Yakima County Recognized for Effective Household Hazardous Waste Program
Contacts: Karma Suchan, Solid Waste Manager (509) 574-2450
Jacob Clay, Public Information Officer (509) 574-2300
YAKIMA, WA – The Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Program operated by Yakima County Solid Waste has been recognized as one of the Nation’s Highly-Effective HHW Programs. HHW products are among the most toxic items taken in at the landfill. These include items such as paints (latex and oil-based), used oil, auto batteries, flammable liquids, and hazard class 9 and PPE materials.
From the programs reported in Waste Advantage Magazine (WAM), Yakima County was ranked 7th. WAM gave special kudos to the program for doing an excellent job despite the low median household income. Other Highly-Effective HHW Collection programs are among the top 1,000 median household income counties, whereas Yakima County ranks 2,476th. WAM stated “Kudos to Yakima County for serving their community at a high level...” and “This income correlation with environmental services is nothing new and points to opportunities to do better for lower income households”.
Yakima County’s HHW Program is led by Patti Huff, HHW Program Coordinator, and serves 17% of the households throughout the year. Other jurisdictions may have a few collection events throughout the year. Yakima County offers year-round HHW disposal. Karma Suchan, Solid Waste Manager, said “We are excited to be recognized as one of the nations top HWW Programs. We are fortunate to be able to assist our community dispose of HHW throughout the year and promote a higher quality of living.”