ANTIGO — The Langlade County Conservation Office will host its hazardous waste disposal event outside the multipurpose building of the fairgrounds Saturday, Aug. 3 from 8 to 11 a.m.
At the biennial event, officially called the 2024 Langlade County Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep and Medication Disposal, county residents can drop off hazardous household wastes such as cleaning chemicals, solvents, and pesticides, as well as pharmaceuticals, at no cost.
Langlade County Conservation Specialist Amber Ryan, the event’s lead organizer, is hoping as many community members as possible take advantage of the free opportunity to dispose of any unwanted hazardous waste items taking up space on their properties.
“There’s a lot of things you buy that you just don’t know what to do with or can sit in your yard that could be potentially harmful to the environment — a big one being pesticides, or other chemicals that can get into the groundwater and can have significant health effects on the public. Giving the public the opportunity to get rid of things that could harm their health and other people’s health is really important, as well as just making sure that they know how to use them properly so they’re protecting themselves.”
The county has contracted the hazardous waste disposal firm Veolia to process whatever materials residents discard on Aug. 3, which entails incineration, stabilization of chemicals to render them less reactive, and burial in underground storage containers.
Locals that wish to dispose of hazardous waste items they are storing at their farms or small businesses can also drop them off during the event, though under different conditions.
“The public, they’re going to have smaller amounts of waste, so it’s going to be free and covered,” Ryan explained. “But then for any agricultural or any businesses or anyone bringing large amounts of waste, we recommend that you pre-register to let us know what kind of chemicals to expect so we can prepare Veolia for the type of disposal we’ll need or the means they might need to haul that much waste and that certain type, and there will be a fee associated with that for the small businesses. Plus, then we can also schedule a time for them to come so they can just get in and dispose of it right away and not have to really wait in a line.”
The Clean Sweep program is funded by grants from the Department of Agriculture, and Ryan said she is in the midst of investigating requirements for a DNR grant that could fund a countywide electronics disposal event like the extremely well-attended one held in 2023.
“The Clean Sweep currently is happening every other year, but if we could have one for e-waste in between those years and do that every other year as well, I think that would be another opportunity so there’s always a way for community members to get rid of their waste,” she said.
According to Ryan, the county has held a hazardous waste disposal event every two years since 1995. Participation has varied, peaking in 2010, when 263 residents dropped off waste items, and waning in the past decade, during which time the event averaged approximately 128 participants.
Ryan said the lower participation figures of late could mean people are unaware of the event, unwilling to dispose of hazardous waste materials properly, or, perhaps, that the program has worked well.
“It could mean that after having all these years of all this disposal, there is less waste in the community,” Ryan said. “But continuing to have this as an opportunity to dispose of that and promoting that and having it be a regular tradition I think can help remove the pesticides or the contaminants from homes and the environment.”
Community members dropping off their hazardous wastes at the fairground Aug. 3 should load them in their trunks or truck beds and remain in their vehicles while contractors remove the items. To ensure wastes can be easily identified, all items should be left in their original bottles if possible. This applies to pharmaceuticals as well, though residents’ own names on, say, prescription labels, can be blackened, and their containers can be handed through their vehicle windows.
For more information on this year’s Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep program, including about the specific types of hazardous wastes that will and will not be accepted at the event, contact the Land Conservation Office at 715-627-6292.
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