Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day is coming, and just in time for some residents. As citizens do their spring cleaning, they often find some old chemicals stored in containers that have been sitting around the house, workshop or garage for many years. The Frederick County Department of Solid Waste Management hopes you bring them to drop off day on Saturday, May 19th from 8:00 AM until 12:00 PM at the Public Safety Training Center at 5370 Public Safety Place, just off of Reichs Ford Road. (The facility's previous address was 8349 Reichs Ford Road).

Annemarie Creamer, the Recycling Outreach Coordinator, says citizens can bring in a "wide variety of material" to be disposed of. "We take all of those miscellaneous mystery old household cleaners that may be lurking in your cabinets, as well as pool chemicals, things that may be out in the garden shed, pesticides, insecticides, fungicides," she says. "Things left over from old projects, like stains, sealants, thinner, solvents, old fuel."

Residents can also get rid of prescription and non-prescription medications on that day, but they must be in their original containers. Personal information can be blacked out.

Creamer also says compact and tube fluorescent light bulbs will be taken. "Luckily, now that the compact fluorescent light bulbs are more common in the marketplace, there are places that take them for recycling year round, like Lowe's or Home Depot, or locally, even the Common Market or MOM's Organic Market," she says. "But these tube fluorescent lights are trickier to get rid of, and we do collect them at our Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Days."

All of the materials collected on Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day are turned over to a contractor, who disposes of them safely, says Creamer.

But radioactive materials, biomedical waste, firearms, ammunitions, explosives, fire extinguishers and freon tanks will not be accepted. Creamer says go to the county's website to find out to safely dispose of these products. (www.frederickcountymd.gov/hazwaste.) In addition, items normally accepted for recycling at Division of Solid Waste Management facilities will not be accepted during Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Day. They include solidified paint, motor oil, antifreeze, tires, lead-acid batteries, regular household trash or recyclables.

Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Days have been around for a while, and Creamer says they have been very popular. "We get a pretty regular flow of residents," she says. "So each event, we see maybe between 300 to 400 cars come out. We know there's a lot more of these types of materials out and around the county. We're glad to have the word spread, and to try be as convenient as we can to provide a place for folks to dispose of these things."