Hazardous Materials Collection Events Draw Large Crowds In Hampton Bays, Montauk

It was a few minutes past 9 a.m. on Saturday when Laura Dixon pulled up to the Hampton Bays Transfer Station. In the back of her newer-model pickup truck was an assortment of aerosol cans, used antifreeze, as well as old batteries and bleach bottles—potentially hazardous materials that her father had accumulated over the past 40 years.

To the east, Kenny Bouse of Montauk arrived at the Montauk Transfer Station at around 12:30 p.m. on the same day, bringing with him an assortment of items, from old gas cans and batteries to several nondescript plastic bottles containing cleaning products. He explained that he found the items while clearing out his late father’s shed.

“The fire hazard—that’s my concern,” said Ms. Dixon, one of nearly 200 residents who participated in Southampton Town’s most recent “Stop Throwing Out Pollutants” day—STOP for short—on Saturday, explaining her reason for removing the outdated products from her father’s home.

Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Southampton Town residents were encouraged to drop off potential contaminants—including disinfectants, oil-based paints, used motor oil, paint thinners and other potentially dangerous liquids—at no cost as part of an effort to cut down on the estimated 530,000 tons of hazardous waste that’s inadvertently introduced into the environment each year, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

In Montauk, more than 100 East Hampton Town residents took advantage of the same program at their transfer station, which accepted the potentially hazardous waste between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Approximately 15,000 pounds of assorted hazardous waste was collected in Southampton Town, said John Tekin, an environmental scientist with Radiac Environmental, and approximately 10,000 pounds was taken in by the Montauk Transfer Station, according to officials with the Care Environmental Corp. of New Jersey, the environmental firm in charge of collecting, separating and later disposing of the waste. Working in conjunction with East Hampton Town, the company has offered the STOP program annually since 1998, excluding 2010 and 2011, according to officials.

“Household wastes are sometimes disposed of by pouring wastes down the drain, on the ground, into storm sewers, or putting them out with the trash,” said Edward Thompson, the head of Southampton Town’s Waste Management Division, who was overseeing Saturday’s take-back day in Hampton Bays.

“When I was a kid, we used to flush everything down the toilet,” added John R. Cole of Water Mill while waiting in line to dispose of his household waste on Saturday morning in Hampton Bays.

At the Hampton Bays Transfer Station, officials with Radiac Environmental Services, a radioactive waste processing company in Brooklyn, were on hand to supervise the transfer of contaminants from the backs of pickup trucks and vehicles and into their appropriate containers for transport. At the Montauk Transfer Station, officials with Care Environmental completed the same messy and potentially dangerous tasks.

Workers spent most of the day opening old paint cans and metal containers containing all types of volatile liquids and dumping them into large black oil drums. The cans and containers were discarded in a nearby red dumpster. Other products, ranging from a large glass jar of calcium chloride to a can of alcohol solvent, were separated into different large cardboard boxes for future transport for safe disposal.

According to Larry McConnell, a field technician with Care Environmental who was working on Saturday, members of his disposal crew had been at the Montauk Transfer Station since 8:30 a.m., setting up and preparing for residents to arrive. He emphasized the importance of properly labeling what is being dumped before it is transported.

“If you take gas and oil and some sodium chloride, or a liquid Drano, it can start a fire,” Mr. McConnell said. “This is a life-threatening job.”

While the dangers of such disposal methods might not seem immediately obvious, certain types of household waste can cause physical injury to sanitation workers, contaminate septic tanks, and pollute both groundwater and surface waters, according to Mr. Thompson.

According to Care Environmental representatives, the collected waste is transported by truck to a facility in Valdosta, Georgia. From there, it is separated and transported again to different locations for proper disposal. Liquids like gasoline, oil and paint are taken to a fuel-blend recycling facility and processing plant in Cincinnati, Ohio. Any chemical waste is transported to an incineration facility in Sumter, South Carolina, according to company officials.

Mr. Tekin, an environmental scientist with Radiac Environmental, noted that the items collected on Saturday in Hampton Bays are “treated the same way it would be if it was industrial hazardous waste.”

He added: “For obvious reasons, we don’t want this material at sewage treatment plants or landfills.”

Both STOP initiatives are partially financed with grant money offered by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the remaining costs are picked up by the municipalities, according to Mr. Thompson. He declined to estimate how much Saturday’s event in Hampton Bays would end up costing Southampton Town.

He noted that the municipality offers four collection days annually, between May and October, at each of the town’s four transfer stations: Sag Harbor, North Sea, Westhampton and Hampton Bays. East Hampton Town residents are given two opportunities each year to do the same; one is typically offered in October at the Montauk Transfer Station, while the third Saturday in May is reserved for the East Hampton Recycling Center.

Residents can visit the respective websites of their towns to view a list of acceptable materials, as well as disposal locations and times.

Those residents who opt not to take advantage of the free waste collection days most often must pay to have the materials safely disposed of—a situation that, far too often, results in illegal dumping. That is why many people, including Mr. Tekin, encourage residents to take advantage of the STOP programs.

“Between labor, packaging, material, transportation, disposal costs … all those complications are eliminated by having a town protection program where it’s all established in advance,” Mr. Tekin said.

As for Mr. Cole, he said STOP is a fantastic program and complimented Southampton Town officials for offering four take-back days annually. “I have containers that I use to set everything aside throughout the year, so four times for me is adequate,” he added.