Chances are, you have an old cell phone somewhere, or an old computer monitor, or an old quart of oil or something else that just can’t go in the garbage.
There are dozens of products we use every day that are so hazardous to our environment and health that they cannot be tossed into a landfill and so they tend to sit, for months or years, in desk drawers, closets or, worse, in garages and sheds where they could kill pets or other animals.
The program is free, too, which is good news for anyone was considering paying for the safe disposal of hazardous waste.
We are happy to report in today’s paper that Pearl River County applied for and received a hazardous waste grant. The grant will give the county the funds it needs to safely collect whatever materials we have that cannot be thrown out.
While we do not yet have a date set for the collection, we want to urge all of our readers to go through their homes and yards and make note of what may be disposed of.
We would also like to encourage volunteer groups to consider cleaning up waste from our public areas as well. Too often, less scrupulous people who don’t wish to pay for the safe disposal of materials will throw hazardous waste from bridges or dump it in the county, somewhere out of easy sight.
Finally, we want to remind our readers who do need to dispose of computers to please take care and either wipe all hard drives and discs totally clean or remove the hard drives and smash them to pieces.
Hard drives and memory cards in phones contain personal data that may be found if care is not taken to destroy the drives or wipe them totally clean.
Instructions for wiping a hard drive can be found online, or a hammer can be purchased at any hardware store.