Dispose of your Household Hazardous Waste on August 18 in East Providence

Resource Recovery and the City of East Providence Department of Public Works will co-host a collection of household hazardous waste on Saturday, August 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Engustian Municipal Public Works Complex located at 60 Commercial Way in East Providence. Created in 2001, the Eco-Depot program is a free service offered that provides for the proper handling, packaging, storage, transportation and disposal of household hazardous waste. Since its inception, Resource Recovery has collected approximately 11.9 million pounds of household hazardous waste and served more than 155,000 Rhode Islanders (and counting).

Many common household items are actually household hazardous waste materials that cannot be collected through Rhode Island’s standard trash and recycling collection services. Household hazardous waste is anything labeled with a skull and crossbones, or words like 'toxic', 'poison', 'flammable', 'combustible', etc These materials include: fluorescent light bulbs, gasoline, pesticides, oil-based paints, disinfectants, used motor oil and lawn and pool chemicals. When not properly collected and disposed, these materials can cause harm to the local environment by contaminating Rhode Island’s waterways. For a full list of household hazardous waste materials, please visit www.ecodepotri.org.

In addition to household hazardous waste, properly prepared sharps (i.e. needles, lancets) are also accepted at Eco-Depot collections. For sharps to be accepted for disposal, they must be secured either in a sharps container or a puncture-proof plastic bleach, detergent or coffee container that is taped shut and labeled “SHARPS.” Sharps containers prepared in this method can also be disposed of with regular trash collection.

Eco-Depot is available to Rhode Island residents only, and to help reduce time spent in line, appointments should be made in advance. To make an appointment for the collection or to view the entire 2018 Eco-Depot schedule, visit www.ecodepotri.org or call 401-942-1430 x241.

About Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation
Resource Recovery is the quasi-public agency dedicated to providing Rhode Islanders with safe, environmentally compliant, clean, and cost effective waste and recycling services. The agency operates the state’s Materials Recycling Facility, Leaf and Yard Compost, Eco-Depot, and Central Landfill, and provides free programs and services to help the RI community manage materials more sustainably.

Check out Resource Recovery on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more about waste reduction, recycling, composting and proper waste disposal.