It is time to clean house and rid yourself of those wastes you just don’t know what to do with by taking them to the “Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day” being held on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Items that qualify can be taken to the Tooele County Health Department building at 151 N. Main St. in Tooele between 9 a.m. and noon.

“The main reason we are hosting the hazardous waste disposal day is to encourage those who have hazardous materials to bring them to us rather than to have them in the landfill,” said Bucky Whitehouse, emergency response coordinator and public information officer for the Tooele County Health Department.

Items that will be accepted Saturday include used oils, paints, poisons, batteries, chemicals, antifreeze, pesticides, and unwanted products labeled “poison,” “warning,” or “caution.”

Items that will not be accepted includes waste from businesses, containers larger than 5 gallons, explosives, ammunition, radioactive waste and compressed cylinders. Contact the health department for more information on these items.

Whitehouse estimates the cost to the county for the collection service to be about $20,000 to $25,000 per event. The cost is dictated by the volume of materials dropped off and the department considers the money well spent.

“Unique to this program this time is a collection for unused or old prescription drugs as well. We encourage citizens to bring those to the collection area rather than to flush them down the toilet or anything like that. This helps keep them out of groundwater resources. All prescription medicines we collect will be burned up,” Whitehouse said, adding that realistically any medication could fit this description, including over-the-counter medicine.

“We can take them if people have any question,” he said.

Hazardous products sent to the Bauer landfill can cause problems. Employees go through the trash that arrives and if they come across anything hazardous — poisons, toxins, explosives, etc. — they pull them out and arrange for them to go to the hazardous landfill so they are handled appropriately.

“By holding these events, we eliminate the need for the landfill to do that,” Whitehouse said. “It helps them out.”

During past collection days, the usual items like unused pesticides, oil, antifreeze and paints show up, but each time unexpected items also come.

“Every year we have a quantity of mercury that comes in,” Whitehouse said. “We have had anywhere from small vials of mercury up to 70 pounds. It was used in mining days for the refining process. People start going through their houses and grandparents’ houses and find it. We encourage them to bring that down to us.”

He added a resident brought down 300 gallons of ink that was found while cleaning out a garage. In addition, people have brought down old chemistry sets.

“One thing we always get is a large quantity of is paint. We have the ability to take any type of used paint, however, there is another way to dispose of it. People can pull the lid off the paint and let the fluid evaporate so it is solid. When it is a solid, it can go to the landfill.”

Anyone who has items that the health department cannot take are encouraged to contact the health department and they will help arrange to get it dispose of properly.

He said business waste becomes a problem because it comes in extremely large quantities.

“Whatever people do, don’t give up,” he said. “We encourage them to inquire with us and we will help them find who it is who can take the stuff.