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The first household hazardous waste disposal facility in West Los Angeles, a joint project by the City of Los Angeles and the UCLA Office of Environmental Health and Safety, opened on March 25.

Located in the UCLA Environmental Services Building on Charles E. Young Drive West, the center serves the surrounding community as an easily accessible household hazardous waste collection site. The aim of the project is to ensure safe disposal of harmful materials and prevent environmental pollution.

People in the neighborhood can bring in waste such as paint and used motor oil to the center free of charge. Gia Dowling, senior administrative analyst of the EHS office, said prior to the building of this facility in Westwood, other waste treatment sites managed by the City of Los Angeles alone were available but required an inconvenient drive for Westwood residents. The city’s waste disposal service charges users $125 for each pick-up and transportation of hazardous substances.

Dowling said the city and UCLA have cooperated in the past on environmental protection issues, and that the EHS office had been contributing by offering hazardous waste collection locations once per quarter. Three years ago, both offices took one step further and started developing the new permanent waste collection site.

In the partnership, Los Angeles contributes funding for operation of the center, including workers’ pay. The EHS office provides employees who are specialists in hazardous waste disposal and treatment, Dowling said.

She points out that the disposal procedure is very different from usual garbage handling, and requires technical experts who know exactly how the waste should be segregated and sent to appropriate places for further treatment.

The collection center accepts items such as anti-freeze, cleaning products, medicines and electronic waste like cables, video games, printers and computers.

Dowling said though some of these items are not commonly recognized as hazardous materials, they can react and release toxic substances if disposed of in a landfill.

The center does not accept more dangerous, non-household waste such as radioactive materials, biological waste and bulky items like refrigerators and washing machines. According to the EHS office, as the collection site is designed to serve individual households only, it forbids commercial drop-offs.

The response to the program has been encouraging, with a moderate flow of users utilizing the service. While the City of Los Angeles is responsible for most of the promotion of the newly built facility, the EHS office has sent e-mails and notices to inform environmental organizations about the new project, Dowling said.

Two full-time workers are working at the site, and a third will be added next week. Dowling said the project is still in the initial stage and the EHS office wants to expand the capacity of the service gradually, as the collection center will not be able to handle a large flux of people dropping off large amounts of waste at the same time.

The site is currently operating Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.