City of Tempe and Town of Gilbert’s HHW facilities provide opportunities for their communities to bring in items for proper waste management. Diverting millions of pounds of materials, these facilities take pride in what they do.
By Kiana Sladicki
Welcome to the NAHMMA Corner! This month we want to spotlight two of our members’ permanent collection facilities because these facilities are one way our members help to ensure the proper management of hazardous materials. This year NAHMMA’s 38th Annual Hazardous Materials Management Conference (September 17 – 22) is in Tempe, AZ and both facilities are stops on the Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility tour. Thank you to David Tavarez of the City of Tempe and Carmelita Nichols of the Town of Gilbert for taking the time out of their busy schedules to tell us a bit about their facilities.
Right: David Tavarez of City of Tempe presenting on HHW.
Photos courtesy of Tempe, AZ.
City of Tempe Household Products Collection Center
Tempe, population of 184,118 (2021), opened a permanent Household Products Collection Center (HPCC) on Earth Day, April 22, 1999. The facility is located at 1320 E University Dr., Tempe, AZ 85281, and currently employs five full-time employees: a Hazardous Materials Safety Specialist and four contracted Hazardous Waste Technicians. The facility is open from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
The Phoenix Metropolitan Area did not have a permanent HHW facility until the HPCC was built. Because of this, the City of Tempe did not have many facilities to base the size of a building for the community size. The city instead looked at what had been collected in the mobile events prior and used that information for determining the containment, storage, and processing areas. When asked what makes the facility unique, David said, “The HPCC architecture matches the Fire Training Center next door with high arches of the building and flooring that are pitched for self-containment. The HPCC has shared the plans for designs with other HHW facilities in Arizona and many have used this to build their own HHW facility which look similar to ours.”
Since opening on that Earth Day in 1999 there has been more than a 236 percent increase in participation and they have diverted 6.6 million pounds of materials from entering the sewer, storm drains, and landfill. Providing opportunities with weekly and special events, the HPCC has 9,000 to 12,000 residential drops offs yearly for a total of 140,000 visitors.
However, not every item that is brought into the HPCC goes for disposal. They opened a Swap Shop where new or partially used items such as paint, cleaning supplies, and automotive products are put out for residents to come in and take the items for reuse. David says the residents enjoy getting items they would normally have to purchase for free.
Sometimes though, certain items can be a problem to dispose of. One day, the facility received ether in a sealed glass jar, which, ultimately, had to be blown up at the firing range by the bomb squad. In another instance, HPCC received a jar of preserved reptiles in formaldehyde. Aside from tricky items to properly manage, David says the changing dynamic of materials being recycled, processed and collected, storage space, and room for growth are the biggest challenges for the future.
When asked what the best thing about working at HPCC is, David said, “Being able to take in items that would potentially end up in the trash or alleys and properly disposing of them. This definitely is helping to protect the community we live in to be more sustainable.”
Right: Town of Gilbert Swap Shop.
Photos courtesy of Gilbert, AZ.
Town of Gilbert Household Hazardous Waste Facility
Gilbert, population of 273,136 (2021), opened a permanent Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Facility in July 2007. The facility is located at 2224 E Queen Creek Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85297 and currently employs five full-time employees: one Supervisor, one Lead Technician, and three Household Hazardous Waste Technicians.
The Gilbert HHW facility is open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM and serves more than 10,000 residents annually. Since opening in 2007, they have taken in more than 7 million pounds of HHW. Last year alone, they collected 561,582 pounds of materials and remixed and distributed 5,520 gallons of paint through their paint reuse program. The paint reuse program offers limited 5-gallon buckets of recycled tan and gray latex paint to Gilbert residents at no cost.
When sizing the HHW facility, Carmelita said that they needed to consider the growing population of Gilbert, flow of incoming materials, and general safety for the handling and storage of hazardous materials. The HHW facility is set up with a drive through area to make for safe and efficient interactions with Gilbert residents. To add more services for residents and since many of the dropped off materials are still usable, they also opened a Swap Shop like Tempe to further assist in diverting materials from the landfill and provide hazardous disposal cost savings to Gilbert.
Over the last 16 years, the facility has experienced some challenges and Carmelita says that the biggest challenge to their facility is controlling the costs that come with proper waste disposal. The staff have seen it all when it comes to the materials being dropped off at their facility. From bacon flavored doggie toothpaste to horse suppositories to someone’s golf clubs, it is always an interesting surprise.
When asked, what is the best thing about working at the Gilbert HHW? Carmelita said, “The satisfaction we get helping residents get rid of unwanted household hazardous material the right way and doing our part to help keep Gilbert a beautiful place to call home.”
This September you will have the opportunity to tour these two facilities, and a few others, on Monday, September 18, as part of the 38th Annual Hazardous Materials Management Conference. On behalf of all of us at NAHMMA, I look forward to seeing you there. | WA
Kiana Sladicki works at Pinellas County Solid Waste as a Hazardous and Solid Waste Inspector for the Pinellas County SQG Program. Prior to that, she was a Compliance Inspector for the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She has conducted more than 500 hazardous waste facility inspections between both agencies, visiting everything from small VSQGs to TSDFs. At Pinellas County, she also works the monthly VSQG collection events and assists the HHW facility operations and their mobile collection events. Kiana can be reached at (727) 464-7548 or e-mail [email protected].