WASTE HANDLING A TO Z

Material that contains asbestos must be properly handled to prevent causing fatal illness.

General information about asbestos

FOR YOUR SAFETY
Contact the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for help with removing and disposing of asbestos. All asbestos-containing material must be disposed of at a special facility. For your safety, you must wet asbestos-containing material during removal to reduce your risk of breathing in its particles. You must seal asbestos waste in leak-tight containers, or put it in several layers of plastic bags with a combined thickness of six millimeters or more. You must label the bag or other container as containing asbestos.

Prevent waste, save money and enhance your business image.

When you reduce hazardous waste or eliminate it altogether, your waste management and compliance costs can be reduced or eliminated. You can save money by reducing staff time spent on waste management and regulatory compliance, and by reducing expensive hazardous waste equipment and disposal costs.

With savings, you could become more competitive and can benefit even more by promoting your responsible practices:

• Increasingly, environmental reputation is a factor many consumers consider when choosing where to shop.
• Your prevention efforts save taxpayers money because government resources spent on hazardous waste compliance and cleanup can be redirected to businesses assistance and education.
• Your community will be safer, because less hazardous products and wastes mean less potential exposure from waste handling and spills.

Looking for technical information about dealing with specific types of wastes in your business? The State Department of Ecology has excellent resources organized by business type.

See the online Hazardous Waste Guide for Businesses for additional information on waste handling and disposal.

BUSINESS VOUCHER INCENTIVE PROGRAM
Businesses who contact us for technical assistance on how to prevent pollution and properly manage and reduce hazardous waste are eligible to participate in our Business Voucher Incentive Program. If, after technical assistance site visit, a business implements our recommendations, we will help defray costs of any recommended actions with a voucher that reimburses the business for half of its costs, up to $500.

Commercial composting is subject to complex regulations. Contact us for help understanding the requirements that apply to your specific activity.

Compost facility application process

Household composting

Construction and demolition wastes are often suitable for salvage or for recycling. Some drop-box locations will accept certain types of construction and demolition wastes for recycling. Other disposal and recycling options for CDL can be found at Recycling in Kitsap County.

We are funded by the State Department of Ecology (DOE) to assess the risks to public health and our environment from known or suspected contaminated sites in Kitsap County. Sites can become contaminated through spills, leaks, illegal dumping. Some sites become contaminated through current bad practices, and some are the result of poor practices that happened many years ago.

Typical sites in Kitsap County include some abandoned landfills, auto wrecking yards, leaking underground storage tank sites or former bulk fuel storage facilities.

Map of contaminated Kitsap County landfills

List of contaminated Kitsap County landfills

The Department of Ecology (DOE) asks us to do an assessment on sites whenever they receive a report of a release or spill of a hazardous substance from the public. We investigate and, using DOE guidelines, recommend a hazard classification level that determines what level of risk the site poses to public health and the environment. DOE then works with the site owners to clean up the sites, beginning with the highest risk sites first.

DOE list of hazardous sites in Kitsap County

DOE guide on cleaning up toxic sites and spills

The Kitsap County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility accepts hazardous waste from households and some businesses. Click for more information on collection times, acceptable wastes, or to learn whether your business can use the facility, at 360-377-5777.

Oil tanks can leak, polluting your yard or seeping into your basement. Legal problems could result, making it difficult to sell your home.

Learn to identify problems now—and prevent them in the future.

Your household garbage must be stored in a leak-proof, rodent-proof container. It has to be collected often enough so it does not cause a nuisance. A nuisance could be unsightly piles of garbage, odor, or the presence of rats and other animals that are attracted to the garbage. In Kitsap County, you can either self-haul to a Recycling and Garbage Facility or have your household garbage collected curbside. Some cities have mandatory curbside collection.

Get more information on and garbage collection and recycling services.

If, on occasion, you need curbside collection to dispose of waste that will not fit in your garbage can, such as a mattress, furniture, or a few boxes of household items, contact your regular waste hauler. The haulers who have exclusive contracts for residential curbside collection in our county are listed below.

If you need clean-up services, such as demolition for a remodel, or cleaning out a garage, basement or attic, you may use special haulers called site restorations haulers. Provided here are garbage collection companies and site clean-up contractors for your convenience.

• City of Poulsbo-City of Poulsbo Public Works
  360-779-4078 (Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
• City of Bremerton-Waste Management
  1-800-592-9995 (Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
• Unincorporated Kitsap County-Waste Management
  1-800-592-9995 (Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 5 p. m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.)
• City of Port Orchard-Waste Management
  1-800-592-9995 (Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
• City of Bainbridge Island-Bainbridge Disposal
  206-842-4882 (Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.)

DISPOSING OF HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Do you know how to safely dispose of your garden and household chemicals? Paint and cleaning supplies? Batteries? Fluorescent light bulbs? Unused medications or medical supplies like syringes or blood test sharps? Don’t put them in your garbage, down your drain or toss in your yard until you know if it is legal and safe.

• Kitsap County's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility webpage provides information on where to provide household hazardous wastes, and what household substances may require special handling to meet county regulations.

Unused, unwanted and/or expired medication in your home pose a risk to you, your family, and your community. 

Drug abuse:

The home medicine cabinet is one of the most common places people go when looking for drugs to get high.

Accidental Poisoning:

Many young children get poisoned by taking medicine not intended for them.

Bad for the environment:

When you flush medicine down the toilet or throw it in the trash, it pollutes our water and soil.  Water treatment facilities cannot remove pharmaceuticals before returning treated water to our environment.

