Household Hazardous Waste Removal

HOLLIDAYSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY --- The Blair County Department of Solid Waste and Recycling held a hazardous waste collection Saturday in Hollidaysburg.  Anyone in Blair County could bring hazardous material to the collection and dispose of it safely.  People brought many items such as paint, garden chemicals and car batteries.  Workers say it's important to get these wastes out of your house to keep you and your family safe.

“These are hazardous materials,” Terry Stacey of the Blair County Department of Solid Waste and Recycling said.  “It's better that those things that aren't going to be used don't continue to sit around in a house or a garage.  Let's get them out of where families are and also where firefighters might need to be at some point."

The collection and waste removal was handled by the Care Environmental Corporation.  After the hazardous material leaves Blair County it will be taken to Cincinnati.  Workers there will sort the waste and either put it in an ecologically friendly landfill or incinerate it.

Workers for the Care Environmental Corporation wanted people to know that even everyday household items can be hazardous.

“Many people don’t think some items they have under their kitchen sinks or in their garages are hazardous, but they can be dangerous if not handled properly,” Dan Schweitzer of Care Environmental Corporation said.

Schweitzer said it’s also important that people in larger towns and cities be extremely careful with throwing away hazardous material because it greatly affects our environment.

"When we have a community such as Altoona where the population density is very high, if everyone throws away a pint, a quart, or a gallon of hazardous material it becomes a numbers effect,” Schweitzer said.  “It could have an impact on the environment."