Hazardous Waste

Sauk County is sponsoring a Hazardous Waste Clean Sweep on Saturday,  June 4, 2011 at the Sauk County Landfill.

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.

Mercury Thermometers: 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.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.

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.

For more information please contact:

Jenny Erickson
Sauk County – UW Extension
West Square Administration Bldg
505 Broadway
Baraboo, WI 53913-2404
Phone: 608-355-3250
Fax: 608-355-3550
jennifer.erickson@ces.uwex.edu