LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - March 16, 2021 - On February 20, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources served 1,077 cars filled with Gwinnett County neighbors that had come to Gwinnett County Fairgrounds to take part in the first Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day of 2021. At the end of the four-hour event, the two organizations along with dozens of volunteers, several Gwinnett County police officers and representatives from MXI - a leading provider of regulated waste transportation and management services – had collected 111,874 pounds of household hazardous waste for recycling or disposal. Between items collected and the number of cars funneled through the event, this year's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day marks one of Gwinnett County's largest events of its kind to this date.
"We were thrilled with the turnout – particularly considering the fact that we're still in the midst of a pandemic," said Schelly Marlatt, Executive Director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. "I was particularly proud to see members of our Green Youth Advisory Council hard at work. These are high school students who volunteered their time and talents to support our efforts on a Saturday morning. Their passion for environmental stewardship makes me believe our planet will be in good hands in the future. We are happy we created this opportunity for our neighbors to rid their homes of chemicals, paint, pesticides and more that they no longer needed. We're already hard at work planning our Earth Day recycling event on Saturday, April 24 with our partners at Gwinnett County Solid Waste Management and believe it has a shot at being even bigger than last month's HHW event."
Items collected at the free February event included spray pesticides, automotive products, cleaners, spray paint, auto batteries, household batteries, cooking grease, fire extinguishers, lighter fluid, fluorescent bulbs, insecticides, latex paints, lawn care products, oil-based stains, propane cylinders, paint strippers, weed killers and more. The next Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, July 22, 2021. To learn more about this and other upcoming Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful events, please visit www.gwinnettcb.org. Questions may be directed to gwinnettcb@gwinnettcb.org or 770-822-5187.
