Dispose household hazardous waste safely with King County's Wastemobile in Bothell/Kenmore

The Wastemobile travels to Bothell/Kenmore May 26-28

Wondering what to do with leftover paint, dead car batteries or other household hazardous items uprooted during spring cleaning? King County residents can properly dispose of these items and others by dropping them by the King County Wastemobile, May 26-28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the UW Bothell and Cascadia Community College in Bothell/Kenmore.

The Wastemobile is operated by King County as part of the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program. King County residents can drop off hazardous household waste items, including pesticides, chlorine bleach, paint products, automotive products (oil, antifreeze, auto batteries, etc.), fluorescent bulbs/ballasts and other items free of charge. By properly disposing of these materials and keeping them out of drains and landfills, King County residents are helping safeguard the environment.

The Wastemobile will be located in the southwest parking lot of the UW Bothell and Cascadia Community College campus at 18115 Campus Way NE.

Created in 1989, the Wastemobile was the first program of its kind in the nation. In its first 16 years in operation, the program collected 13,771 tons of household hazardous waste from 306,800 customers.

"The intent of the program is to ensure safe, proper disposal of hazardous products people have in their homes," said Alexandra Thompson of King County's Solid Waste Division. "Our goal is to make disposal of these hazardous materials easy so that they won't end up in the normal household trash. The number of residents that come out to these events lets us know that we are providing an important and convenient service."

Thompson said the Wastemobile's visit to Bothell/Kenmore in 2005 proved extremely successful. Participation was up by 90 percent from 2004 and more than 70,000 pounds of household hazardous materials were gathered for proper disposal.

"Last year's event in Bothell/Kenmore is a great indicator of the growing popularity of the program," said Thompson. "We're hoping to experience even greater success this year."

The next Wastemobile event is scheduled for June 2-4 at the King County Fairgrounds in Enumclaw.

For more information, including acceptable materials and quantity limits, call the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program's Household Hazards Line at 206-296-4692, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., except holidays. Recorded information is available after hours. Information is also available on the Wastemobile Web site at www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/disposal/wastemobile/index.html

Para la información detallada acerca de este servicio o para dejar algún recado en español, por favor llame por el teléfono: 206-296-4692, marque 2.