The Ecology Action Center has just recently been notified by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency that McLean County was not selected as a site for a Household Hazardous Waste Collection event for this spring. The fact that we have been fortunate enough to have a collection event in past years has likely worked against us.

The Household Hazardous Waste Collection is a very important and useful resource. However, we want to encourage community members to reduce the amount of hazardous wastes you purchase in the first place. We should not only rely on this collection to rid our houses of unwanted and hazardous chemicals, but instead we should use products that are not as harmful to our environment. The more we reduce our use of these chemicals, the less hazardous waste we will need to carefully and specifically dispose of.

The closest IEPA Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event this spring will be in East Peoria. For more details, see the IEPA website at:

http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/household-haz-waste/hhwc-schedule.html .

Alternately, there are a few permanent HHW collection sites in Illinois, located in Naperville, Rockford, Chicago, and Gurnee. Contact information for each of these facilities is located on the same IEPA webpage.

Additionally, we have found that some items people are holding onto for a HHW collection might be items that can be recycled locally. For example:

Compact fluorescent light bulbs may be recycled of at the following collection sites:

• Town of Normal, Facilities Management Parking Lot, 207 S. Linden (across from Vitesse Cycle) accessible 24 hours a day
• City of Bloomington Public Service – Drop Off Facility Blue receptacle located in compound at Jackson Street and East Street (behind Bloomington Public Library). Hours vary seasonally; consult www.cityblm.org or call 309-434-2220 for current hours of operation.
• Springfield Electric, 902 Four Seasons Road in Bloomington Monday - Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Ecology Action Center , 202 W College Avenue Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Home Depot, 795 Veteran's Parkway, Bloomington. You can bring the light bulbs to an associate in the electrical department during business hours.

Menards, 900 Greenbriar Drive, Normal. You can bring CFLs in during store hours.

Residents are asked to wrap CFLs in newspaper or replace in original packaging before recycling to reduce breakage.

Fluorescent Tube Bulbs may be recycled at the following collection sites:

• Home Depot, 795 Veteran's Parkway, Bloomington. You can bring the light bulbs to an associate in the electrical department during business hours.
• Menards, 900 Greenbriar Drive, Normal. You can bring CFLs in during store hours.

Household batteries may be disposed of at the following collection sites during regular business hours:

• Batteries Plus 2109 N. Veteran's Parkway, Bloomington
• Interstate Battery Center 1400 E Lafayette. St. Bloomington

Used motor oil and antifreeze may be disposed of at:

• Baird Automotive 804 Division St., Normal
• Lube Pros 1700 E Empire St., Bloomington
• Jiffy Lube 108 S. Towanda Ave., Normal
• Speed Lube # 5 710 E Washington St., Bloomington
• Speed Lube # 7 1011 B N. Hershey Rd., Bloomington
• Team Automotive 1223 S. Adelaide St., Bloomington

Latex paint can be recycled at Paint Depot at 2407 G.E. Rd., in Bloomington for a nominal fee.

Alternately, latex paint (not oil paints) can safely be disposed of in the garbage if you first allow the paint to dry completely into a dry mass. To aid in absorbing excess latex, add kitty litter or shredded newspaper.

Unused or expired pharmaceuticals can be dropped at:

• Eastland Pharmacy in OSF Eastland Medical Plaza I, 1505 Eastland Drive in Bloomington
• Atrium Pharmacy at BroMenn Regional Medical Center, 1304 Franklin Avenue in Normal
• Merle Pharmacy, 203 E Locust Street in Bloomington
• Chenoa Pharmacy, 209 S Green Street in Chenoa
• Doc's Drugs, 304 Sunset Drive in LeRoy
• Ryan Pharmacy, 1118 E Oakland Ave, Bloomington

Bloomington and Normal police departments are accepting drop-offs of all medicine, including controlled substances/narcotics (strong painkillers like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone) and other prescriptions.

• Bloomington Police Department, 305 S. East Street, Bloomington
• Normal Police Department, 100 E. Phoenix Avenue, Normal
• Illinois State University Student Services Building, 201 N. University St, Normal

Computers, TVs, copiers, phone systems, all types of radios, VCRs, microwaves, blenders, and other electronics may be recycled at the Normal Public Works Garage Electronics Drop-off at 1301 Warriner (off Adelaide), Monday-Friday from 7am to 2pm.

Other household hazardous waste items not listed above (including oil-based paints, paint thinner, herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, drain cleaners, cleaning chemicals, pool chemicals, and mercury containing items such as old thermostats, thermometers, tube fluorescents) all still need to be disposed of at a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event.

We are still going to continue to try and get a collection the next time they schedule one. If you wish to receive an email notification of the next event when it is scheduled, simply send an email to eac-hhw-request@ecologyactioncenter.org with "subscribe" in the subject line. You can also call the Ecology Action Center at (309)454-3169 to be added to the mailing notification list.

Please feel free to contact the Ecology Action Center with any further questions regarding household hazardous waste items.