
				Pat Quinn, Governor

Agency Links

Info Centers

To report
environmental
emergencies
only, call the
Illinois Emergency
Management Agency
800-782-7860
217-782-7860
(24 hrs/day)

Environmental Progress - Summer 2005

Illinois EPA will partner with local communities and organizations to sponsor 17 one-day household hazardous waste collection events this fall, bringing the total for 2005 to 35.

The popular program gives citizens the opportunity to safely dispose of unused or leftover household products such as chemicals and pesticides, most of which can then be reused, recycled or neutralized, rather than going into landfills.

Since the program started in 1988, 378 collections have been held and more than 331,000 households have participated, turning in 65,732 fifty-five gallon drums of material.

Citizens may bring oil-based paints, thinners, chemical cleaners, antifreeze, motor oil, weed killers, insecticides and pesticides and similar household products. Fluorescent and other high-intensity discharge lamps may also be brought and residents are particularly encouraged to bring mercury and mercury containing household products such as thermometers and thermostats, as part of an initiative by Governor Rod Blagojevich and IEPA to reduce the amount of this hazardous material in our environment.

The public is asked to not bring latex paint to the collections since it is not considered hazardous.

In addition, cell phones no longer in use will be accepted and passed on to local charitable groups.

Each of the collections is held on a Saturday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.

For questions concerning the IEPA's one-day or long-term collections, visit the Household Hazardous Waste Collections page or call the Waste Reduction Unit of the IEPA at (217) 785-8604.