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It is almost spring and you know what that means. It’s time for Spring cleaning.

Keep Morristown-Hamblen Beautiful, along with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Morristown-Hamblen County Solid Waste will host the annual Spring Cleanup Day at the Hamblen County Landfill, located at Sublett Road in Morristown.

The collection is limited to Hamblen County residents only.

There will also be a Free Tire Collection Day, also for Hamblen County residents only.

Tires must be removed from rims to be accepted.

Automotive and Marine products accepted includes fuel and oil additives; grease and rust solvents, such as naval jelly; carburetor and fuel injector cleaners; starter fluids; body putty; antifreeze/coolant; and gasoline.

Home Maintenance/Improvement products include: used strippers/thinners; adhesives; driveway sealant; roofing tar; and wallpaper remover.

Home lawn and garden products include: pesticides, fertilizers and wood preservatives.

Miscellaneous items also include: pool chemicals; photo processing chemicals; medicines/drugs; aerosols/compressed gas; mercury thermostats/thermometers; fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent bulbs;

As with past years, there will be free disposal available for hazardous waste materials by residential customers only.

These materials include oil and water-based paints, motor oil disposal, old medicines, pesticides and more.

Only households may use the service to dispose of hazardous wastes.

No commercial, institutional, or agri-business waste will be accepted.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture runs an Agricultural Pesticide Waste Collection Program that will accept pesticides from farmers.

Additionally, NO explosive, ordnance, ammunition, radioactive, or medical waste will be accepted.

Inefficient and used fluorescent light bulbs, rechargeable batteries, chemicals, varnishes and other items will be able to be disposed.

According to TDEC, Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) is any unwanted or spent household product that can easily catch fire (flammable), eat away at or irritate living tissue (corrosive), react violently with water or other chemicals (reactive), or be poisonous to humans and animals (toxic).

Usable household products may exhibit hazardous properties, but until they become waste, they are not appropriate for the mobile household hazardous waste program.

Before attending a mobile collection event please review the acceptable and unacceptable items lists at tn.gov.

Tennessee’s Mobile Collection Service has been in operation since 1993 and is open the citizens of Tennessee.

The program is limited to households. Businesses, institutions, and agri-business operations should contact a permitted hazardous waste transporter for proper disposal.

Agri-businesses may, however, dispose of their pesticides through the Agricultural Pesticide Waste Collection Program.

Since the program began there have been over 1,300 one-day collections.

Over 358,000 Tennessee families have brought in over 23 million pounds of household hazardous waste for proper disposal.

The program is funded by a $0.95 per ton surcharge on waste entering landfills. Providing household hazardous waste collection to the citizens of Tennessee is an important and worthwhile cause.

Proper disposal of HHW helps to protect the environment and sanitation workers and can reduce the toxicity of landfill leachate. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for citizens to rid their homes of potentially dangerous chemicals.

The average home in Tennessee produces 20 pounds of household hazardous waste yearly.

Typical items disposed of include cleaning fluids, pesticides, mercury thermometers and thermostats, swimming pool chemicals, paint thinner, and automotive fluids.

Some items that are accepted but may be recycled locally and on a year-round basis are used oil, rechargeable batteries, used antifreeze, propane cylinders, and compact fluorescent bulbs.

Many of these items are commodities and may generate revenue for the local collection site.

Regardless, local collection sites are more convenient for the customer, and they help to save the state tens of thousands of dollars annually.