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Press Release
ENVIRONMENTAL COLLECTION CENTER CELEBRATES ONE YEAR “BIRTHDAY”
County, City and WM Officials Reflect on the Success of First Year of Service to Antelope Valley Residents
Palmdale, CA, August 24, 2006 – The Antelope Valley Environmental Collection Center is celebrating a very successful first year servicing Antelope Valley's waste disposal needs. Over the course of the past year, local residents have safely disposed of an incredible 303 tons of household hazardous waste, as well as 331 tons of electronic and universal waste at the AVECC, waste that otherwise would have ended up contaminating landfills, or putting homeowners and neighborhoods at risk.
“We are gratified that the AVECC has been so successful, so quickly. It has certainly contributed to a cleaner and safer Antelope Valley,” said Bill Minnis, District Manager for Waste Management of the Antelope Valley. “We are particularly encouraged that as the word has spread, the AVECC has gotten increasingly popular with local residents.”
The AVECC is the area's first permanent Environmental Collection Center, providing free and secure drop-off for household hazardous waste, electronic waste and universal waste. During its first full year of service, 7,274 cars passed through the AVECC. The facility is a partnership between Waste Management, the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, California EPA’s Integrated Waste Management Board, and the County of Los Angeles. It received a grant from the California EPA’s Integrated Waste Management Board.
“It took tremendous dedication at so many levels to get this partnership off to a terrific start,” said Mayor Jim Ledford of the city of Palmdale. “There was a clear community need for the AVECC and we worked hard to meet that need, while exceeding our own expectations for the first year.”
“We anticipate even better results for our second year of operations,” said Mayor Henry Hearns of the city of Lancaster. “We encourage residents to take full advantage of the AVECC during spring cleaning or any other household projects.”
The need for the facility became extremely urgent in February of this year, when a new state law went into effect requiring that items deemed “universal waste” by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) need to be discarded at designated waste centers. Universal waste items, which contain low levels of hazardous metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium, can potentially contaminate soil and groundwater, so they cannot be disposed of in the trash and subsequently deposited into landfills. Other items that require special disposal include household hazardous waste such as products labeled: toxic, poison, corrosive, flammable, combustible or irritant and electronic waste including items such as televisions, computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, VCRs, fax machines, electronic games and cell phones.
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