full article with additional information here. Earlier coverage of the backed up lines and frustration here. So far I haven't seen any updates for any new collection events this fall or 2020, but I'll update this post when I do.

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