Solid waste district will have the event in 2021

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste District will not be holding its Household Hazardous Waste collection event at this time.

The solid waste district has the HHW event every two years, and since the last one was in 2018, it was to be held soon.

But the pandemic has made it rather complicated this year.

First of all, the solid waste district won’t have any workers to move the collected waste.

Stephanie Helms, the interim director of the solid waste district, said they normally have eight or so people to help out the staff.

“Those workers are on community control and right now, they are not allowing them to work with the public at events like this,” she said. “Plus, the staff here is down to three people.”

Helms said there are concerns because it isn’t just taking waste out of vehicles.

“We interact pretty heavily with the community during this,” she said. “So, we don’t want anyone potentially exposed to COVID-19.”

So, the HHW event, which is normally in September, has been postponed until next year.

“There is not anything set in stone right now, what with COVID-19 and our situation without workers,” Helms said, adding that the will let the public know when a date is set. “We’re hoping to have one in spring, but even if we don’t, we will still have e-waste disposal, the pharmaceutical take back day, tire removal and the township clean ups.”

Helms said it will be up to the board of directors of the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste District whether the HHW collection event is held in the spring or the fall.

The event is very popular. At the last one in September 2018, there were 283 vehicles that took advantage of the service, with 121 from Scioto County and 162 from Lawrence County. The solid waste district took in tons of household waste from paint to pills.