Program offers waste removal

By LEON M. TUCKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001

DUNEDIN -- Deb Bush remembers one of the first local household waste collections she helped conduct.

"This little old lady drove in and said she brought something in that her husband kept on a shelf in their garage," the solid waste program supervisor for Pinellas County Utilities said.

It turned out to be a mortar from the Korean War.

"Luckily we had an army veteran there," Bush recalled, adding that a bomb squad had to be called in to get rid of the the grenadelike device.

Officials hope no explosives turn up today, when the city of Dunedin and the county Department of Solid Waste will collect household chemicals and electronics from residents who want to dispose of them safely.

From 9 a.m until 2 p.m., residents can bring the items to the Dunedin Solid Waste Facility at 1070 Virginia Ave.

Items accepted will include household fuels, batteries, fertilizers, pesticides, household chemicals, paints, solvents, used oil, mercury containing devices and electronic equipment.

No explosives.

"A lot of the stereos and televisions have between 5 and 6 pounds of lead in them," Bush said. "So the reason we have this program is to keep these items away from our regular waste stream."

The county has a permanent household collection and storage facility in St. Petersburg, but because it wanted to reach more residents outside that city, mobile collection was started in 1995. The county holds 13 joint collections with various cities each year.

The cities include Safety Harbor, Gulfport, Tarpon Springs, Oldsmar, Largo, Treasure Island and Indian Rocks Beach.

Two Tampa contractors, USL City Environmental Services of Florida, Inc. and Creative Recycling Systems, Inc., will be on site today to help collect the waste and transport it to their facilities for disposal and recycling.

"Basically, what we're going to do is bring the equipment in, take them apart, resell the items that can be sold and recycle the components that we can recycle," said Jon Yob, president of Creative Recycling. "Less than 5 percent will actually go back into the solid waste stream and what does no longer has the hazardous materials in it."

In the past, the collection has turned up items like guns, ammunition, radioactive wastes, biological and infectious wastes, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.

"We just encourage everybody to look under their sinks and in their garages and get those chemicals out of their homes if they're not using them," Bush said.

Items not taken to the Dunedin site can be dropped off at the Household Chemical Collection Center at 2990 110th Ave. North in St. Petersburg. The hours of operation are Mondays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For information, call Pinellas County Utilities Department of Solid Waste Operations at 464-7565.

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