It’s time to clean out the shed and under the sink again and get rid of all the bad stuff the right way.

“It’s free, it’s easy and it’s the right thing to do,” said organizer Alice Cords about the annual household hazardous waste collection day at the local transfer station taking place August 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cords, the lead environmental specialist with the Whatcom County disposal of toxics program, said the program was intended to protect the environment and solid waste workers from toxic and flammable products by either disposing of them safely or in many cases reusing them. “A lot of the materials are actually getting recycled,” Cords said, adding, a lot of the paint and cleaning products collected are given away at their Bellingham facility to other users.

The list of what can’t be disposed of at the event is shorter than the list of what can, Cord said. “There are 80,000 chemicals in commercial production and we can’t list them all,” she said. Latex paint, asbestos, biomedical waste, ammunition or explosives, propane tanks and radioactive waste will not be accepted. Latex paint should be left to dry out and put with regular trash.

Because the Point Roberts collection event is small, Cord said they could not accept waste in drums or business waste without prior approval. “Businesses need to contact us,” she said. “We might be able to work with them to get it out of here.”

Some of the things that can be disposed of and that should not go into regular trash are oil-based paints, fuel, waste oil, pesticides, oil filters, antifreeze and aerosol cans. Acids and alkaloids such as some cleaning products like ammonia, drain openers and oven cleaners, can be strongly corrosive and should go to the collection event rather than in regular garbage.

While regular alkaline household batteries can go in regular garbage, many others are considered hazardous, such as cell phone batteries, hearing aid batteries and car batteries. “Some are hazardous and some are not, so it creates confusion. Fluorescent bulbs, long tubes as well as the newer compact fluorescent coils that are replacing incandescent bulbs in many homes, should be disposed of through the toxics program. “Proper disposal is very important with those because they contain mercury,” Cord said.

Point Roberts residents can either call the disposal of toxics program at 360/380-4640 with their questions, Cord said, or come and talk to a specialist at the August 28 event.

The event is co-sponsored by Whatcom County’s solid waste division, the disposal of toxics program and CanDo Recycling and Disposal.