When you arrive at the collection center, please ask the attendant to direct you to the proper receptacle.
What do you not accept?
Trash and/or recyclables, Refrigerated Goods or E-Waste that contains Freon/Refrigerant, Tires, Wood (Treated or Otherwise), C&D materials, Styrofoam, Explosives, Radioactives (including smoke alarms/detectors), Biological and/or Infectious materials or biohazardous wastes, nor improperly contained or uncontained SHARPS (syringes, needles, and lancets).
When are collection days?
The hazardous waste collection center has different collection days than say curbside solid waste pickup. We provide a number of local events, including a Spring and Fall Cleanup Day at UF’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center with the University of Florida Sustainability Department. We also travel to 8 other counties throughout the year to collect their wastes, as these places have no brick and mortar HHWCC to collect hazardous materials, that we still want kept out of our shared environment. These neighboring and partner counties include Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Union, Nassau.
Please visit https://www.alachuacounty.us/Depts/epd/hwc/Pages/HazardousWasteCollection.aspx under the subheading Special Collection Dates and Times.
Do you provide curbside pickup?
Not at this time; however you can refer to the last question for Special Collection Dates and Times
Large appliance special pickup through Alachua County Solid Waste phone number: 352-377-0800.
Where can I dump my trash in Alachua County?
Not at the Hazardous Waste Collection Center, but right next door to the main center at the Solid Waste Transfer Station, or your appropriate Rural Collection Center, and you may reach the Alachua County Department of Solid Waste at 352-334-0172 for more information.
To manage business quantity hazardous waste streams where do I go/who can I contact?
To manage non-hazardous absorbents, shop rags, pads, or oil filters, and to manage hazardous wastes weighing above 220 lbs (100 kg), or about a ½ a drum’s quantity on a monthly basis, please call US Ecology 800-592-5489 or Clean Earth Environmental Services 239 479-5326.
What does your day consist of?
We are constantly processing residential waste from car or truck loads that homeowners in the county, to students of the university bring in. We also do a waste sweep of each of the five rural collection centers located on the outskirts of the county borders, and collect all that residents in unincorporated parts of the county need to dispose of. On top of that we coordinate with local pharmacies, hardware stores, schools, non-profits, and restaurants for the waste that comes into them and to see how we can pick this up in a convenient and efficient manner.
We also process, daily, the small quantity generating businesses and their wastes coming in from all over the County. From lead vests at dental offices, to waste pesticides from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to oil, oil filters and gas from local automotive industry, to used paint from apartment complexes and building and construction companies, we can take such items and recycle them! Schedule a tour or call for an informational packet on the HHWCC anytime by calling the main office at: 352-334-0440.
What do you actually do with all of the stuff that comes in?
We make sure to have a strictly certified environmental recycling authority, tracked by the US Environmental Protection Agency, help the HHWCC ship these materials to where they will be treated as waste to energy fuel for factories, smelted down for parts, extruded to make new plastics from old, or incinerated where most appropriate. Some of the items the HHWCC gets in are of a very hazardous nature to our health or ecosystems, such as nicotine, banned pesticides and harmful lab chemicals, so the HHWCC makes sure to hire staff who is trained to follow HAZWOPER protocol in protecting themselves, identifying materials, packing the materials, and following them as they reach their end of life destination.
Can I take electronics from the reuse area and home with me?
Sorry, no. Please do not take electronics. We aim to maintain electronics that are dropped off to the Collection Center in their own area for further processing. Electronics are not for reuse and therefore should never be taken from this drop off point once they make it to our center for recycling. We are entrusted by the previous owners of electronic wastes, like hazardous wastes, to dispose of electronic waste properly, with the help of Stream Recycling. That being said, if you are the owner of a working piece of electronic equipment, or cables, cords, and equipment that is functional, just outdated or no longer used by you, please try to use a local alternative such as the Repurpose Project, Alachua County Tools for Schools, or Goodwill… etc. before throwing them away or bringing them for complete recycling to the Hazardous Waste Collection Center.
What happened to the Paint Giveaway? Are you having Paint Giveaway Day soon?
Alachua County Hazardous Waste Collection Center used to schedule, in May, a time for residents to pick up premade paint, at no cost, at a 10 gallon limit per person per year. This is no longer a HHWCC function.
Because the HHWCC was becoming inundated with items that were never or barely used, and were safe for providing back to the public for free, rather than landfilling them, we moved to a system that features a reuse area with stocked shelves of household paint, sometimes cleaners, sometimes spray paints, sometimes other GRAS materials for the garden, car, or home. This is available EVERYDAY we are open. It also helped solve the issue of not everyone being able to receive paint during the one time a year giveaway.
Everything in this area is free of charge, but patrons must fill out a waiver demonstrating their understanding of the item as a reused product coming to them secondhand from another resident of the county through this amenity. Staff reserves the right to limit quantities taken and keep the working bay and traffic lanes clear of pedestrians and non-volunteers and those not employed by Alachua County Environmental Protection Department.
How much hazardous waste have you collected/do you collect in a week?
Approximately 2200-20,000+ lbs of waste. On a VERY light week we average a little over 1 metric ton of waste. On a busy week we can process over 20,000 lbs of just latex paint alone.
In a Month? 8800-80,000 lbs per month
In a Year? 105,600-960,000 lbs We haven’t reached that upper limit yet, but think of our potential impact if more people knew and used about our center for its intended purpose!!
In 2019 we collected over 600,000 lbs of assorted hazardous waste liquid and solids.
In a Decade? If we keep going at the same rate as last year, we could reach over 7,200,000 lbs (7.2 million pounds!) or 3,273 metric tons of waste diverted from the landfill by 2029!