On a recent day at Lane County鈥檚 special-waste center off Glenwood Boulevard in Springfield, cars lined up to drop off cans of old paint and other hazardous materials that homeowners had accumulated over the years.
Helped by the waste center鈥檚 hazmat-suited staff, drivers unloaded cans onto trolleys, to be wheeled into the collection building for sorting by operators wearing black gloves and eye shields.
As part of its years-long effort to deter people from dumping hazardous waste illegally, Lane County鈥檚 Waste Management Division each year collects thousands of tons of dangerous paints and other chemicals, mostly through the Glenwood site 鈥� which is open to the public two days a week 鈥� but also through rural roundup events. In the past 12 months, the county has collected 18 tons of hazardous waste in rural roundups.
This spring鈥檚 roundups brought in 35,836 pounds of hazardous waste from 506 homes in Oakridge, Florence and Cottage Grove. The division collects about 3,000 tons of hazardous waste annually. To encourage people to use the collection system, the county doesn鈥檛 charge residents for the drop-offs.
The purpose is to keep hazardous materials out of landfills, especially Lane County鈥檚 Short Mountain Landfill. Also, the county wants to prevent people from pouring hazardous wastes onto the ground or into sanitary or stormwater sewers.
The problem of illegal dumping was brought home vividly in Veneta earlier this summer, when an unknown person or persons illegally dumped a paint thinner-type substance into the city鈥�s sanitary sewer system. The material ended up in the city鈥檚 sewage treatment plant, killing the bacteria that are critical to breaking down sewage.
The city鈥檚 sewer network 鈥渉ad some sort of toxic material poured into it over the Memorial Day weekend,鈥� City Administrator Ric Ingham said. 鈥淎nd I assume it happened again over the Fourth of July weekend.鈥�
A gallon or two of toxic chemicals is enough to kill the plant鈥檚 bacteria, Ingham said. 鈥淭en days after the second dump, we鈥檙e seeing some incremental improvements鈥� in the plant鈥檚 operation, Ingham said last week. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still in that 30 to 40 percent range for the bugs to be doing what they鈥檙e supposed to be doing.鈥�
At the Glenwood waste collection site, dropped-off waste is organized into 35 to 40 different waste streams, such as acids, reactives, batteries, pesticides and paints. Facility operators sift through the waste and group similar materials together into large metal drums and large plastic boxes. 鈥淭he biggest thing that comes through here is paint,鈥� manager Chad Ficek said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about 65 percent latex-based paints and 35 percent oil-based.鈥�
In Oregon, under the PaintCare program, customers buying paint pay a fee to cover the cost of the collection, transportation, recycling, public outreach and program administration. Waste paint can be dropped off at numerous locations 鈥� including the Glenwood site. The paint collected at the Glenwood waste facility is then shipped to PaintCare to be recycled, repackaged and redistributed by MetroPaint in about 15 different colors, Ficek said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really good paint, and cost-wise it鈥檚 a great deal.鈥�
PaintCare is a nonprofit organization based in Portland that represents paint manufacturers. It operates waste paint stewardship programs in states such as Oregon that have paint stewardship laws. MetroPaint is a paint recycling company in Portland.
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