The Household Hazardous Waste Collection pop-up site was on track to have served 900 families during the two-day weekend event, according to the organizer.
Residents of the Township of Langley and City of Langley were invited to the parking lot of the George Preston Recreation Centre this weekend for an opportunity to dispose of hazardous waste material and recycle electronics and small appliances.
The municipalities contracted Terrapure Environmental to manage the waste collected.
The tw0-day event typically sees 900 vehicles come through the pop-up recycling centre. On Saturday, organizers counted 570 vehicles, which coordinator Debbie Fleming called “quite stellar.”
“We have a lot of aquifers and want to protect our ground water,” she said about the significance of the event.
”We don’t want anything [hazardous] going down drains or being buried in a backyard, we just want everything to be handled very carefully and appropriately, and also to recycle, we wan’t to make sure it’s recycled probably and taken care of,” she continued.
This year marked the event’s 20th anniversary.
“For the first 10 years or so we didn’t collect the small appliances, electronics and paints – we just collected the hazardous waste materials, so it’s expanded,” said Fleming.
Drivers were directed through the site upon entering at 20699 42nd Ave. Residents were asked not to exit their vehicles, rather to unlock the trunk of their vehicle so staff could access and remove the material being disposed.
Most items found in a home are typically easy to dispose or recycle, but some hazardous waste items require more care. Those materials include, paint, paint thinners, light bulbs, batteries and electronics. Residents were also welcomed to drop-off items such as thermometers, smoke detectors and small appliances for recycling.
The event was free of charge for residents of Langley.
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