The Steele County Household Hazardous Waste Facility will open for the season this Thursday, May 5. Hours will be 9AM to 3PM on Thursdays and the first and third Saturday of each month from 9AM to noon.

The site is at the county landfill off Highway 218 near Bixby.

This service will properly dispose hazardous waste free of charge for Steele County residential households.

Before posting this, I decided to check out the Steele County Landfill website. It's something a person isn't likely to do. Here are a few things you might find of interest if you haven't checked out their site.

  • You can take your used motor oil and used oil filters in for free recycling.
  • For a fee you may bring in appliances and other things such as computer monitors, air conditioners and such for recycling.
  • You can even recycle your old mattress for a fee. I had no idea on that one.

As a youngster, one of my highlights was going to the town dump with my grandpa. It was certainly a lot different than it is today. My retired grandpa lived on the road to the dump and when he was outside he'd get a decent look at any trailer or pickup loads that had potential. Then off he'd go to the dump. This was back in the days when TV sets were in wooden cabinets. He'd haul them home and make furniture out of them. And the toys! Lots of cars and trucks and tractors and neat things a little boy would love. Grandpa and I would scout the dump for these treasures. Then he'd make any necessary repairs and clean them up and Lil' Loren had some more things to play with. Ole Loren still has them, stuffed away in cases in the barn. They're worth a little bit now. I remember there would also be folks out there target shooting the rats whenever we went out there.

Back to the subject at hand. The Steele County Household Hazardous Waste site will remain open through September 29.

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