NOTICE: CHIPPEWA COUNTY SPECIAL FALL RECYCLING EVENT CHANGE – HAZARDOUS WASTE CLEAN SWEEP – CANCELED APPLIANCE, ELECTRONICS, AND TV’S TO CONTINUE ON OCTOBER 23, 2021

Important changes were required to be made to this fall event!

The Chippewa County Recycling Program is unable to accept any clean sweep hazardous waste items on October 23rd due to a temporary backlog of containerized hazardous waste destined for incineration. This includes paints, stains, poisons, fertilizers, antifreeze, gas, oil, batteries, or fluorescent bulbs. Please hold your hazardous waste in a safe location until the next event.

The Environmental Protection Agency explained the situation in an August 10 memo. “In early June 2021, EPA became aware that some commercial hazardous waste incinerators were informing their customers (hazardous waste generators) that they would no longer accept containerized hazardous waste designated for incinerator, due to a backlog at their facilities.” the memo stated.

The reasons for the backlog are labor shortages affecting both transportation and incinerators due to the COVID-19 pandemic; winter storms that caused shutdowns in the southern United States; shutdowns for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance; and increase manufacturing (and resulting increase in waste generation) as the economy recovers from the pandemic.

This was a very difficult decision to make but we thank you for your understanding and the regular scheduled events will, hopefully, return spring of 2022.

The collection of appliances, electronics, and scrap metal will still be available to Chippewa County residents during this event!