These piles of old paint cans, chemicals, and oil drums came from homes in Utah county. Habitat for Humanity, non-profit organization, asks homeowners to get these things out of their houses and into recycling facilities. They say that they will take just about anything.

“We’ve had people come in with containers with just a whole bunch of weird stuff dumped in them. We’ve had refrigeration units taken off old motor homes and brought in full of freon,” said Public Health Official Lance Madigan.

People drop off hundreds of gallons of household poisons, hazmat teams and student volunteers help sort the waste, then specialist recycling companies package it and take it away.

“Most of the volunteers here are students from BYU. I personally volunteered because of a class,” said one BYU student.

One new thing that the organization is collecting this year is something they call e-waste, like old computers, televisions, and other electronics.

Public health officials say more than 300 cars drive through on the collection day.

“We’ll probably generate about 40,000 pounds of waste that we’ll remove that would be in the landfill if this event wasn’t going on,” says Brandon Christiansen of Veolia Environmental Solutions.

This was the fifth year that habitat for humanity organized this recycling effort, and they say they hope to see more people come in the future.

For more information on future collection days, visit utahcountyhealth.org/hhw.

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Adam McNevin

Latest posts by Adam McNevin (Posts)

• Blog: Dumb ways to die - November 19, 2012
• Habitat for Humanity Holds Recycling Rally - April 11, 2012
• McAuliffe Space Camp in Pleasant Grove Offers Interactive Space Experience - March 28, 2012