Are you wondering if you’ll ever get rid of that box of batteries, old thermostats, and paint cans in your basement? You’re not the only one.
In Boston and other cities and towns in Massachusetts, residents are frustrated with the limited number of hazardous waste disposal days and locations. They described long lines, lack of accessibility for those with disabilities, and just a general lack of organization in figuring out how to get rid of materials that are deemed unsafe for the environment and for landfills.
“You sit in traffic in a long line,” said Tracy G., a resident of Hyde Park who takes her materials to a site in West Roxbury.
She tries to go annually, but she’s accumulated about three years’ worth of household waste in her basement because the timing rarely seems to line up with work and life.
“I have a gift for missing the drop-off dates,” she said. “But mornings definitely do not work for me, so it almost doesn’t matter — there’s a heck of a bottleneck.”
Adam Gaffin, founder of UniversalHub and a Roslindale resident, recently posted on social media about a drop-off that took more than an hour.
Andrea Kelley-Russell, who has a seizure disorder and is unable to drive from her home in Roslindale, said she has taken Lyfts to drop off bags of hazardous waste. She’s also walked with a cart to the West Roxbury location, where she said she’s been turned away.
“I’m not happy to be told that I can’t drop my stuff there unless I stand in line with a whole bunch of cars,” Kelley-Russell said. “Or convince one of the car owners to put this stuff into their car — into their backseat or their trunk — and help me out.”
How to drop off hazardous waste in Boston
Boston’s Public Works Department offers four Zero Waste Drop-Off days throughout the year for residents to safely dispose of a wide range of materials. The next will be on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 315 Gardner St. in West Roxbury from 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
The department also organizes periodic pop-up events that accept a smaller list of hazardous household waste items.
They don’t accept air conditioners, but residents can schedule an appointment to have one picked up through 311 for free.
What counts as hazardous household waste?
- aerosol cans with fluid in them
- NiCad, button, zinc and lithium batteries
- mercury-containing devices like compact fluorescent bulbs, thermometers and blood pressure equipment
- moth balls/crystals
- oil-based paint
- paint thinners
- rug cleaners
- and more
Find a nearby collection site or event on MassDEP’s website.
The city’s public works department said that, in the past, residents have walked or biked up to drop off items at their events, and they’re more than happy to accommodate.
At an April 2 hearing, public works officials said waits used to be notably longer — with people waiting up to two-and-a-half hours, and horror stories including cars catching on fire while in line. They said in the past few years they’ve decreased those wait times significantly. Two months after this hearing, the wait for some in West Roxbury was over an hour and a half.
They also addressed the need to expand services to other locations in the city.
”We are looking for more opportunities to put these in other neighborhoods,“ said Dennis Roache, superintendent of public works. ”The challenge we’ve had is to find a big enough location that can house 900 cars a day and have easy access.“
But, even as Bostonians struggle to get rid of hazardous household waste, residents in many smaller cities and towns have fewer options to choose from.
“We realize the limitations when a town maybe just has one collection event a year and that ... provides very limited opportunities for residents to bring their materials in,” said John Fischer, deputy division director for solid waste at MassDEP.
What drop-offs accept, and how much they charge, also varies. Towns like Beverly require a $25 payment per car of materials. Others like Newburyport mandate $5 per extra box by cash or check.
“I find it vague. It’s not like you can go to this one website and it just has all the answers for you,” said David Bergsbaken, who frequently paints his house’s rooms and says the cans pile up.
In Hopedale, Bergsbaken’s Central Massachusetts town of around 6,000 residents, there isn’t information on the municipal website about hazardous waste. Some digging found a PDF about a dehumidifier recycling day this past June that also collected additional materials that can be considered hazardous waste, like electronics.
Bergsbaken and his wife used to drive over to a regional drop-off site in Devens with batteries, paint and other items, waiting in a long car line to do so. They moved to Hopedale a couple years ago and haven’t been able to find a drop-off site or day.
“No one wants to keep a dozen or more cans in their garage,” he said. “It just becomes, like, this pain, and you don’t know what the right thing is to do.”
Solutions
Bergbaken said that a regional approach could help, like the event in Devens that allowed people from a number of nearby towns to drop off hazardous waste.
Brookline lets residents drop off hazardous waste every Tuesday from May through October at their transfer station. Some hazardous waste materials are also collected at the Brookline Senior Center. The two Department of Public Works offices offer year-round battery collection. It’s all free of charge, and people must show proof they live in Brookline.
“Given that we have so many different, you know, offerings in terms of dates and locations, we hope that they’re accessible as possible,” said Katie Weatherseed, the zero waste program manager for the Town of Brookline Department of Public Works. In 2022, they received over 1,100 drop offs of hazardous waste, with over five tons collected in six months. Forty-five percent was liquid hazardous waste, like household cleaner, paint, and motor oil. Another 30% was electronic waste from appliances and computers, 17% lightbulbs and 6% batteries.
Weatherseed urges other communities to do more, but understands “it’s tough.”
“It does require the allocation of a lot of staff, time, and resources, which some communities don’t have the funds to be able to do,” she said.
City Councilor Enrique Pepén is trying to come up with solutions in Boston, where he represents Hyde Park, part of Roslindale and part of Mattapan.
He said his constituents, especially those without cars or with disabilities, tell him they struggle to get out to West Roxbury to drop off materials.
He believes the city should consider a “pickup solution” — similar to options it offers for composting, mattresses and textiles — “where folks can put in a request to Boston 311, or through any other platform, to request a pick-up of a car battery or a can of paint.”
Pepén, who is chair of the city services committee, plans to submit a hearing order to explore how that can happen as well as bring in leaders from the sanitation and public works department.
Boston resident Kelley-Russell believes more can be done by the city for people with disabilities who have hazardous waste. A start, she says, would be training workers at the sites to be more accommodating and allowing people with health issues to drop off without having to stand, or even hosting a “disability drop-off day.”
“There needs to be a realization that not everyone in this part in this city has a vehicle,” she said.
Tracy G. pointed to the city’s textiles pickup program, which began in 2022, that lets residents schedule a weekend pickup of clothes, bed linens, and other household items.
“If you’re able-bodied and have transportation and happen to be a morning person, you’re in business,” she said. “But if you’re not, it’s a big roadblock.”