Kitsap County residents can safely dispose of the medicines they no longer need by taking them to drop-box locations throughout Kitsap County. Participating pharmacies, clinics, hospitals and law enforcement offices will accept most prescription and over-the-counter medicines for disposal.  There is also a mail-back option.

There is no cost to residents to use this service.

Medical sharps are not accepted at these kiosks. If you use needles, syringes or lancets, such as insulin syringes or blood-testing lancets, dispose of them safely so others won't be hurt. Watch this quick tutorial for tips on properly disposing of these items!

What should you do if you find loose needles/syringes dumped somewhere?

Meth labs can be anywhere: homes, sheds, and even vehicles. The toxic chemicals used in methamphetamine manufacturing can pose a serious threat to your health and the environment, because they are often not used, stored, or disposed of properly. Many drug lab materials are dumped illegally throughout the county, where they may contaminate soils and streams. Meth labs can also expose you to life-threatening diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis if you are accidentally stuck by used syringes that can often litter these sites.

Once a meth manufacturing site has been identified by law enforcement, we are responsible for investigating these sites for contamination and ensuring that they are cleaned properly to no longer pose a threat to your health. We will inspect the property, determine its level of contamination, post warnings, possibly ban entry if necessary, notify the property owner and others potentially responsible for the property, oversee its cleanup and, when appropriate, authorize it for reoccupation.

If you suspect a meth lab, contact local law enforcement (WestNET) at 360-337-7064.

If you have concerns about possible contamination at a previously identified meth lab site (posted or otherwise) contact the Health District at (360) 728-2235.

Learn more:

• Meth Bust - What Now?
• Is There a Meth Lab In My Neighborhood?

All smoke impacts our air quality, and the smoke from burning some materials carries dangerous chemicals that can harm our lungs. Smoke from open burning also causes problems for people with asthma or other breathing problems. Kitsap County has rules about what can and cannot be burned out of doors. It is illegal to burn trash anywhere in Kitsap County. Open burning of natural vegetative wastes is allowed only in certain areas with a Fire Department permit. Before you burn, be aware of Kitsap County burn ban rules.

Pet waste that remains in your yard can pollute your groundwater and local streams and beach water.

County regulations require you to dispose of your pet waste at least weekly, using one of these methods:

1. Place pet waste and litter into a plastic bag (double-bagging is best), and put it in your garbage can. Cat litter requires proper disposal, too. Bag it in a plastic bag (double-bagging is best) and put it in your garbage can. Never flush it down the toilet—regardless of whether you are on a sewer or a septic system.)
2. Bury it—as long as it is in small amounts, and you scatter the sites in your yard. Don’t bury near play areas, your drinking water well, septic system drain field, or other places where you might contact it, such as garden areas.
3. You can flush pet feces down your toilet only if you are served by a sewer treatment plant, and your sewer utility allows it. NEVER flush pet feces in your toilet if you are on a septic system.
4. NEVER put pet feces in a storm sewer.

Home composting will not destroy the bacteria in cat or dog feces that can make humans sick.

Remember to take along a plastic bag when walking your dog—or look for Mutt Mitt Stations at your local park, beach, or trailhead—so you do not pollute the ground or water.

RESOURCES

Pet Waste Brochure

Rats and mice are considered hazards, because they can carry diseases, fleas, lice, mites, and internal parasites that can make people and pets sick. Some of the more common and well known diseases caused by rats and mice are bubonic plague, typhus, tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Hantavirus.

Rodents tend to live under wood piles, bushes, rocks, in abandoned cars and junk, and in holes under buildings. They can also live in your house: in the walls, crawl spaces, under cupboards, in attics, and near your hot water heater and furnace.

The best way to keep these pests out of your home or yard is to take away their food, water, and shelter.

ELIMINATE THEIR FOOD SOURCES

• Garbage left uncovered or in garbage cans without rodent-proof lids.
• Uneaten pet food in the house or outside;
• Birdseed on the ground;
• Fruits and berries that have fallen on the ground;
• Dog droppings in the yard;
• Animal products or pet feces in compost piles (remember, home composting will not destroy the bacteria in cat or dog feces that can make humans sick);
• Any human food out or spilled on counters, floors, appliances, and tables;
• Grains, such as cereal, oats, rice, and; vegetables—especially potatoes, and carrots—that are not stored in rodent-proof containers.

ELIMINATE THEIR SHELTER

• Seal all openings to your house that are one inch or larger.
• Don’t forget about access under your foundation
• Clean up piles of wood, yard waste, rocks, and remove abandoned cars, appliances, or anything that could provide a home for a rodent.
• Remove or trim excess vegetation.

TRAPS, NOT POISON

Trying to poison rats and mice can be dangerous, as children and other animals may eat the poison by mistake. Also, poisoned rodents may die in places you cannot reach, leaving behind a putrid smell. Trapping is safer:

• Use wooden rat traps, available at hardware and many drug stores.
• Bait the trap with apple, potato, raw bacon, or peanut butter on a cotton ball.
• Attach the trap to the ground or a solid place to keep it from being dragged away.
• Place the trap near where you have seen the rodent or droppings.
• Make sure the trap is safe from children, pets, and other animals.
• Wear gloves to remove the rodent from the trap. Bag and place it in the garbage. Wash your hands afterwards.

Stumped with a recycling problem—a waste you don’t know what to do with?

For a listing of where to recycle, dispose or donate items, click here