March 8 Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Day a Huge Success

This morning I arrived at the Wakulla County Household Hazardous Waste day at around 9 AM with 6 one gallon paint cans (inherited when I bought my home in 2002) and 10 tires. There was a line of people disposing of all manner of hazardous waste. I parked and watched (and helped a little) this process. The line moved very quickly and there were people who unloaded everyone’s vehicles. When I left around 10:30 AM, over 175 vehicles had been through the line. The amount of work being done was incredible.

{sidebar id=1}I would like to thank Mr. Richard Russell, the local Wal-Mart manager, for his volunteerism this morning at our Hazardous Waste Day. He arranged to have a semi truck and trailer available to haul away used personal tires. He then personally loaded and stacked tires into the closed semi trailer to be hauled away. If you see him, please express your appreciation.

I would also like to point out our public works contractors, ESG, is paying their employees to work this project. ESG is spending well over $1000 as a public service. I thank them for giving back to Wakulla County and doing their part to help us protect our environment.

Ms. Marg Law, Executive Director of Keep Wakulla Beautiful, is doing a superb job scheduling these events and getting corporate sponsorship for the benefit of our county and taxpayers. Keep Wakulla Beautiful is hosted by Sheriff David Harvey at the jail complex and is paid for by a grant from the State of Florida. She was joined by other volunteers, including two high school students, to make this event successful.

I was surprised at the amount of people who had tires in their back yard collecting water and breeding mosquitoes. Since we limited people to ten tires each, I personally went out to an old pile of tires (not on any of my personal property) and took 10 tires to be recycled. I saw many of our neighbors doing the same thing. I talked to Mr. Russell and Mr. Cleve Fleming (ESG’s Superintendent) about having another day focused on tire disposal—with no limits on amounts of tires. I talked to one person who had about 50 tires. He collected these tires from forests and woodlots around the county as an unnoticed and unheralded public service. I hope to have another tire disposal day within 90 days.

I’m sure there will be statistics available concerning amounts of paint, solvents, fluorescent bulbs, TVs, old computers, etc., that were properly disposed. I also talked to Mr. Fleming on ways we can make recycling easier in Wakulla County. I’m convinced our citizens want to protect our environment as we grow. With some innovative thinking, we can partner with other government and private entities to make being a “green” citizen easier.

I’m optimistic about our future. Thank you for allowing me to serve.

Ed Brimner
Chairman, Wakulla County Commission (District III)

(850) 251-8709 (Cell)
(850) 926-0919 (Office)
(850) 926-0940 (FAX)

This information originally published on March 9, 2008.

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