Sauk County Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep

Hazardous waste has properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides. Sauk County is sponsoring a Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep designed to remove these materials from the environment. Please see the lists below for the materials that will be collected. The Clean Sweep will be held on the following dates:

WHEN: Friday, October 5th from 3pm to 6pm and Saturday, October 6th from 8am to noon
WHERE: Sauk County Landfill - located off of Highway 33 between Baraboo and Reedsburg near the Highway 23 intersection.

Products and materials should be packaged to keep them from spilling or breaking on the way. Leave materials in their original containers.
DO NOT MIX like or unlike materials together. Leaking containers may be placed, as is, in another container. Label the outside container.

* Stop by the Sauk County Land Conservation Department to purchase stickers for these materials before noon on Friday, October 5th to be eligible for the discount. The Land Conservation Department is located at 505 Broadway in Baraboo.

Mercury Thermometer Exchange: If your thermometer is not digital and has a silver liquid metal in it (most commonly found in a bulb at the end of the device), it probably contains mercury. Alcohol-based thermometers usually contain a red or blue liquid, but they too can have a silver bulb on them. If you think you have a mercury-containing thermometer exchange it for a free digital thermometer at the Clean Sweep. Mercury is a hazardous material that causes serious environmental and health problems. Although it is found naturally, problems arise from its release from man-made products and energy production. Once mercury is released into the environment, it cycles and converts to the toxic form, methyl mercury, and is virtually impossible to remove. Visit the mercury house to learn more about where mercury can be found in your home.

Interested in volunteering at the Clean Sweep?? We could use your help. Please fill out this volunteer application and email it to Jeff Jelinek.

Why should we care about hazardous wastes? Toxic compounds enter the environment in many ways and in many forms. Some are poured into sewers or onto the ground, some are carried in exhaust fumes from cars and factories, others may be taken as solids to landfills and dumps. Once in the environment, chemicals may undergoes series of reactions forming new products, some of which may be toxic and some of which may take on a new phase (solid, liquid, or gas). Compounds can also move from one environmental medium to another. Acid rain is an example of airborne toxics moving from one environmental medium - the air - to another - water.

The toxins can also bioaccumulate. Bioaccumulation is the net accumulation by an organism of a chemical from its combined exposure to water, food, and sediment. Species higher in the food web can be exposed to all the chemicals that lower-order species accumulate. Being at the top of the food chain, humans are susceptible to high levels of bioaccumulated toxins in their diets. Lifelong exposure to even low level concentrations of contaminants from species lower in the food chain can cause serious health problems, including cancer, birth defects, birth complications, and nervous and mental disorders. Pesticides and heavy metals are common sources of contamination by bioaccumulation.

Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQG) and Agriculture Waste - Commercial entities and farm operators that qualify as VSQG of hazardous waste are eligible to participate in the Clean Sweep for a fee. All VSQGs must preregister by September 14, 2007. Call the Sauk County Land Conservation Department at (608) 355-3245 for additional details. To be a VSQG your business must generate 220 pounds or less of hazardous waste in a month and store no more than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste on site at any time. Additionally, you may have no more than two pounds of acutely hazardous waste on site.

For additional information please contact:
Gail Greve at the Sauk County Land Conservation Department at (608) 355-3245 or ggreve@co.sauk.wi.us
The Sauk County Land Conservation Department is located on the second floor of the West Square Building at 505 Broadway in Baraboo, WI