SWACO hazardous waste drop-off sees surge amid COVID-19 home cleaning

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) drop-off center just north of downtown Columbus has seen a doubling of chemicals, fertilizers and some mystery hazards in recent months with folks cleaning out basements and garages during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

The center, at 645 E. 8th Ave. at the corner with Essex Avenue in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood, is Franklin County’s only stand-alone drop-off site for potentially dangerous household materials. With more people inspired to clean up their homes and garages because they’re spending more time there during the COVID-19 pandemic, the drop-off center has become a whirlwind of activity.

Gerry Ioannides, 76, is a retired Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chemist who oversees the operation. He’s also the social conscience behind the work, according to the Dispatch.

“We leave a legacy for our children that our environment is better. It’s a lot less expensive to treat the material (now) than to dispose of it in a landfill and then have to dig it out to redispose of it and retreat it,” he said.

“We learned our lesson, ″ Ioannides said of landfills, which used to be “just a hole in the ground where you dumped everything. It cost billions of dollars to clean them all up.”

Most Franklin County residents are charged nothing because SWACO funds the disposals under a contract with Environmental Enterprises Inc. (EEI). There is a currently $50 flat fee for residents of other counties to dispose of their household waste.

Operating costs vary depending on quantity and type of material processed by EEI, which has similar programs in five other Midwest states.

“If you don’t get paid by the (waste) district, you have to get paid by the individual dropping it off. And people don’t like to do that,” said Dan McCabe, president of EEI, who estimates that 80 percent of items are reusable, either as fuel or in new products.

At the drop-off center, fluorescent tubes are carefully stacked, along with old thermometers and other equipment. Those items are taken to EEI’s plant in Cincinnati for processing. The same for old TV picture tubes, which might have up to 10 pounds of lead, Ioannides said.

People are grateful, Ioannides said: “Ninety-nine percent of them will say, ‘Thank God you guys are here.’”

The drop-off center is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays. It does not accept firearms, munitions or medical waste.