Shortcomings in hazardous waste disposal

I just read your article from SWANCC and Kane County about household hazardous waste disposal. A few notes:

1. SWANCC does not cover all of Cook County or southern Lake County. Schaumburg does not belong, and when I tried to use one of their events some years back, I was turned away. There are no doubt other coverage gaps.

2. There are items that are not taken that are household hazardous waste, especially at municipal recycling fairs. Such as ionization fire alarms. I have tried mailing these to the places listed on the web only to have them come back. Four-foot fluorescent tubes are often not taken and often hardware stores only take curly CFLs, even though they sell the long ones.

3. The semiannual municipal recycling fairs mean you have to keep hazardous trash around for months. But it is hazardous, right? Does that make sense?

4. If you have an old nonworking fridge or dehumidifier with Freon in it, even the state can't tell you how to get rid of it. The ComEd program requires (tests) that the unit is working.

5. You can take many things to the state drop-off in Naperville, which is only open a few hours a month. Or, I have used the city/state drop at Goose Island, where they were much more helpful and friendly than at Naperville.

Mark Muehlhausen

Schaumburg