The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners last Wednesday voted to adopt a plan for removal of household hazardous waste (HHW), setting the table for the county to have a permanent location for disposal of hazardous materials.

“This will give us a permanent local opportunity to dispose of household hazardous waste legally and safely,” Laura Leebrick, government and corporate affairs manager for Western Oregon Waste (WOW) said.

The plan calls for a permanent collection station, probably at the WOW transfer station on Williamsport Road, designed to handle unwanted oil, paint, cleaning solvents, antifreeze, pesticides and other hazardous materials found in most homes.

The facility would be open for disposal eight days per year. Since WOW does not have staff that is trained to handle all forms of hazardous waste, experts would come here for collection days.

There would also be scheduled collection events in outlying parts of the county for people who couldn’t come to the facility on collection days.

Also, there would be opportunities for emergency drop-offs of hazardous materials at the collection facility by appointment.

For years the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has held local events to accept hazardous materials, but the events were infrequent and there was no guarantee that any specific community would hold an event. Ten years ago, DEQ changed its focus and provided grant money for communities to come up with plans for sustainable methods to remove hazardous wastes.

“One of the features of these eight-times-a-year events is that there’ll be a tent set up for a re-use table,” Leebrick said. “Manzanita has extensive re-use facilities. It’s a giant thrift store area.”

The Manzanita transfer station has a nonprofit-operated recycling donation center and resale store that specializes in used construction materials. People come to the resale store to buy everything from household items, books and furniture to paint, windows, doors, lumber, plywood and plumbing and lighting fixtures.

The store is run by the Conservation Action Resource Team of Manzanita (CART’M).

The Store was inspired by contractors who were frustrated when useful building materials got wasted, especially when old buildings were torn down to make room for new beach houses, according to the nonprofit organization’s Web site.

Construction waste was responsible for a large percentage of Tillamook County’s waste, but that was especially true in the northern part of the county, where construction was much higher than in the rest of the county.

Another concern was that a large portion of the waste was being burned, some legally and some not. A $30,000 grant from DEQ funded organization of the program and the first year its operation. Other funding came from Tillamook County, state lottery funds and donations.