Hundreds were expected, but thousands showed up for a special hazardous waste disposal event in El Paso County. People lined up for miles and ended up waiting hours. Many were not happy.
The county held a special drop-off that included accepting televisions, mattresses and tires. There are other drop-offs around, but you pay. This was free and the number who showed up went far beyond what hazardous waste managers ever expected. "I apologize to anybody that had to wait in line. Certainly it wasn’t meant to be that way,” said El Paso County Environmental Division Manager, Kathy Andrew. The event was supposed to end at two in the afternoon, but ended up going to six to take care of all the people who were in line at closing time.
“We’re a victim of our own success to some point," said Andrew.
An estimated 80 thousand pounds of televisions were accepted during the day. There were1,000 tires and close to 500 mattresses. "Certainly we want people to come out and bring their hazardous waste. We don’t want it in the landfill.”
There is now thought going into a better plan for the future. An on-line sign up is likely. "So that we can kind of spread people out a little more and judge how many people we have so we can be prepared for that."
