The Kentucky Community Assessment indicates that Campbell County residents desire less illegal dumping and littering in our community.  Many items that are illegally dumped are household hazardous waste and cannot be disposed of in traditional landfills.  According to the EPA, the average household generates more than 20 pounds of household hazardous waste per year.  Products, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides can contain hazardous ingredients that can catch fire, react, or explode under certain circumstances, or that are corrosive, and toxic require special care when you dispose of them.

The NKY Household Hazardous Waste Action Coalition was formed to address this issue. Boone, Campbell, and Kenton County Solid Waste Departments, Sanitation District NO. 1, Cities of Covington and Florence, and the Campbell County Extension Agent for Natural Resources and Environmental Management form the coalition.  The coalition received a $162,000 grant from the Kentucky Division of Waste Management to conduct a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event on Nov. 7, 2020 at U.C. Health Stadium in Florence, KY. In addition, The Campbell County Extension District Board contributed $5000 to help increase Campbell County participation and volunteerism at the event.  The coalition members plan, recruit volunteers, conduct, and evaluate this annual event.

www.nkyhhw.org is utilized to educate the community about household hazardous waste and provides collection event details.  A news article promoting the event and requesting volunteers, was composed by the Campbell County Extension Agent was published in the Campbell County Recorder, with a circulation of 17,000, on October 29, 2020. 

Members of the Household Hazardous Waste Coalition, including the extension agent and 309 volunteers from NKY schools and businesses worked at the event.  2532 NKY residents participated, of those 456 were from Campbell County.  Disposal and recycling vendors (Environmental Enterprises, Inc., and Tri State Escrap) reported collecting:

• 124,856 pounds electronics
• 6,253 pounds cleaners and aerosols
• 117,443 pounds paint and adhesives
• 5,608 pounds batteries
• 23,017 pounds corrosives, flammables, and fuels
• 5,935 pounds propane cylinders and tanks
• 3,878 pounds light bulbs

15,515 people have properly disposed of household hazardous waste due to these events since the Extension Service became involved in 2015.  Since then, 2,566 Campbell County residents have participated at these events which directly address the community’s needs for proper household hazardous waste disposal options.