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Special Items Disposal

Put Toxic Waste In Its Place

Ramona Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility

When: 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month by appointment only
What: Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste
Who: Residents of Unincorporated Areas (Including the communities of Ramona, Julian, Santa Ysabel, Lakeside, Ranchita, etc.)
Where: The Ramona Permanent Collection Facility is located at the Ramona Disposal Services Transfer Station at 324 Maple Street.

Appointment Required  – No Exceptions
Click here to schedule an appointment or call (877)R1EARTH (877-713-2784) to schedule an appointment.

Universal Waste

The following universal wastes may not be placed out for curbside collection or disposed of in a bin/container meant for solid waste:

  • Common Batteries – AA, AAA, D cells, C cells, and button batteries (e.g., hearing aid batteries)
  • Fluorescent tubes and bulbs, including mercury-containing lamps
  • fluorescent lights, electronics, batteriesElectronic Devices – televisions, computers and computer monitors, printers, VCR’s, cell phones, telephones, radios, and microwave ovens
  • Pilot Light Sensors – Mercury-containing switches are found in some gas appliances such as stoves, ovens, clothes dryers, water heaters, furnaces, and space heaters
  • Items containing Mercury – Gauges, thermometers, thermostats, and switches
  • Non-Empty aerosol cans that contain hazardous materials – cans that are labeled with TOXIC or FLAMMABLE that are not empty

Please visit the Waste Free SD website or call the County Household Hazardous Waste and Recycling Toll-Free Hotline for additional information: 1 877 R1EARTH (1-877-713-2784).

Paint

Paint may not be placed out for curbside collection or disposed of in a bin/container meant for solid waste. FREE paint recycling is available at drop-off sites throughout California. Most of these sites are at paint retailers (paint, hardware, and home improvement stores) that have volunteered to take back paint, and they are available to any resident and business in California. These stores accept paint whenever they are open for business. Below is a link where you can find a drop-off site near you and view hours and restrictions.

Find a PaintCare drop-off location

RDS Now Recycles Cooking Oil!

Don’t pour it down the drain, in the yard, or in your trash. Bring it to one of RDS’s Buyback Centers and we’ll make sure it is reused. RDS has established a Fats, Oils, and Grease, (FOG) collection program. With your help working together we can keep fats, oils, and grease (FOG) out of the drain and the ground and establish a reuse for it. It’s a free service and you’ll feel a whole lot greener. RDS will ship the collected FOG to a refining facility where it will be processed into biodiesel. Note: Please don’t mix this product with any other oils such as motor oil or gear oil.

Simply collected your used discarded FOG in a leak proof container and when the container is full drop it off at any of our buyback center.

Ramona Disposal Buyback Center
324 Maple St.
Ramona, CA 92065
(760) 789-0516

Free E-Waste Drop Off Location

Residents now have a convenient place to drop off electronic waste free of charge. Proper disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) is becoming a major environmental concern. Computer monitors, hard drives/CPUs, scanners, keyboards, televisions, VCRs, radios, printers, fax machines, etc., all contain significant levels of lead that should not be put into the regular trash stream. You can drop off your e-waste free of charge at RDS (during operating hours only). – click here for location.

Items Accepted Include:

  • Computer and Television Monitors
  • Central Processing Units (CPUs)
  • Laptop Computers
  • Miscellaneous Computer Components
  • Printers and Scanners
  • Fax Machines
  • VCRs
  • Radios
  • Cell Phones

Residential Customers Can Recycle your Household Batteries at RDS

Did you know that Americans purchase nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power radios, toys, cellular phones, watches, laptop computers, and portable power tools? Dry-cell batteries include alkaline and carbon zinc (9-volt, D, C, AA, AAA), mercuric-oxide (button, some cylindrical and rectangular), silver-oxide and zinc-air (button), and lithium (9-volt, C, AA, coin, button). On average, each person in the United States discards eight dry-cell batteries per year.

Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel, which can contaminate the environment when batteries are improperly disposed of. When incinerated, certain metals might be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process. Recycling batteries keeps heavy metals out of landfills and the air. Recycling also saves resources because recovered plastic and metals can be used to make new batteries.

One way to reduce the number of batteries in the waste stream is to purchase rechargeable batteries. Nearly one in five dry-cell batteries purchased in the United States is rechargeable. Over its useful life, each rechargeable battery may substitute for hundreds of single-use batteries.

Residential customers can now conveniently recycle your household batteries (AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V only) for FREE at our buyback center (during operating hours only).

Ramona Disposal Buyback Center
324 Maple St.
Ramona, CA 92065
(760) 789-0516

Residential Customers Can Now Dispose of Your Home-Generated Sharps at RDS

New State Regulations

In September 2008, State law (Section 118286 of the California Health and Safety Code) made it illegal to dispose of sharps waste in the trash or recycling containers, and required that all sharps waste be transported to a collection center in an approved sharps container.

Section 117671 of the California Health and Safety Code defines “home-generated sharps waste” as hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications derived from a household, including a multifamily residence or household.

In addition to prohibiting the disposal of sharps waste in the trash, the Medical Waste Management Act requires home-generated sharps to be placed in approved containers for transport and disposal. Users should store the sharps waste in red bio-hazardous containers for easy identification or other approved containers.

Bio-hazard containers are available for purchase by consumers. Additionally, some jurisdictions have containers available at no cost. Information can be found at county health websites.

Bio-hazard containers can be disposed of in one of four ways:

  • Taken to a local household hazardous waste facility;
  • Taken to a medical waste generator facility (hospitals, clinics, or doctors’ offices);
  • Shipped through a mail-back program;
  • Taken to an approved home-generated sharps waste collection location.

Residential customers can now conveniently dispose of sharps FREE at an RDS facility near you (during operating hours only). LOOSE SHARPS ARE NOT ACCEPTED. Store sharps in approved sharps containers or in a rigid, puncture resistant, tightly sealed container, including: bleach bottles, liquid detergent bottles or coffee cans with lids. DO NOT STORE IN: paper or plastic bags, glass containers, cardboard or coated paper containers, plastic bottles that have a CRV (CA Redemption Value) or milk jugs.

Ramona Disposal Buyback Center
324 Maple St.
Ramona, CA 92065
(760) 789-0516

To find additional locations to properly dispose of home-generated sharps, go to the California Integrated Waste Management Board’s Medical Waste Disposal Directory.

For more information, visit CIWMB’s Sharps web page.

Click here for detailed information about the new state regulations.