(Kansas City, Mo.) – Take a look in your garage or basement. Are you like so many others who have jugs, cans, and bottles of outdated chemicals or paint? Please don’t throw them away! Doing so can harm our streams and rivers. Instead, take them to Kansas City’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility where they can be disposed of properly, for free!
In 2015, customers dropped off 1.3 million pounds of paint, batteries, oils, and fuel.
The facility, located at 4707 Deramus Avenue, accepts drop-offs free of charge every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Accepted items include:
- automotive products
- anti freeze
- batteries
- cfl light bulbs
- fertilizers
- flammables
- fuels
- hazardous cleaners
- hazardous liquids
- household cleaners
- lawn and garden products
- paint
- pesticides
- photographic chemicals
- pool chemicals
- solvents
- thinners
- used oils
Robert Fort is a KC Water Environmental Manager. He says some items that get dropped off require a call to the bomb squad. “We’ve had everything from ammunition from World War Two, to picric acid which is explosive when it crystallizes. We’ve also seen Cuban missile crisis-era containers that had wheat, flour, and canned goods in them.”
The facility is open to residents of Kansas City and more than 50 participating communities. For a list of those communities and the items that are not accepted please click here.
Some items that arrive are brand new or barely used. Those are put in the Swap Shop where residents can take what they want for free.
Looking to repaint a room? “We recycle paint in 5 gallon buckets. We do white, beige, and gray. It’s $20 a bucket and it sells very quickly,” says Fort.
Professionals at this facility safely manage, recycle, and properly discard dangerous household products to protect Kansas City’s groundwater.
For more information, please contact Brooke Givens, Media Relations Coordinator, at brooke.givens@kcmo.org or 816.513.0284.
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KC Water maintains and operates water treatment and distribution systems, stormwater management systems, and wastewater collection and treatment systems for residential and business customers in Kansas City and for wholesale customers in the Kansas City area. KC Water is primarily funded by fees charged to customers based on their use or impacts on the three utility systems.
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