COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- In celebration of Earth Day, the 14th Civil Engineer Squadron collected household hazardous waste from base residents and employees. This was an effort meant to help prevent pollution and to provide a solution for those that had unneeded household chemicals or other wastes hanging around the house. Over the course of the week we collected approximately 5,000 pounds of paint, more than 40 gallons of used oil, 20 gallons of used antifreeze, several expired fire extinguishers, multiple spent light bulbs, several dead car batteries, and dozens of household cleaners. We were able to repurpose most of the household cleaners and approximately 50 gallons of paint. The used oil and antifreeze will be recycled, as will the fire extinguisher canisters and dead car batteries.
It is a great accomplishment to divert this amount of waste from being disposed improperly. However, this is a never-ending problem and you may have more hazardous materials in need of disposal before the next collection day. Below are some tips on proper disposal of some of the most common household hazardous materials.
- Waste paint can be dropped off at the 14 CES Paint shop on Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m.
- Used motor oil and vehicle batteries are accepted at the Base Recycling center during regular business hours, 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Used antifreeze can be turned in to most auto parts stores for safe disposal, or can be accepted by base Hazardous Waste program, call 434-7955 to arrange drop off.
- Do not take household cleaners and chemicals to the thrift store! They don’t want them. One of the first large drop-offs during this collection week was a large plastic tote full of partially used cleaning products that had been dumped at the thrift store.
To further reduce Columbus’ environmental impact, 14th CES is pleased to announce that we have revived the e-waste program. Please drop off non-government owned televisions, computer monitors, fax machines, printers, and telephones at the Recycling Center during regular operating hours of 7a.m.- 3 p.m.
While it may not seem like the unwanted chemicals and electronics in your home will make much impact on the environment, collecting such a large amount of waste from our small base population in just a week shows the impact we can have if we all work together to prevent these hazardous wastes from being released into the environment.