On Saturday, July 27, and Saturday, August 3, 24 communities will participate in one of the longest-running and most successful household hazardous waste collection programs in New England. Four collection sites will be open each day from 8:30 AM to noon: Belmont, Franklin, Gilford, and Meredith will be open on July 27, and Bristol, Laconia, Moultonborough, and Ossipee will be open on August 3. Residents and property owners in Andover and the other 23 participating communities may bring in up to 10 gallons or 50 pounds of household hazardous products for safe disposal.

Household hazardous waste is all around us. Look under your kitchen or bathroom sink, at the basement workbench, in the garage or garden shed – wherever you store cleaning products, home and vehicle maintenance items, or garden chemicals. If a product label says “Danger,” “Warning,” “Poison,” or “Caution,” the product contains ingredients that are flammable, poisonous, will burn the skin and eyes, or react violently with other chemicals. These items, if disposed of improperly, are a very real threat to our natural environment.

Municipal treatment plants and leachfields are incapable of processing these chemicals. Landfill disposal poses the same risks, and the result is the eventual contamination of our groundwater upon which everyone is dependent.

The Lakes Region Planning Commission understands this problem, and in 1986 pioneered a regional program to prevent injury and environmental pollution from household hazardous waste. Every year since then, the LRPC has helped coordinate annual household hazardous waste collections for communities throughout the region interested in participating in the shared collection program.

It is never too early to start gathering waste for the collection; when opening up a summer camp, preparing to move to a new house, or just cleaning out the garage. Here’s what to gather for Household Hazardous Waste Collection days:

• From the house: drain cleaners, oven cleaners, metal polish, arts and craft supplies, photo chemicals, floor cleaners, dry cleaning fluids, broken fluorescent light bulbs.
• From the yard and garden: pesticides, herbicides, insect sprays, rodent killers, pool chemicals, muriatic acid, pest control strips, cesspool cleaners.
• From the workbench: rust preventatives, wood preservatives and strippers, oil-based paint, paint thinner, solvents, sealants, old chemistry kits.
• From the garage: used motor oil, radiator cleaners, antifreeze, brake fluid, old car batteries, engine and radiator flushes, gasoline, degreasers, transmission fluid.

More information on collection sites and accepted materials can be found at TinyURL.com/AndoverHHW or by calling LRPC at 279-8171.