Hazardous items from household items can be disposed s

Hazardous items from household items can be disposed safely when King County’s Wastemobile visits Covington for three days beginning this Friday.

Wastemobile will take your hazardous stuff

Hazardous items from household items can be disposed safely when King County’s Wastemobile visits Covington for three days beginning this Friday.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Saturday, the the Wastemobile will parked at the Fred Meyer store on Southeast 272nd Street. As part of a local hazardous-waste management program, the vehicle and its staff will accept pesticides, chlorine bleach, oil-based paint, automotive products (such as oil, antifreeze and auto batteries), fluorescent bulbs/ballasts and other items – all free of charge.

Properly disposing of hazardous materials and keeping them out of drains and landfills helps safeguard the environment, officials noted.

One item that won’t be accepted is latex paint. Officials said dried or solidified latex paint can be safely disposed through the regular solid-waste process.

Alexandra Thompson, a spokeswoman for King County’s solid-waste division, said the Wastemobile, created in 1989, is the first such program of its kind in the nation. In its 18 years in operation, it has collected more than 14,771 tons of household hazardous waste from 328,650 customers.

Additional information, including acceptable and quantity limits for disposal, is available at (206) 296-4692 and www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/disposal/wastemobile/index.html.