Fresno County’s hazardous disposal site is moving closer to city. Why it’s a good thing

Fresno County is moving its Household Hazardous Waste site, now on the far side of Kerman, to a much more user-friendly location for Fresnans at Marks Avenue and Highway 180.

A massive fire at the Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station near Cedar and North avenues in June may have been caused by an exploding lithium battery, highlighting the danger of batteries in a landfill.

Craig Nickel said it’s believed several dump trucks at area landfills have previously caught fire in the same manner, and Nickel, a senior staff analyst for the project, hopes when the move happens in May, it will be an incentive for people to make the right choice for the disposal of dangerous items. Those include batteries, chemicals like swimming pool acid, or even that old, half-full gasoline can.

The current American Avenue site is about 30 miles from central Fresno.

Nickel said allowing dangerous material into a landfill, and from there into groundwater, is “a worst-case scenario,” and the goal at the site is to take in toxic chemicals and ship them off-site to be rendered inert.

Before the passage of Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, it was difficult to find a safe place to dispose of common chemicals such as used motor oil.

Now, auto parts stores accept the oil, but the county site remains one of the few regional locations where materials such as brake fluid can be taken.

It also takes in items like mercury and oil-based paints. The chemicals are taken offsite to be neutralized or incinerated, said Nickel. But don’t bring gunpowder or ammunition, he said; call law enforcement for that.

Some items are also reprocessed through contractor Green Earth, and residents who want to use them for the original purpose can pick them up at the site, Nickel said.

That program was put on hold during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will come back online at the Marks Avenue location.

So anyone looking for some free paint or other items might want to give it a look.