Among the wide range of household chemicals that will be accepted free of charge at the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) are wood preservatives, bug and weed killers, paint, thinners, varnishes and cleaning products.
Held every weekend in September, the event is designed to encourage residents not to throw away or harmfully dispose of hazardous materials. The council has run the event for 12 years.
Typically the materials would not be accepted at HWRCs, but hazardous waste specialist ASCO Environmental, which runs the amnesty events will manage the waste collected from the sites.
Martin Wilby, chairman of Norfolk county council’s environment development and transport committee, welcomed the news of the events saying: “Once again, we’ve lined up specialist chemists to come to seven of our recycling centres during September and help residents get rid of their unwanted household chemicals safely, without damaging the environment and for free.
“Last year, 10,000 residents came along to our amnesties and 212 tonnes of their household chemicals including 180 tonnes of unwanted paint were safely dealt with. We’re expecting this year’s events to be as popular as ever.”
Reduce
Janice Coglin-Hibbert, waste reduction officer at Norfolk county council, added: “We put these events on as a convenient way for residents to get rid of household chemicals, but most of us can do more to try to reduce the amount we end up with.
“Most of the type of chemical products we use around the house and garden give good information about the amount of coverage or application we can expect to get out of them. If we spend a bit more time working out how much we actually need to buy for a specific job, we would reduce the likelihood of ending up having to store the left overs.
“That would mean we save money by not over-buying and also help to push down the cost to council taxpayers of having to deal with the waste.”
In September 2014, Norfolk residents had to be turned away from the council’s King’s Lynn and Caister HWRCs due to the ‘extraordinary demand’ created by the amnesty (see letsrecycle.com story).
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