LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Some changes are in store for the hazardous materials collection services that have been offered to Lake County residents through the long-running Hazmobile program.
May will be the last month that Lake County Public Services will use the Mendocino County contractor that has taken the service – in the form of the Hazmobile – to a variety of locations around Lake County over the last several years, according to Public Services Director Caroline Chavez.
The Hazmobile will make its last stop in Middletown from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, May 15, and Saturday, May 16, at South Lake County Fire Station, 21095 Highway 175.
The Public Services Integrated Waste Management Division and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle, have subsidized the Hazmobile as a public service to Lake County residents. The final fiscal year 2014-15 county budget stated that the program's cost was $90,000.
Chavez said that, beginning in June, the services formerly offered by the Hazmobile will be handled by two franchise haulers contracted with the county of Lake.
The new hazardous waste collection responsibilities have been included in the updated contracts between the haulers and the county, she said.
Hazardous waste collection services will now rotate between oppose ends of the lake, in Clearlake and Lakeport, Chavez said, rather than visiting various Lake County communities, including Kelseyville, Lucerne, Middletown and Upper Lake.
Chavez said Clearlake and Lakeport have been the two places where there has been the heaviest usage for the Hazmobile services.
In Clearlake, Southlake Refuse will host the drop-offs at the Eastlake Landfill, 16016 Davis St., telephone, 707-994-8614; Web, www.southlakerefuse.com .
In Lakeport, Lake County Waste Solutions will hold the drop-offs at its transfer station at 230 Soda Bay Road, telephone, 888-718-4888 or 707-234-6400; Web, www.candswaste.com .
The hazardous materials collection services will continue on the third Friday and Saturday of each month at one of the two locations, said Chavez. Dates and times will be announced ahead of time.
As for the rest of the program, “Everything else is the same,” said Chavez.
She said households will still be offered the chance to drop off up to 15 gallons of toxic items free of charge. Fees will be charged for amounts over 15 gallons.
The materials the program will continue to accept include paint, solvents, fuels, five-gallon propane tanks, pool chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, batteries, up to 60 linear feet of fluorescent light tubes and other toxic materials that cannot be put in the trash.
The program does not accept radioactive materials or infectious wastes. It also does not take televisions, computer monitors, ammunition and explosives.
For more information about recycling or solid waste services, visit www.recycling.co.lake.ca.us , call the Recycling Hotline at 707-263-1980 or Public Services at 707-262-1618.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Public Services plans changes to hazardous materials collection services
- Elizabeth Larson
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