Northwest Regional Planning Commission

Click here to find out how to manage you HHW safely.

***If you own a farm or business; or have hazardous waste (including fluorescent bulbs) generated by a school or municipality please call Bill to pre-register for a specific event or to get on the schedule for the Spring and Fall Milk Run Collections at 715-635-2197; or send Bill an email at bwelter@nwrpc.com.

Protecting the Northwoods!

Northwest Wisconsin Cleansweep was established in 1995 to demonstrate a safe, regional solution for the reduction, reuse, and disposal of hazardous wastes from households, businesses, farms, farm-related businesses, municipalities, and schools in the rural areas of northwestern Wisconsin. Prior to the beginning of Northwest Cleansweep, there were very few, if any, cost effective alternatives for the safe reuse or disposal of hazardous materials generated in the region. This is still the case presently. As a result, many hazardous materials were routinely disposed of in area landfills, or worse yet, on the land or into natural waterways or potential water supplies.

There has been a large increase in the turnover properties in the region as more parties purchase homes for retirement and seasonal use. This has resulted in the continual need for the collection of hazardous wastes that often are left behind by previous owners. This need can be exemplified by the increasing amounts of hazardous wastes that are collected on an annual basis by the Cleansweep program.

The longevity of this program has also created an awareness of the dangers posed by hazardous wastes and unused hazardous materials among our constituent population. In addition to educating our populace on pollution prevention and waste reduction techniques, Northwest Cleansweep provides a collection outlet for hazardous wastes that continue to be generated throughout our region and households, VSQGs, schools, municipalities, and farms have become dependent on this service being available. As much as it would be preferable that less wastes would be generated, figures do show that the need still exists for this type of programming. This is particularly the case when one considers the pristine and sensitive nature of the various ecosystems in the Lake Superior basin, and its susceptibility to the bioaccumulative effects of improper hazardous waste management. The Cleansweep also works in tandem with the efforts of NWRPC to eliminate the burning of all types of wastes through its open burning and burn barrel elimination programs. Having other alternatives for the disposal of these wastes, such as Northwest Cleansweep, will hopefully have the effect of lessening reliance on these dangerous types of disposal.

The following goal and objectives have been established for Northwest Cleansweep:

Goal: Create a workable, cost-effective and efficient permanent hazardous waste collection program serving households, businesses, farms, farm related businesses, schools and municipalities in the ten-county service region. Supplement this program with appropriate educational measures to the public regarding hazardous waste purchasing habits, hazardous material waste reduction and proper hazardous waste disposal.

Objectives:

• Provide safe regional mobile hazardous waste collections throughout the region.

• Service all constituents – the general public, businesses, schools, farms, and municipalities.

• Choose hazardous waste contractors whose top priority is to reuse, recycle, or recover the materials collected when selecting partners for this program.

• Serve as a clearinghouse for all types of education regarding hazardous materials and hazardous waste management.

• Develop a successful public education program that informs the public how to handle and properly dispose of hazardous waste, and how to select non-hazardous alternatives, thereby achieving hazardous waste reduction.

• Attempt to change customer-purchasing habits through education.

• Provide education on pollution prevention/source reduction strategies with a specific emphasis in 2008 on pharmaceutical collection.

• Provide opportunities for the collection of other hard to get rid of waste materials such as but not limited to electronics, appliances, tires, cell phones in addition to pharmaceuticals.

The Northwest Cleansweep program, operated by NWRPC and its ten member counties, proposes to do the following in 2008:

1) Continue to operate its permanent mobile collection of hazardous wastes throughout the ten-county region, serving households, businesses, farms, farm-related businesses, schools and municipalities.
2) Provide a minimum of three mobile collections annually and year-long VSQG/municipal/school milk run collections to all member and contracted counties.

3) Contract with an approved contractor for the appropriate disposal of hazardous wastes collected.
4) Continue to operate the spring and fall milk run collection program, and aim to provide such collections on a year-round basis including providing drop-off services VSQGs/municipalities and schools.
5) Continue to maintain and operate the Northwest Cleansweep temporary storage facility for hazardous wastes collected, in Spooner, Wisconsin. Activities at the site include storage, segregation, packaging, labeling and shipping of hazardous wastes collected from events through our contracted hazardous waste vendor.

6) Provide member counties with educational support for the collection events, through the use of newspaper articles and ads, regional newsletters, radio announcements, internet web links, e-mail server lists, and other means available to participating counties.
7) Provide grant application and reporting services to member counties.

8) Process and maintain all hazardous waste manifest paperwork.

9) Provide results of collection events to member and contract counties.

10) Focus on new sources of hazardous materials; specifically pharmaceuticals and hospital/medical clinic mercury sources.

