The former El Paso County Solid Waste Management Department is now a division of the El Paso County Environmental Services Department.Along with the reorganization, the processing of household chemical waste is being improved. Being mindful of economic stewardship and the most cost effective services for citizens of the county, the one-day household chemical waste collection event previously held at the Penrose Equestrian Center has been discontinued; therefore, there will be no more collection events at the Norris Penrose Event Center.Instead, household chemicals may be brought to the Permanent Household Chemical Waste Collection Facility located at 3470 North Marksheffel Rd. In 2003, the cost per vehicle at the Penrose collection was $63.99; at the facility it was $39.04. In 2004, the cost per vehicle at the Penrose collection was $65.91; at the facility it was $28.18. For both years, 4,972 vehicles participated at the facility as opposed to 2,429 at the Penrose center.The facility is open year-round Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment only. There is no charge for this service, but a donation of non-perishable food items for Care and Share is requested.In addition, some of the other services that the SWM division provides are a senior or homebound household chemical waste pickup, a drop and swap program for reusable household products, a yard waste collection program, a slash-mulch wildfire mitigation program, a Christmas tree recycling program and various educational publications. SWM’s goal is to reduce solid waste in the landfill through design, implementation, support, management and promotion of innovative waste reduction programs.For more information on what you can bring to the facility or to make anappointment, please call 520-7878.
