Kandiyohi County to discontinue household hazardous waste center at landfill

Kandiyohi County residents who have been using the collection site at the county landfill to get rid of their household hazardous waste will soon need to find an alternative. Citing safety concerns, the county is closing the collection center at the landfill, effective Oct. 1. That leaves county residents with the option of bringing household hazardous waste — such as lawn and pool chemicals, varnish, solvents, automotive fluids and more — to the collection center on the recycling center campus in southwest Willmar or using a private vendor. The main concerns are storage and transportation, said Gary Geer, director of environmental services for Kandiyohi County, and Jay Baker, the county's regional manager for household hazardous waste and recycling. "It's a safety issue," Baker said. Staffing at the landfill site is limited and materials are sometimes left outside the collection shed, posing a risk for substances that are air-reactive or water-reactive, he said. "You could have a fire." It's not unusual for blasting powder to arrive at a collection site for safe disposal, he noted.