Hazardous Waste Pickup Set : L.A. Residents May Turn In Chemicals From Homes

Los Angeles residents who have hazardous household materials such as paint thinner, motor oil, old batteries and pesticides stored in garages and beneath sinks can safely dispose of them under a new program, city officials said Monday. Residents may drop off such materials on a specified day at eight locations beginning Jan. 21 and ending Nov. 18, and workers will haul the waste to a licensed landfill.

Councilwoman Joy Picus introduced the program in front of her garage, where she had piled toxic refuse from her own house. It included old paint, rat poison and several spent cans of insecticide.

The $700,000 program will be operated by the Department of Public Works’ Sanitation Bureau. It is aimed at reducing the amount of hazardous materials that are illegally thrown away in household trash cans or are dumped down drains into sewers, said Chuck Ellis, a public works spokesman.

When such materials are dumped into landfills not equipped to handle hazardous materials, they eventually seep into the earth, polluting ground water, Ellis said. The dangerous chemicals also have led to injuries to trash collectors who lift cans and are susceptible to splatters.

“Prior to this program, there was no legal means provided by the city to dispose of this stuff,” Ellis said. Residents cleaning their homes would have to call a private refuse collector to haul away hazardous chemicals.

Although it is a misdemeanor to dispose of products such as paints, solvents and old motor oil--even in small amounts--in the weekly trash collection, “most people just throw it away anyway,” Ellis said.

Such disposal programs already are in effect elsewhere in Los Angeles County. In past years, sanitation districts have sponsored such collections in the San Gabriel Valley and Calabasas.

Other than the program of one-day collections, Los Angeles residents can dispose of hazardous materials by other means only in two pilot program areas on the Eastside.

Under the $600,000 Eastside pilot program, which began in October and ends in April, residents can call and make an appointment with the city sanitation department to pick up dangerous wastes at their homes. Workers have been responding to about 10 calls a day, city officials said.

The Eastside program met with more than three years of political resistance and delays in obtaining permits. In mid-1985, Los Angeles city sanitation officials introduced the curb side pickup program, but ran into obstacles trying to find a location to temporarily store the waste until it could be hauled to a toxic dump in Kern County.

Permits were finally given to store the wastes in drums for less than 90 days at a city maintenance yard on San Fernando road in northeast Los Angeles.

In the city’s roundup program, wastes will be directly hauled to the Kern County dump by a private contractor.

The dates and locations of the parking lots where collections will take place are as follows:

Jan. 21--Reseda, Municipal Building parking lot, 19040 Vanowen St.

Feb. 26--West Los Angeles, Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd.

April 15--Van Nuys, Los Angeles Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave.

May 20--South-Central Los Angeles, city maintenance lot, 5860 S. Wilton Place.

June 24--Harbor area, Narbonne High School, 24300 S. Western Ave.

Aug. 19--Granada Hills, Coast Savings & Loan, 18000 Chatsworth St.

Oct. 28--Elysian Park, Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park.

Nov. 18--Sun Valley, refuse collection yard, 9701 San Fernando Road.