Paint, pesticides and other chemicals will be collected at Freeport Area Middle School during a July 24 event hosted by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.
The Household Hazardous Waste Collection is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the school off Route 356.
“This event is part of Audubon’s work in the region to help to support healthy habitat,” Audubon’s Sarah Koenig said.
She said that providing an event for people to toss toxic chemicals will help keep local streams, rivers and forests clean.
Hosted in partnership with Pennsylvania Resources Council, the recycling event was identified as a priority in the Buffalo Creek Watershed Conservation Plan 10-Year update, completed by
ASWP in 2019. Audubon is headquartered at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Fox Chapel.
The special collection is open to the public.
Registration is required at prc.org/HHWregistration or by calling 412-488-7490, ext. 3.
Cost is $20 for up to 10 gallons or 50 pounds of aerosol cans, vehicle fluids, chemistry sets, gas and kerosene, household cleaners, mercury thermometers, paint, pesticides, garden chemicals or pool chemicals.
Fire extinguishers will cost $12 each.
Liquid mercury can be disposed of for $15 a pound.
People are asked to pack the items in their car trunks or truck beds and stay in their vehicles while volunteers unload them.
The event, funded in part by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is the first event of its kind that the Audubon Society has hosted, Koenig said.
It comes on the heels of a highly successful hard-to-recycle collection hosted at Freeport Area Middle School in June.
More than 225 people participated in that e-waste collection, Koenig said.
“We hope to offer these annually in the future since options for responsible disposal of electronics and household hazardous waste are not widely available in Armstrong and Butler counties,” she said.