TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF MAY 1, 2014
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Report on May 3, 2014 State of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program (As Revised)
Body
Dear Sir:
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) has partnered with the District for Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection for over 15 years.
The goal of this event is to give citizens an opportunity to properly and legally dispose of household products that might otherwise pollute the environment by their disposal into the local sewers and landfills. The orgin of the District's involvement program goes back to 1992, when new Commissioner Kathleen Therese Mean called a public hearing to allow experts to testify as ti the negative effects of hazadous materials making their way into the area waterways. Base on those hearings, the District partnered with IEPA to hold a pilot collection event at Mainstream Pumping Station in 1993. Since that time, the District has participated in 30 events in the Cook County region, helping countless area residents properly dispose of their household haxardous waste.
The Maintenance and Operations Department (M&O) submitted an application to the IEPA in 2009 to run a HHW collection at Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC). Shortly after the application was submitted, the program was suspended. The program has now been reinstated, and the District is excited to be invloved. On March 20, 2014, the IEPA selected MWRD's application for a HHW event at MVCC.
The IEPA will provide an environmental firm to collect and legally dispose of all waste collected. In addition, the District has coordinated with a vendor to recycle auto batteries at no cost. Moraine Valley Community College has arranged for the collection of electronic and textile waste. The event is scheduled to take place on May 3, 2014 between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm.
The success of the previous collection events can be attributed to the coordinated efforts of staff and the advertising campaign conducted in conjunction with the participating communities. Surveys completed at past events have indicated that the majority of participants were notified of the collection events by reading the flyers and news stories in local newspapers generated by the aforementioned media campaign.
Citizen feedback from past events has been extremely positive. Nearly 100% of the participants have expressed their strong appreciation for these events and had a strong preference for more frequent and similar events to be held in the future.
Requested, Manju P. Sharma, Director of Maintenance and Operations, MPS:SES:SO'C:AG:FC
Respectfully Submitted, Debra Shore, Chairman Committee on Public Information and Education
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for May 1, 2014