Participation rates and collection volumes for CleanOut from March to June 2007 are up on previous years, highlighting the success of the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change's (DECC) household chemical collections program.
In the 12 months to June 2007, CleanOut collected 625,899kg of hazardous household waste in the Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra regions.
These collections were attended by 18,041 people – 75% of whom had not been to a previous CleanOut collection event.
CleanOut collection events encourage the community to make homes safer, reduce toxicity of the waste stream, minimise environmental contamination and help in the recovery of valuable resources such as a variety of metals including lead, steel and mercury.
The CleanOut message is "Don't dump hazardous household waste or tip it in the drain. Don't even put it in your rubbish bin. Bring it to a free CleanOut collection event in your area".
Hazardous household waste includes paints, pesticides, poisons, hobby chemicals, pool chemicals, fluorescent tubes, batteries, motor oils, solvents, cleaners, acids, alkalis, pool chemicals, gas bottles and fire extinguishers.
In the Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra regions, CleanOut is coordinated and funded by the DECC, with collection sites organised by local councils. In other regions of New South Wales, CleanOut collections are coordinated, promoted and co-funded by regional waste groups, with DECC providing 50% funding from the NSW Environmental Trust.
CleanOut was established by the DECC in March 2003 and is funded to 2009 by the NSW Environmental Trust.
Over the last four years, CleanOut collections in the Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra regions have been attended by 65,224 people and 2,358,009 kg of hazardous household waste have been collected.
> More information
- for more about CleanOut and the dates and locations of upcoming events, visit the DECC website. You can also contact your local council or phone the Environment Line on 131 555.