Haz Waste & Electronics Dropoff Event Gridlocks Washington DC Traffic - WP

[hatrack]

It was billed as a quick and easy way to recycle hazardous material and old electronics. It didn't quite turn out that way. The District's spring Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling collection turned 16th Street NW into a parking lot most of yesterday. Cars were idling for hours as people waited to drop off paint, solvents, batteries and old electronic goods at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot.

Some people eventually ditched their cars and carried cans of paint, gasoline, even TVs, walking for blocks to the site, part of Rock Creek Park, where they still faced long waits. One put a 26-inch television into a baby stroller and wheeled it in. And some just gave up.

The inconvenient truth: The D.C. government wasn't prepared for the demand to get rid of junk in an environmentally safe way. With people more aware of the need to save the planet, having a twice-a-year drop-off day no longer cuts it.

"People are trying to be green and yet they are sitting in their cars wasting gas," said David Stanley, who gave up in the morning because of the gridlock. He came back in the afternoon, parking a few blocks away so that he could walk his latex paint and gallons of boat oil to the amphitheater.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042601220.html

[kestrel91316]

1. When I recently needed to dispose of some defunct large electronic

waste, all I did was call "311", our all-purpose city services number, and arrange for EWaste pickup on our regular trash day. It was free.

Some people love to hate Los Angeles or laugh at us, but this is one area the city really shines. And that smarmy philanderer, Villaraigosa, is the one behind our drive to be the greenest big city in America. Go figure.