District residents can dispose of household hazardous waste tomorrow in Emo in what organizers hope will become an annual collection.
The hazardous waste day–organized by the Rainy River First Nation’s Watershed Program and the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition–will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Emo municipal garage (47 Canning Lane).
“Quite a few municipalities in southeastern Ontario do it but this [district] is one of the few who don’t,” noted watershed program co-ordinator Jennifer Mercer.
“I imagine there’s quite a build-up in people’s garages but what do they do with it? They can’t throw it away,” she noted.
Hazardous waste covers anything that is corrosive, toxic, reactive, or flammable, including such items as propane tanks, car batteries, paints and paint thinners, rat poisons, and oils.
The watershed program put together the hazardous waste day after fires at the Fort Frances landfill revealed a number of dangerous and environmentally-hazardous items there.
“Just recently we had a dump fire and if you have hazardous waste in a dump, it becomes dangerous for firefighters,” noted Mercer.
Each hazardous item also has its own means of disposal to minimize minimal environmental impacts.
Tomorrow’s household hazardous waste day also has received financial support from several other organizations, including Environment Canada, the municipalities of Emo, Chapple, and Fort Frances, Rainy River First Nation, and the Fort Frances Times.
“This is our first year and hopefully we will continue to have municipal support, and hopefully other municipalities will join in,” said Mercer.
Emo is located on Highway 11/71 about 25 km west of Fort Frances.
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