BLOOMINGTON — Next month, McLean County residents will be able to dispose of hazardous household wastes at a local site, for the first time since 2007.

A locally-funded hazardous household waste collection event will be held from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. September 29 in the parking lot of the Interstate Center, 2301 W. Market St., Bloomington.

Only McLean County residents will be able to dispose of hazardous household wastes, including household cleaners, yard chemicals, aerosol cans, oil-based paints, varnishes, thinners, fluorescent lamps, electronics and items containing mercury, such as thermostats and thermometers, during the event.
“We will be asking for some kind of identification to show that everybody is a county resident,” said Ecology Action Center Director Michael Brown. “It will be limited to residential waste. No business-generated waste will be accepted.”
The Ecology Action Center launched a fundraising effort in December to help them raise $150,000 for the hazardous household waste collection event. Through the fundraising effort, they have raised $109,016.
“We’re about three quarters of the way to our goal of $150,000, so we feel like we’re right on track to where we need to be,” said Brown. “We’ve got about two months until the event actually happens on September 29, so we’re working hard to make people aware of the event, but also that we need help covering the funds.”
If the Ecology Action Center is unable to raise $150,000, the event will still be held.
“We signed a contract with the vendor who will be handling, transporting and disposing of the waste,” said Brown. “There is a financial risk if we do not get full support from the community on this.”
Several individuals, businesses, organizations and municipalities in McLean County have contributed their support for the event, including the City of Bloomington, Town of Normal, McLean County, Allied Waste Services, Midwest Fiber Recycling, State Farm Insurance, COUNTRY Financial, WGLT, Radio Bloomington, Connoisseur Media, McLean County Farm Bureau, University of Illinois Extension Office and Home Sweet Home Ministries.
“We have a growing list of helpers and supporters who are helping out in various ways through either making contributions to help cover the cost or help with promoting the event itself, getting the word out to the public,” said Brown.
Home Sweet Home Ministries will recycle and/or sell the electronics collected during the event.
“They’re (Home Sweet Home Ministries) accepting the electronics that will be brought to the event,” said Brown. “They will recycle them properly.”
Around 2,000 households participated in the McLean County hazardous household waste collection event that was held in 2007 and sponsored in part by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. About 18,000 gallons of hazardous waste was collected during that event.
McLean County stopped organizing its annual hazardous household waste collection event in 2008 because the State of Illinois stopped providing funds for them.
“In the past, it was paid for largely by the State of Illinois, but this time around it’s just all local support,” said Brown. “This is the first time ever that it’s been a locally-funded event. We’ve continued to request funding from the state, but they haven’t had any available for us.”
“It’s hard to tell” if the Ecology Action Center will be able to organize the locally-funded event on an annual basis, said Brown.
“Our immediate goal was to make this happen— make it happen once since it has been such a long time,” said Brown. “Once we have it finished successfully we will kind of evaluate how it’s all gone and then make plans as far as what we’ll do next year — if we’ll start fundraising for the next event or if we’ll look at alternate ways to pay for it.
“We know there is a need. We get phone calls on a daily basis from people who are looking to dispose these kinds of things properly.”
To donate funds for the hazardous household waste collection event, go to www.ecologyactioncenter.org or mail a check to: EAC, 202 W. College Ave., Normal, IL 61761.