HHW and E-Waste came to town Hauled tons away

Lake Los Angeles – The 2023 Lake Los Angeles Household Hazardous Waste and E-Waste was another great success. The weather was perfect, the temperature comfortable and there was little or no wind. Wind is the enemy of any collection event of this nature.

During the drive, a windsock is placed on top of one of the 53’ trailers at all of these roundups. It is used in case of any emergency and personnel need to be evacuated upwind of a situation such as a spill, etc. The windsock guides people who are specially trained to get people out – both employees and customers – so people can be guided to safety.

The plans were set to accommodate 250 cars which would produce manageable loads. The car count was 229. The load count was 256. Normal load count vs vehicle-count averages 20%. Today’s load count and vehicle count difference can be explained by single vehicles bringing in multiple loads. Considering multiple quantities from single vehicles, it stands to reason.

With my truck, I had 2 grocery bags of batteries and small electronics. Chuck Tedeschi added a few items. Then 2 houses from his, we saw the neighbor loading TVs into a little car. The tvs went into my truck and some other smaller items. Then we all went down the street more houses and picked up a large TV for another neighbor. My truck was full. Pictured are the 3 oil totes and tvs waiting to be loaded into a trailer.

The people from Los Angeles County Sanitation and Public works along with the contractor Veolia remarked about how nice and how respectful the people were as they dropped off their discards. Many thanked the crews for bringing this opportunity to Lake Los Angeles. One neighbor said he waited almost 2 years to get rid of his load and was delighted to be rid of all of it.

The E-Waste included 1 drum of laptops weighing in at 75 pounds. Flat screens were loaded into 5 boxes and weighed 2,175 pounds. CRTs, and there are still some out there, were loaded into 2 boxes and 4 pallets weighing in at 2,295 pounds. A total of 4,545 pounds of e-waste was taken.

Any and all electronic waste collected at E-Waste events is sent to a facility in Fresno, California that certifies that it is 100% de-manufactured and recycled in a stringent and environmentally acceptable manner to the commodity level in the United States. No electronic waste collected at these events is sent overseas. The electronics are taken apart, precious metals removed, plastic sorted by color and then sold to the highest bidder. Wire, glass, plastics, and all other materials get recycled. There is significant toxic waste in electronics as well. While some electronics are recycled, many are discarded in landfills. Electronics are filled with chemicals and substances that are harmful to human health and the environment, including toxic metals, flame retardants, and persistent organic pollutants. If not recycled, these chemicals can contaminate landfills and enter the water supply through leachate.

Batteries are another critical item to be handled professionally and never hit a landfill.

One 40 cubic yard roll-off for ordinary trash was loaded wall to wall end to end and to the top with plastic sheeting, broken down boxes, empty containers, bags of assorted common trash and cans.

Every single thing that was brought to the collection was important to the overall success. There is so much to say about how this community responded to this very important collection. Thank you seems so inadequate. Nonetheless, thank you all so very much!

Here is a partial list of what was taken out of LLA and did not hit the desert to do damage.

By Shirley Harriman