Hazardous waste disposal day catches on

Many household, automotive and gardening products are more harmful to the environment if improperly discarded. To reduce pollution, Westmount holds the collection days in the public parking lot outside Victoria Hall for the safe disposal of many of these materials.

Products such as paint strippers, varnishes and stains, car batteries, propane tanks, antifreeze, cleaners, aerosol cans and anything else marked toxic, corrosive, reactive or flammable must never go in the regular garbage nor down the drain, but should instead be brought to the Hazardous Waste Collection.

“Every year we do this,� said Gordon Pallett, a Metcalfe Avenue resident. “I’m going to go home and get a second load—a monitor that I’ve had for about 20 years.�

Lorraine Avenue resident Rosalind Davis brought in clothes, batteries, paint, pesticides, old cell phones, battery chargers, electronics and clothes. She does it each time the itinerant collection is here in the spring and fall.

“I think this is very important to do and I’m glad that there’s also a permanent place in the community where we can unload our batteries and electronics when we need to,� she said.

The amount of materials gathered has remained constant, said Marina Peter, the City’s environmental services coordinator. However, more used electronics and discarded clothing are coming in. “We find the amount of material that’s being collected is going up especially in used electronics,� she said.

“It’s getting to be that people change over their computers and that type of thing more often and they’re happy that they can dispose of it in a safe and secure manner. They can use this collection and they can also use the permanent depots at the Public Works yard to bring in their stuff.�

George Castano, an employee of Kadisal Inc, the company coordinating the used electronics collection, said the idea is to keep as much e-waste as possible out of landfill sites.

Although Westmount doesn’t have any permanent facility for the disposal of hazardous waste, the City has compiled a list of locations where products are accepted outside collection days.

Paints and stains are accepted at selected Rona hardware stores (call first to confirm), and car batteries and used motor oil at taken in at Canadian Tire outlets.

The City also has three depots where used batteries can be deposited: the Public Works Corporation Yard on Bethune Street, the Westmount Arena at 4675 St. Catherine St., and Fire Station 76 at 19 Stanton St.

Through a special arrangement with the City of Montreal, Westmounters can also

dispose of hazardous materials at the Eco-Centre in Côte des Neiges.