Residents have one more opportunity to dispose of their household chemicals safely at the Pennsylvania Resources Council drive-thru collection event this Saturday at Hazelwood Green.
Presented in partnership with PPG and the Pittsburgh Penguins, it will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants must register in advance online or by calling 412-488-7490.
This is the ninth household chemical collection this year, planned by PRC and its partners, according to a PRC news release and Collection Events Manager Josh Schuneman.
A $20 fee will cover the cost of disposing up to 10 gallons/50 pounds of aerosol cans, automotive fluids, chemistry sets, electronic cigarettes/vapes, gasoline and kerosene, household cleaners, mercury thermometers, paint products, pesticides/garden chemicals, batteries, camp fuel and small propane bottles, compact fluorescent bulbs, smoke detectors, photo chemicals and pool chemicals.
Loads exceeding 10 gallons/50 pounds will be subject to additional fees at discretion of on-site staff. Participants will also pay $12 per fire extinguisher and $15 per pound of liquid mercury.
Registrants just need to pack their items in their vehicles’ trunks or truck beds. They will enter Hazelwood Green, 4601 Lytle St., through Second Avenue. Directional signs will be posted to lead them to the exact collection location, Schuneman said, as construction work is ongoing throughout that area. Once drivers arrive and check in, certified contractors will unload the chemicals.
PRC can offer the collection at a low affordable cost because of partnerships, governmental assistance and financial sponsors, Schuneman said. The total to dispose of the 10 gallons/50 pounds of household chemicals really is about $80. Throughout the state, he continued, just a few for-profit organizations offer similar disposal sites and collections, so access can be another issue, too, for residents.
If these chemicals end up in landfills, “many contain toxic elements that can leach into our waterways or introduce dangerous toxins into our environment,” PRC Executive Director Darren Spielman said in the news release. Since 2003, PRC has facilitated the safe management of more than 6 million pounds of household chemicals.
Schuneman said unsafe disposal can result in reactions with other chemicals in those landfills, causing more problems. “One of the issues is heat buildup. Toxification can be bad also. … We have much more geographic water runoff because [Western Pennsylvania] has more streams, more creeks, more rivers, more hillsides for stuff to go down. The risk of fire [from chemical reactions] is not zero either.”
PPG and the Penguins have partnered with PRC since 2021, Schuneman said. Just like the other partners and sponsors, they help promote the event and lead residents to educational material on issues arising when residents throw these chemicals away in regular garbage collections.
“PPG is committed to offering consumers a safe and reliable way to dispose of or recycle household chemicals as part of our ongoing focus on sustainability and product stewardship,” said Rhonda Vete, PPG global director, product stewardship. “We encourage the community to join PPG and the PA Resources Council and clear out the products in their garage or basement for proper disposal.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an average home can easily accumulate 100 pounds or more of cleaners, automotive fluids, paints, pesticides and other products containing potentially hazardous components. While these products are safe to use if proper precautions are taken, problems generally arise via improper use or disposal.
In 2024 PRC has offered chemical collections in Allegheny, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette and Washington counties. That reach has been standard since Schuneman joined the staff in 2020. He is hopeful of adding Butler County to that list after a successful e-waste collection this year in Karns City. He said 200 people brought items to that event, which surprised and delighted PRC staff.
“We would appreciate more opportunities to bring more collection events to people out there,” Schuneman said.
PRC has also tried some weekday collections for its e-waste program, shifting some of its approach to reaching the public and recognizing some people work on the weekends and can’t travel to events scheduled then. The chemical collections, though, are larger in scale and need to stay on Saturdays. They also required contractor assistance, as the event and disposal itself are labor intensive.
Schuneman said PRC is very grateful for governmental assistance, including North and South parks’ staff who help with mobilization and assist with all the collection events. They help make it all work smoothly for participants, he said.
In addition to PPG, Penguins, Hazelwood Green and Allegheny County Parks Department, PRC 2024 collection event sponsors and partners included Allegheny County Health Department, Beaver County commissioners, Cambria County Solid Waste Authority, Fayette County commissioners, Washington County Planning Commission, Fayette County Recycling Convenience Center, Colcom Foundation, LANXESS, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania American Water, UPMC, Concurrent Technologies Corp., Washington Wild Things and Washington County Family Entertainment.
All the work is personal to Schuneman, who has an almost 1-year-old son. “My family has grown up four generations concerned about this, five with my son,” he said. “We’ve made so much progress in the way we live our lives here in terms of pollution. If not, our water would be dirty and our air toxic. I don’t want that.”
One goal for PRC is establishing a permanent hard-to-recycle facility, something the entire state is lacking save for one grandfathered site in Lancaster. Schuneman said PRC staff is working on the permitting required by the state to develop that in the future.
In the meantime, he is pleased that PRC “collections have become institutions in the community. It’s nice to know that we’re needed there.”
To that end he started planning 2025 collection events back in early summer, which will begin the first weekend in May. Schuneman said he would love to go back to Karns City, hoping to bring a chemical collection to Butler County as well. If not, the events will start in North Park.
For more information, visit www.prc.org/CollectionEvents or call 412-488-7490.
Helen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Contact her at hfallon@unionprogress.com.