Crook County receives $15k to develop hazardous waste plan

Mar 19,2007 00:00 by Bend_Weekly_News_Sources

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has awarded a $15,000 household hazardous waste grant to Crook County to develop a comprehensive, countywide plan which will determine how to best deal with household hazardous waste and other related hazardous waste collection, storage, recycling and disposal needs.

The county will use the funds to evaluate options for dealing with all aspects of household hazardous waste and conditionally exempt small quantity generators of hazardous waste, including wastes from farms and ranches. The plan will identify household hazardous waste and related hazardous waste generation and disposal needs in the county, and include a prioritized list of facilities and services that will meet those needs, along with cost estimates for waste collection, sorting, storage, transportation and disposal.

Household hazardous waste includes a wide variety of items ranging from paints, pesticides and solvents to fluorescent tubes, batteries and motor oil.

Crook County will contract with a solid waste consultant to develop the plan, working in partnership with a countywide solid waste advisory committee, Crook County’s solid waste staff (led by Crook County Landfill Manager Alan Keller), other community partners and solid waste service providers in nearby Jefferson and Deschutes counties. The committee will meet several times to review progress on the draft plan, which will be submitted to the Crook County Commission. The commission will approve a final plan and decide how and when the plan will be implemented. A final plan is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The Crook County grant is among 15 awarded this year by DEQ to help communities promote solid waste prevention/reduction and conduct household hazardous waste programs. DEQ is awarding about $475,000 in grants this year. In most cases grant recipients and/or their partners contribute some type of matching monies, staff time or services. The solid waste grants program, established by the Oregon Legislature, is funded through fees on solid waste disposal throughout the state. Since the first grant round in 1991, DEQ has awarded 262 grants totaling nearly $5.5 million.