11) Develop informational materials and links for businesses, schools and municipalities that describe how pollution prevention strategies can reduce the amount of hazardous wastes that are generated in the first place. Utilize information already developed by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center (SHWEC) and the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) to bolster this effort. Work with these organizations to tailor this educational effort to pertinent business sectors of the region. Investigate specific business sector needs in this regard

* Each county will be provided a minimum of three collection sites annually. Counties will be responsible for choosing their sites in an effort to provide coverage for all of their residents. Sites may be changed from year to year in an effort to provide this coverage. Saturday events are typically sited at the counties largest communities, with the weekday events changing locations to fit the particular county’s coverage needs. As can be seen on the schedule, some counties prefer to bunch all of their collections into a two- or three-day period while others prefer to stagger their collection throughout the summer. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages. Bunching events helps to provide a larger event atmosphere with all publicity focused on one particular time slot. Staggering events allows residents who are unable to attend during a specific two- or three-day period to still participate in the program on another date. In counties that do not have one larger center of population, the Saturday event is often split between two similarly sized communities. Example – Bayfield County Saturday event, Cities of Bayfield and Washburn.

** Pharmaceuticals – NWRPC has received a grant effective October 2007 from the Rural Development Administration to provide for the collection of unwanted/unused prescription medications. Household pharmaceutical or prescription medication waste is an emerging topic in the environmental field. In recent years, studies have been completed that indicate such wastes are finding their way into our natural waterways and into our water supplies. This is a direct result of the improper disposal of medications down the drain, down the toilet, and in the trash. It is the hope of this project to identify proper disposal methods, educate the populace as to these proper disposal methods, work with pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and law enforcement personnel to design and implement such a collection program, and find ways to continue this type of programming on a self sustaining basis. It is the intent of NWRPC to coordinate this collection with the Northwest Cleansweep Saturday hazardous waste collection events in 2008. Pharmacists and law enforcement agencies have indicated their willingness to participate in this pilot project and Northwest Cleansweep will follow all applicable guidelines put forth by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in operating this event. It is our belief that the additional publicity put into this event will couple with Cleansweep advertising and serve to increase participation in 2008 Cleansweep events.

In addition, NWRPC will continue to provide hazardous waste audits and pollution prevention audits to all of the hospitals in the ten-county region through an eighteen-month grant program from USEPA. The program will be operated in conjunction with the national Hospitals for a Healthy Environment initiative. This again will allow Northwest Cleansweep to educate another sector of the region regarding pollution prevention and source reduction. USEPA Region 5 pollution prevention specialist, Phil Kaplan, has asked NWRPC to contact the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) for direction in this matter. MnTAP has had considerable experience in this area and will be used as a primary consultant for this effort. Part of the proposal would also make available Northwest Cleansweep’s collection program to the hospitals. One of the main thrusts of the pollution prevention aspect of this proposal would be to identify equipment that still utilizes hazardous materials and attempt to find less hazardous alternatives for their use. An example might be equipment that still uses mercury or other toxics that might be able to be replaced with digital or other technologies. The proposal compliments many of the present goals and objectives of the present Northwest Cleansweep program.

Continued education and public relations efforts appear to be reaching an ever-increasing population base in the region. As more constituents of the program are recruited, hazardous wastes become less of an environmental concern in the region. Wastes are collected more frequently than before, thus helping to eliminate continued contact with these materials by humans. This results in safety and health benefits for families, employees and students throughout the region. Another benefit of this program is the reduction in disposal of these materials in inappropriate ways. Hazardous wastes collected by the program do not find their way into the physical environment, nor do they become a disposal issue with landfills in the region. This also helps to eliminate contact with landfill workers as well.

The Northwest Cleansweep program, which is operated through the Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NWRPC), utilizes a mobile satellite network to collect hazardous wastes from its constituent counties (10). Collected materials are then transported back to the Northwest Cleansweep’s permanent storage facility. After packaging and labeling, the materials are shipped to their final destination through a state-approved hazardous waste contractor. The Northwest Cleansweep program serves Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor and Washburn counties and the tribal nations of Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courte Oreilles, St. Croix, Red Cliff and Bad River. All counties contribute an annual levy to help support the program and also provide specific educational resources for their own collections. Northwest Cleansweep provides generalized information regarding the specifics of collections and provides templates for use by member counties. Some of the counties will be attaching other collection events to the hazardous waste collections. At present, Ashland, Douglas and Taylor counties have indicated that specific collections for appliances and tires will be held. During the 2008 collection season, NWRPC will be initiating its first ever unused/unwanted pharmaceutical collection to the participating counties on Saturday HHW collection events. In addition, Northwest Cleansweep will be providing the opportunity for each member county to collect electronics at all of the Saturday collection events. Citizens from all of the counties may use collections in any of the participating entities, with the exception of the tribal events that are dedicated to tribal residents. Tribal citizens may utilize any of the events, including county collections. Tribal events are limited to tribal residents in an attempt to provide a specific educational effort that is relevant to their particular situation. This organizational capacity allows NWRPC to undertake the fundamental processes to make the program work, such as providing the actual collection services, the storage of collected materials, the packaging and manifesting of all wastes collected, and the basic education and advertisement for the program. The counties and tribes and their associated agencies and organizations allow for more specific information to be distributed through their local channels of which they have a much greater understanding and knowledge. Please see the information under Project Leadership and Implementation for a detailed description of the agencies and organizations involved, and how they fit together with NWRPC regarding decision-making throughout the program implementation. It should be noted that NWRPC maintains final authority in all decision-making regarding the actual collection events and ultimate disposal of wastes collected, however this is accomplished with strong oversight by the Hazardous Waste Collection Steering Committee which offers insights into the counties/tribes needs, particularly in the area of local education and publicity. This committee meets on a quarterly basis to determine the direction of these types of matters and also to provide comments on other NWPRC controlled aspects of the program.

