LAWRENCE COUNTY Hazardous-waste cleanup to be offered

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County will participate in a household hazardous-waste cleanup this year.
County commissioners gave recycling director Amy Labi-Carando permission Tuesday to start planning the collection through the Southwestern Pennsylvania Household Hazardous Waste Task Force.
The county will have to contribute $5,000 to the group, but it expects to get about $100,000 worth of services from the cleanup, Labi-Carando said.
The $5,000 for the program already is part of the county recycling office's budget, she added.
Labi-Carando said the task force will designate a cleanup day in Lawrence County sometime later this year. Allegheny, Armstrong and Beaver counties participated last year. Cleanup items will include pesticides, paints and household cleaners and chemicals.
Labi-Carando said they must find an 800-square-foot surface that can be covered in plastic for the collection, ideally a large parking lot.
People bringing items to the collection site also will be asked to make donations. Labi-Carando said the collection will help properly dispose of the items, which sometimes end up in landfills with residential garbage or remain in houses and may be fire hazards.
She said the Pennsylvania Cleanways Chapter of Lawrence County and the county League of Women Voters have agreed to supply volunteers. She said some municipal officials also have offered their support. Commissioner Dan Vogler told Labi-Carando he wants her to see if the Lawrence County Council of Governments will support the program, too.