Those every-other-year household hazardous waste collections in McLean County could become a thing of the past if the Ecology Action Center gets its way.
The Normal-based environmental nonprofit wants to bring a permanent collection site to the county, something downstate Illinois doesn't have.
“It’s long been known this is a deficiency and does create a significant barrier for proper disposal of hazardous waste by downstate residents,” said Executive Director Michael Brown.
The nearest household hazardous waste collection sites are in Rockford and the Chicago area.
Ecology Action Center (EAC) plans to launch a feasibility study once all of its funding partners approve to explore site locations, what materials it will accept, how large it's scope could be, how much it will cost and who can help pay for it.
“We need to know what those (costs) are so that we can have that conversation with the community and with the elected officials about what is reasonable,” Brown said.
Three of the agency’s local funding partners -- McLean County, the Town of Normal and the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District -- have also signed off on the study. The Bloomington City Council will consider the request on Monday.
EAC plans to fund the study with private dollars, but will need some government support to establish the facility. Brown said the study could cost up to $70,000.
He said the center could possibly expand beyond McLean County, which would open the potential for funding from neighboring counties that could use the site.
He said the study would likely be done in 2022 and building or identifying a site could take up to 10 years.
Brown said the hazardous waste collection events the agency holds every other year aren’t enough to rid the community of potentially dangerous materials, noting the center gets calls virtually every day from the public about where they can dispose of these materials.
“We do need to deal with this properly, either use them up completely and shift to safer alternatives or we are always going to have to provide for safe disposable options,” he said.
Brown pointed out that creating a household hazardous waste collection site is included in the county’s 20-year solid waste management plan adopted in 2017.
He said materials brought to a collection site would be handled just as they are during the collection events. Some materials, including heavy metals are recycled, while the rest is either taken to a hazardous materials landfill or incinerated.
Ecology Action Center is planning collection events in the fall of 2021 and fall of 2023. Local taxing bodies took over funding the collections after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency cut much of the funding for them starting in 2007.
Bloomington, Normal, McLean County and BNWRD split an annual $70,000 for the collections. Bloomington pays the largest share of $27,000 annually because on its share of the population.
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