The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department plans to expand its hazardous waste center to include a store where partially used or unused products people bring there to get rid of can be picked up and used — for free — by others. The expansion at Lincoln’s Hazardous Waste Center at 5101 N. 48th St. — called HazToGo — will be paid for with a $1.3 million, three-year grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. HazToGo now offers weekly drive-thru household hazardous waste collections and several annual waste collection events, said Brock Hanisch, the health department’s environmental health supervisor.
About 3,500 households and small businesses in Lincoln and Lancaster County use the HazToGo facility annually. In the last year, about 125,000 pounds of household hazardous waste was diverted from Lincoln’s landfill. Other household waste facilities that have incorporated reuse strategies have seen at least a 10% increase of collected material diverted from the landfill, Hanisch said. “The reuse initiative will provide convenient and safe access to usable products, help further protect the public’s health and environment, and reduce waste disposal costs,” he said.
Under the expansion, staff will inspect household products brought to HazToGo. Items in their original containers that can be safely used will be routed to the onsite store. Partially used or unopened containers of automotive fluids, home cleaning products, non-pesticide yard items, and oil-based paint and stains are among the items that could end up in the store. Hanisch said the expansion will benefit the community by attracting new users to HazToGo who would have otherwise purchased new household products and sent the remaining unused materials to the landfill.