Old paints and other hazardous materials can be recycled at the household hazardous waste collection event. Photo by Mike Swasey

We’ve all got that old can of paint or a couple of old fluorescent light tubes hanging around the house. This weekend, if you’re in Skagway, you can safely dispose of them for free. 

Building contractor Mike Healy said he’s bringing a bunch of materials leftover from construction projects.

“We basically have like a pallet of, I’m guessing, 50 pounds of oil-based paint, latex paint, old construction adhesives, and caulking,” said Healy.

Beth Smith is helping a family member get rid of old fuel that he’d inherited.

“Matt owned a boat, he never used it. It was Graham Kaczmarek’s boat and Matt bought it from him for like a dollar when they left town. And there was all this fuel and stuff, so we’re probably going to be maxed out with just that,” said Smith

And Lucas Heger isn’t sure if there’s a limit to how much he can donate. 

“Do they take 55-gallon drums of turpentine? That’s my question,” asked Heger.

Jolene Cox owns Cox Environmental Services in Juneau and they are the contractor in charge of disposing of all the hazardous waste that’s collected. 

“You can bring a 55-gallon drum of turpentine, there’s a 220 pound limit per household without making prior arrangements,” said Cox.

Some of the items on the list include used antifreeze, motor oil, acids, bases, fertilizers, cleaners, pesticides…

“Pretty much any chemical that you would generate, you know kind of around the house or around your vehicles,” added Cox.

They also take button batteries, car batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, ballast…

“Roofing tar, adhesive, pool chemicals.  If there’s anyone in Skagway lucky enough to have a pool, I’ve never seen one when I’ve been there, but you never know,” said Cox.

Public Works building on 5th Ave and Alaska Street in Skagway, AK. Photo by Mike Swasey.

Cox said last summer was the biggest event they’ve ever hosted because people had more time to clean out their sheds. There is also a list of items not accepted. No electronic devices, food waste, or infectious wastes. No household trash or metal. Nothing explosive, no compressed gas, no asbestos or radioactive materials.

Cox also said her company works in conjunction with US Ecology out of Anchorage, and they ship all materials to a processing facility in the Seattle area. Some of the materials get recycled there, and others are buried.

“It is an industrial, hazardous waste landfill. So a lot of the drums you know, are staying intact in drums and being put in and landfills that way. Not like the landfill like we would think of here in Juneau, you know, a very differently engineered landfill for that facility,” said Cox.

The event runs Saturday and Sunday, July 24 & 25 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the public works building on the corner of 5th Ave and Alaska Street in Skagway.