Other Features of the Program

Some of the typical chemicals brought in to a collection event include antifreeze, ballasts, acids, caustics, fertilizers, insecticides, mercury, oil filters, oxidizers, paint, pesticides, poisons, solvents, and water reactives. Paints and solvents generally account for over 60 percent of the material brought into an event. In recent years, new items have been added to the list, such as computers and associated components, fluorescent bulbs, cellphones, and rechargeable and button batteries. Certain items cannot be safely accepted at collection events. Some examples are radioactive materials, explosives, freon, ammunition, or biological, infectious or medical wastes (other than pharmaceutical medications). Additional items such as motor oil, vehicle batteries, and appliances cannot be accepted but are directed to those county sites that accept those materials.

Businesses, farms, schools and municipalities are encouraged to participate – Northwest Cleansweep simply asks that these entities pre-register for collection events. Contact persons are listed on all information materials. If these groups (businesses, farms, schools and municipalities) are unable to attend collection events, or have special collection needs, Northwest Cleansweep can accommodate their needs through collection appointments, the ten-county milk run collection programs in the spring and fall (see accomplishments below), or by arranging drop-off of the hazardous wastes at the Northwest Cleansweep permanent storage facility located in Spooner, Wisconsin. These groups can arrange drop-offs at the facility all-year round.

Another service provided by the Northwest Cleansweep program is a waste, or product exchange – many items, especially usable paints, are segregated from other hazardous wastes collected, and made available to residents at various exchange outlets in the ten-county region. In 2006, over ten tons of paint were handled in this manner. This results in savings for the Cleansweep program as well as for DATCP since these materials require no disposal fees. Northwest Cleansweep also sponsors an exchange site in Ashland County, but other counties also assist in making this service available to their residents (example – Sawyer County).

Special Features for 2008
The program intends to have several new and continuing focal points in 2008 in addition to its ongoing objectives. One is to complement present business collection services with additional education services that specifically apply to business sectors of the region. This is an ongoing objective that will be continued in 2008 in an effort to increase participation by very small quantity generators (VSQGs) in the region.

Another focus will be to make the Northwest Regional Planning Commission website more user-friendly and easier to navigate. The entire layout and content of the website is being changed at this time.

A new pilot project that will be a big draw in our estimation is the pharmaceutical collection mentioned above.

Project Accomplishments

The program has recorded many accomplishments since 1995. Some of these accomplishments are noted here:

• Northwest Cleansweep has operated over 390 collection events since its inception in 1995 and has collected over 1.6 million pounds of hazardous materials from the region since that time.

• In 1996, the program received the Wisconsin Governors Award for Excellence in Hazardous Waste Reduction.

• Over 65 percent of the materials collected through the collection program are recycled or reused.

• In recent years, while focusing on the collection of Lake Superior Critical Pollutants, as designated by the Lake Superior Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP), the program collected 1,366 pounds of mercury from the region and operated mercury thermometer exchange programs at all Lake Superior Basin collection events. This program was extended to all ten-member counties as well. Northwest Cleansweep is also a partner in a program to collect mercury from Lake Superior schools and underserved communities in other areas of the basin including the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This year, a special pilot project will be initiated for the collection of unused/unwanted pharmaceutical medications through a special grant program funded by the USDA-Rural Development Administration. The program also features an extensive education program for households, pharmacies and medical clinics. The program will continue to provide specific mercury amalgam collections from dental offices as done during the 2007 collection season.

• In 2001, a milk run hazardous waste collection program dedicated to servicing businesses, schools and municipalities during the fall and spring months was initiated and has collected thousands of pounds of hazardous materials from hundreds of customers since its inception. The program was designed to streamline summer collection events for households and to provide businesses, schools and municipalities with the opportunity to dispose of hazardous materials all year long. This program now basically operates all year long. In addition, VSQGs are welcome to bring materials to the Spooner hazardous waste storage site all year long on an appointment basis.

• Northwest Cleansweep provides valuable technical assistance via mail, e-mail, phone calls and our newly revised website to households, farms, businesses, schools and municipalities in the region regarding the use and appropriate disposal of hazardous materials. Receptionist staff has been trained as to which questions they can sufficiently answer or which subject areas to forward on to other information sources or a Cleansweep staff member.

• Northwest Cleansweep has provided collection services to many other municipalities in the area outside of the Planning Commission’s ten-county home region