Cans of paint collecting dust in the back corner of the garage? Dozens of dead batteries and lightbulbs in your junk drawer? Swimming pool chemicals for the pool you haven’t had in three years in the shed? Anti-freeze and freon you’ve been hanging onto because you know you can’t throw it in the trash?
Saturday will be your day to finally get rid of it safely. The Morgantown Utility Board, in partnership with local governments and services, is hosting its annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at MUB’s office at 278 Green Bag Road. (If you’re going to be up that early on a Saturday, you could drop off your waste, then head downtown for the Morgantown Farmers Market, which opens at 8:30 a.m.)
The event is open to Mon County residents (bring your ID) and has a max limit of 5 gallons and/or 50 pounds of waste per household. You can bring used motor oil, gasoline, transmission fluid, certain types of chemicals, mercury thermometers, propane cylinders, oil-based paint (no latex paint) and more. For a full list of what will and will not be accepted on Saturday, please visit https://mub.org/hhwc.
Please note that this is not the same as the e-cycling event — for disposing of electronics — which will be Sept. 14. For the types of items not accepted at Saturday’s collection event, there are a few other options. Republic Services offers electronics recycling pickups once a month by request. There’s an ongoing monthly drop-off for tires: the second Saturday of every month (Aug. 10 for this month) from 8 a.m. to noon at 200 M-Tec Drive.
The Dominion Post also offers drop-off recycling year-round. You can bring your newspapers, magazines and cardboard to our drop-off location around the back of our warehouse (between our main building and the Aldi parking lot).
Recycling and safely disposing of waste isn’t always convenient or easy, but it’s one of the things we can do as individuals to help reduce trash and keep hazardous materials out of landfills, which makes it well worth the effort.
