Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 21st May 2026 Issue no. 1211
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Two Gwinnett County departments team up for Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day
After another highly successful Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day in February, which witnessed the collection of 51.70 tons of spray paint, auto batteries, lawn care products, insecticide and more, Gwinnett County has a Summer event in the works.
On Saturday, 13th June, from 08:00 to noon, representatives from Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful and Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources will gather with dozens of volunteers at Gwinnett County Fairgrounds in Lawrenceville to help residents rid their homes of household hazardous waste (HHW).
Defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency as leftover household products that can catch fire, react, or explode under certain circumstances - or which are corrosive or toxic, these items need careful treatment, and these bi-annual HHW events provide a way for residents to properly dispose of products that are expired or no longer needed.
"Due to potential environmental impacts, products that fall under the household hazardous waste category cannot simply be tossed in the trash or flushed down the drain," explains Schelly Marlatt, executive director of Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. "They can cause groundwater, lake, or stream pollution, which needlessly harms our local ecosystems and water quality. We hosted our first Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day back in 2018, with that inaugural event serving 800 households and processing more than 30 tons of waste. Last year, with our two 2025 HHW events combined, we served 2,236 households and processed 87 tons of waste - illustrating the significant growth and impact of these events over the last eight years.
"I'm proud of the fact that our volunteer count has also grown in step with the size of these events. It takes dozens of volunteers to keep lines of well over 1,000 cars moving smoothly. That said, these are never 'dump-and-run' events. They're controlled, professional operations designed to protect our community and the environment. Proper handling of household hazardous waste is a carefully managed process that ensures safety and environmental responsibility.
“Each item brought to the event is first identified by an on-site chemist, then sorted, packaged and labelled by trained and certified staff based on its chemical composition, quantity and packaging requirements. Materials are then manifested for transport in accordance with strict state and federal regulations, ensuring they are properly recycled, reused, or disposed of at approved facilities.
“We appreciate our neighbours' patience and understanding as our staff and volunteers work safely and efficiently throughout the event. We'll do our best to get them back on their way as quickly as possible."
Items that will be accepted include:
Aerosol/spray pesticides, automotive products (engine degreaser, brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze, etc.), cleaners, corrosives, spot removers, acids, and bases, aerosol/spray paint, auto batteries, batteries (household and rechargeable), chlorinated solvents, cooking oil and grease, fire extinguishers, flammables (lighter fluid and waste fuels like kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.), fluorescent bulbs and ballasts, hand sanitiser, insecticides, latex and water-based paints, lawn care products, mercury, mercury salts and elemental mercury thermometers, oil-based paint and stains, oxidisers, pesticides, poisons, propane cylinders, solvents and varnishes, thermostats and other mercury-containing items, thinners and paint strippers, weed killer, wood preservatives
Residents may bring up to five ‘containers’ of household hazardous waste for free. These may be the size of a laundry basket, a small moving box, or a paper grocery bag.
Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful Services is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate and award-winning charitable organisation. It boasts an expansive community-based network dedicated to finding long-term solutions to environmental and quality-of-life issues through individual action. A nationally recognised leader in creating cleaner, greener, and more livable communities throughout Gwinnett, it engages more than 100,000 volunteers annually to clean and restore public spaces, increase recycling, protect watersheds, and develop the next generation of environmental stewards.
14th May 2026