COUNTYWIDE : 3rd Center to Collect Household Toxics

Old paints, pesticides, motor oil and medicines sitting around the house may be hazardous and toxic, but starting this week they won’t be unwanted.

The county’s third household hazardous materials collection center will open Tuesday at the Prima Deshecha Landfill off Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano. Supervisor Thomas F. Riley and other county and local dignitaries met at the landfill Thursday morning to herald the opening and to urge local residents to make use of the facility.

“Starting today, we can push hard to get these unwanted chemicals out of houses, garages and medicine cabinets to a place they can be disposed of,” said Frank R. Bowerman, the director and chief engineer of the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department.

South County city officials said the facility is a welcome addition to the area. Until now, South County residents wishing to get rid of their hazardous materials had to drive to facilities in Anaheim and Huntington Beach.

“I get about five calls a day on these things,” said Douglas Dumhart, a San Juan Capistrano city official.

Those wishing to dispose of materials at the Prima Deshecha site can simply drive to the collection center inside the landfill, where trained attendants will remove the materials from their vehicles. Drivers will be not even be asked to get out of their cars, said Jaimy Gentry, a spokeswoman for the Integrated Waste Management Department.

Paints and paint products will be the most common waste, based on evidence at the other two sites, Gentry said. Paints and paint products make up 50% of the household materials dropped off at the other sites, with motor oil the next most common waste at 30%, she said.

Household medicines, another category of potentially dangerous material, often linger too long in medicine chests and should be disposed of, Bowerman said. Records show that the Southern California Poison Center gets 110 calls a day concerning harmful medicines, he said.

Other household hazardous materials include aerosol cans, pesticides, pool cleaners and other types of cleansers, Gentry said.

After these materials are collected at county sites, they are trucked elsewhere in the state for disposal, she said. Paints are taken to a San Diego facility and then shipped out of state, while motor oil is taken to Long Beach and cleaned and stored for recycling, Gentry said.

Funding for the $4.5-million household hazardous materials collection program comes from landfill fees, Gentry said. Out of the $22.75-per-ton landfill gate fees charged to trash haulers, $1.59 per ton goes to the program, she said.

Starting Tuesday, the South County collection center will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.