Saturday: Arlington E-CARE

Arlington County hosts an event every year called E-CARE that allows residents to recycle, donate or dispose of odd items -- everything from computers to eyeglasses to paint. Get all the details on what, where & when at the Arlington Department of Environmental Services website.

Demand Overwhelms Local Recycling Events

I never got within three blocks of Arlington E-CARE.

Traffic was backed up down 2nd Street South, out to Glebe Road, and all the way up to the north side of Route 50. It took me 10 minutes just to turn around and get out of the backup.

So I wasn't surprised to see the Environmental Collection and Recycling event was a record-breaker. And as it turns out, DC had an even more overwhelming demand:

The District's spring Household Hazardous Waste and E-Cycling collection turned 16th Street NW into a parking lot most of yesterday. Cars were idling for hours as people waited to drop off paint, solvents, batteries and old electronic goods at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre parking lot.

Some people eventually ditched their cars and carried cans of paint, gasoline, even TVs, walking for blocks to the site, part of Rock Creek Park, where they still faced long waits. One put a 26-inch television into a baby stroller and wheeled it in. And some just gave up.

The inconvenient truth: The D.C. government wasn't prepared for the demand to get rid of junk in an environmentally safe way. With people more aware of the need to save the planet, having a twice-a-year drop-off day no longer cuts it.

Fortunately, Arlington is way ahead of DC. We already have a Household HazMat Program that allows residents to drop off materials Saturdays from 9am-3pm. When I abandoned E-CARE, I just kept my old anti-freeze and electronics in my car and headed to Fern & South Glebe (near Potomac Yards Mall) the following Saturday.

At first when I drove onto the lot, I was confused about where to go. Turns out I'd blown right past the security guard, an older man who was just shuffling out of the booth as I circled back.

He meticulously recorded my name and license plate number, then I turned to leave. I said, "Where do I go now?"

He turned back and, without saying a word, slowly and dramatically raised his pen in the direction of the drop-off site. High comedy.

The drop-off site was doing a brisk business and there were a few other cars unloading as I pulled up. I hauled my old PlayStation 2 out of my trunk and an attendant excitedly said, "Oh, great! We have a guy who fixes those and gives them to kids."

Hopefully DC will follow Arlington's lead and introduce a similar drop-off program. Really, what have they been waiting for? I guess sometimes it takes a train-wreck like Saturday's to demonstrate how woefully inadequate something is.

Saturday: Clean Out the Garage at Arlington E-CARE

Tomorrow from 8:30am-3pm at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Arlington County will be hosting its spring E-CARE! The Arlington Environmental Collection and Recycling Event gives you a chance to recycle items not picked up curbside or at county recycling centers.

E-CARE gives you a chance to safely dispose of potentially hazardous items like CFLs, car fluids and electronics. The Green Miles plans to drop off some old anti-freeze and a PlayStation 2 that kicked the bucket a couple of years back.

It's also a rare chance to recycle items like shoes, eyeglasses and bikes that may not be of use to you anymore, but could find a second life in a developing country. Come to think of it, it may be time to recycle my embarrassingly huge, not in style now, not in style then, not in style ever high school glasses.

Check out the E-CARE website for a full list of what you can drop off and handling instructions. My favorite line: "Smoking is not allowed at the drop-off site." I couldn't help but be reminded of the chemical toilet from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (sorta NSFW).