All Over Albany

Household hazardous waste and electronics drop-off days

Chances are you have stuff around the house that you'd like to get rid of -- but shouldn't put in the garbage. Stuff like all-but-empty cans of paint, old compact fluorescent light bulbs (they contain mercury), a hasn't-been-used-since-2002 TV (those cathode ray tube sets have lead in them), and so on.

Well, here's your chance. The City of Albany has four "Household Hazardous Waste & Electronic Drop-off Days" coming up: September 2, October 7, November 4, December 9.

On those days you can drop of these items at the city landfill from 4-7 pm. It's free, but you have to pre-register (call 800-494-2273) and provide proof of residency. Here's a pdf of the informational flyer.

We dropped off an old CRT monitor at one of these days a few years back and were impressed by how smoothly it all went. We pulled into the line, gave the guy our name, waited for the car ahead of us, pulled up, popped the trunk and handed the monitor to a guy waiting to take it. The whole process lasted all of three minutes.

These drop-off days are only open to Albany residents.

Don't live in Albany? A lot of towns around here have these days. Give the town a call -- or check with your garbage hauler -- and someone should be able to tell about the next one. And if you're just looking to get rid of old computer equipment, Goodwill has a free recycling program.

photo: D'Arcy Norman (Flickr user D'Arcy Norman)