By Sharon Noguchi
Batteries? Check.
Paint? Check.
Household cleaners? Nail polish? Medications? Check, check, check.
Santa Clara County’s newest facility to collect household hazardous waste opened this weekend to a steady stream of motorists dropping off toxic, corrosive, flammable and otherwise dangerous products — while taking a load off their environmental consciences.
About 500 county residents drove through fast-moving lines as workers at the state-of-the-art San Jose Environmental Innovation Center in the Berryessa neighborhood efficiently unloaded boxes, bags and cans.
The collection facility is the first permanent hazardous-waste drop-off site in mid-county since a previous site in Japantown closed eight years ago.
Robert Meyerott drove a rented pickup carrying items collected from his late father Roland’s Los Altos Hills home. “I’m cleaning out years of junk” that his dad accumulated over 58 years, Meyerott said.
The county has only two other permanent drop-off sites, in San Martin and Sunnyvale. But because both operate only one weekend per month, residents welcomed the new facility, which will be open every Friday and Saturday by appointment only. Businesses may drop off items on scheduled weekday dates.
George Crowe, of Morgan Hill, delivered things from his daughter’s household move in Gilroy, and Kathleen Neece and her brother Ken Neece drove from West San Jose.
Jorge Herrera, 26, said he just bought a fixer-upper in San Jose, and “it was a mess.”
“We’ve been looking for somewhere to dump all this stuff,” Herrera added, motioning to his cargo.
Las Plumas is simply a transit station. Unloaded items are sorted, packaged and shipped to one of 20 facilities, said Ed Ramos, of the county’s household hazardous waste program. Liquid insecticides are sent to be incinerated, corrosive liquids to be neutralized and batteries to be disassembled and recycled. All of the items are packed snugly in cartons weighing about 250 pounds.
The benefit is multifold: to save landfill space, divert dangerous materials and capture valuable ones, reduce hazards in transportation and eliminate toxics in landfills and runoff. Otherwise, Ramos said, “our great-great-grandkids will suffer.”
Workers with contractor Phillips Services sort items by type and toxicity, mindful of not routing latex paint, for example, to more expensive facilities where oil-based paint is treated.
And while the drop-off may be a huge boon for those undertaking major cleanups or moving, it also serves those who bring in just a few items.
“You may have five batteries and one can of paint and think they can be thrown away,” said Cheryl Wessling, of San Jose’s Environmental Services Department. “But you’ve got to think about 1 million people doing the same thing.”
Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/noguchionk12.
hazardous-waste drop-off sites
Santa Clara County residents may make appointments at www.sccgov.org/sites/iwm/hhw to drop off hazardous waste on Fridays and Saturdays in San Jose, and monthly in San Martin and Sunnyvale.
Residents of Palo Alto, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Stanford may drop off hazardous waste from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays at 2501 Embarcadero Way, Palo Alto.
Drop-off is free. Proof of residency is required.
Accepted items include paints, polishes, acids, batteries, poisons, pesticides, solvents, pool chemicals, iodine, perchlorates, propane, helium, small oxygen tanks, smoke detectors and more.
For information on hazardous waste drop-off sites in Santa Clara County, call 408-299-7300. The San Jose Environmental Innovation Center is at 1608 Las Plumas Ave., San Jose. Appointments for drop-off are required.
