Do you have a mystery container of potentially hazardous material lurking in a shed, the garage, or your basement, and you’re not sure what to do with it?
Residents throughout the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) will soon be able to dispose of these items safely via a new Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) receiving facility, which will be open year-round, five days a week, at the Mount Paul Industrial Park in Kamloops. At its meeting on Oct. 26, the TNRD Board of Directors voted unanimously to award a contract to North-Wood Environmental Services to operate the site.
The contract is for a maximum value of $1,000,000 for a five-year term, with the contract costs to be shared evenly with the City of Kamloops. The TNRD will continue to operate collection services at all Eco-Depots for in-scope HHW materials, with unacceptable material being directed to the year-round HHW facility.
Household Hazardous Waste is the term used to describe a broad range of items, including solvents and flammable liquids, gasoline, pesticides, toxics, corrosives, and other physically hazardous products generated from residential activities.
In the past the TNRD — in partnership with the City of Kamloops — held annual HHW collection single-day round-up events in member municipalities, with one event in Kamloops and one or two events in other communities. The events were well-received, and were utilized by approximately 3,500 residents, generating 15,000 litres and 2,500 kilograms of materials.
However, the events limited residents to only one day a year to drop off materials. A 2021 waste composition study of waste disposed of in the TNRD revealed 2.6 per cent of the waste stream is HHW. Examples of HHW found in the waste audit included batteries, paint, fertilizers, pesticides, automotive oil/filters/containers, antifreeze, solvents, propane and pressurized tanks, empty hazardous waste containers, and containers with product remaining.
These hazardous materials need to be kept out of landfills in order to comply with Operational Certificates and applicable regulations and to mitigate negative environmental impacts.
Adriana Mailloux, the TNRD’s Manager of Solid Waste and Recycling, stresses that while TNRD Eco-Depots will continue to accept many common HHW items — including used oil and oil filters, paint, antifreeze, and batteries — the new facility will have a much broader scope of what it will take, including items that can’t be identified.
”If you have something unlabelled, unknown, or leaking, you can’t take it to an Eco-Depot,” she explains. “Even if it’s a paint can with no label or an illegible label, you can’t take it to an Eco-Depot. We don’t have specialised tools on-site to identify unlabelled items, and there are regulations around site safety, storage, and the protection of workers.”
In the past, she adds, people had two options to dispose of HHW that is not accepted at Eco-Depots: hold on to the items until the next round-up a year later, or take it to an environmental remediation company in Kamloops, which charged customers a fee.
“There will be free drop-off for residential material at the year-round facility,” she notes. “So if you have a weird little jar, round it up, bring it in, and drop it off free of charge.”
Mailloux says that these “mystery items” are often things people leave behind when they move out of a property: “The former owner didn’t know what to do with it, so you inherit it.” Items are also found when elderly family members move into a new place.
“They can be a huge danger to pets and kids,” Mailloux cautions, noting that even metal containers can rust and corrode. “Now stuff is leaking all over, and being exposed to pets and children and family members. Best to bring it in and have it dealt with properly.”
Before bringing it in, however, Mailloux advises people to contact their local TNRD Eco-Depot.
“Talk to the local site staff about what you have first, to see if it can be accepted at the local Eco-Depot. Most items can be, as the program is pretty robust. If the site attendant says it’s not accepted, you can take it to the facility in Kamloops.”
She adds that anyone handling HHW — particularly if they’re not sure what it is — should take precautions, such as wearing protective gloves, putting items inside something else to contain it and prevent spills and leaks, and to wrap glass items in a towel to prevent leakage during transport.
The facility will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will have a full-time staff person available to receive materials from residents, complete the required paperwork, and identify and package materials properly. Materials will then be transported to end of life or recycling destinations.
Residential HHW will be accepted at no charge, while commercial and industrial waste generators will be required to pay to dispose of hazardous materials. Explosives, PCB, radioactive, and biomedical wastes will not be accepted.
Asked when the new HHW receiving facility will open, Mailloux says there’s no firm date at this point.
“We have a few things that are still being wrapped up, but hopefully it will be open in December 2023. We’re working on it as hard as we can, and will be putting information out as soon as it’s available.”
