Baltimore County Hazardous Waste Drop Off Event April 3, 2011

On Sunday, April 3, 2011, Baltimore County is hosting a hazardous waste drop off event from 9am-2pm at the Baltimore County Recovery Facility on Warren Road in Cockeysville.

According to the Baltimore County Government website, this event is so that:

Baltimore County Residents may drop off unwanted household chemicals, paints, pesticides, medicines, mercury thermometers, fluorescent bulbs, rechargeable batteries, computers and home electronics, ammunition and automotive fluids for recycling or proper disposal.  No trash will be accepted at this event.

So bring your chemicals, old paint cans, fluorescent bulbs, batteries and other items you cannot dispose of in the regular trash. It is a very convenient location in Cockeysville!

Baltimore County Yard Trash Pickup Resumes in April

Baltimore County yard trash pickup resumes in April, a welcome beginning since it ended in December.

The Baltimore County Yard Material pickup has specific items they DO pick up, and what they don’t.

They DO accept, per their website:

• Grass
• Leaves
• Vines
• Twigs
• Shrubbery Trimmings
• Branches & Limbs less than 3 inches in diameter and shorter than 3 feet in length

♦ Grass and leaves should be in paper or plastic lawn or leaf bags. The County prefers paper!

♦ Vines, twigs and shrubbery trimmings should be bagged or bundled, and the weight should not exceed 30 pounds per bag.

♦ Items should be placed on your yard, as it is a violation of Baltimore County Code to have it in the street. Also, do not put them in trash cans, or they will not be taken!

Baltimore County DOES NOT accept: Poison ivy, sumac, or oak, lumber, food scraps, or yard items that are not listed above.

Thank you to Baltimore County for providing us this service. Our date for pickup here in Towson begins April 13, 2011. I’ll have a bag or two out there!

What Not to Pack

Many times people are not sure of what not to pack when moving either for the movers or for yourself!

RISMedia and Lowe’s came up with a great list to help.

For irreplaceable items, I recommend taking them with you in your car. Unfortunately many times things get broken. You want to make sure to have these items with you. If you want or need to send them, take it to a shipping place like Fedex or someplace where they will pack it for you and ship it. For Timonium residents, there is a FedEx location (map) right on York Road in Lutherville.

For heat sensitive items, you will want to have them in a climate controlled location. Moving trucks are not climate controlled, so candles and such are likely to melt.

Large items such a pool tables, which need disassembling, let the pros do it. They can take it apart at your current house and put it together on the other end at your new house. The professionals do this often, and have insurance for situations where needed. If you take apart yourself, the insurance usually would not cover it.

As for flammable, hazardous materials and such? Do not bring them AT ALL. Find out how to dispose of them properly and do so before moving. Baltimore County residents have access to the Eastern Landfill in White Marsh for most items, while the Baltimore County Resource Recovery facility in Cockeysville takes a limited number of these things. Here is the Baltimore County Hazardous Waste Recycling and Disposal web page for more details and contact information.

Hopefully you found this information useful. Contact me for more Baltimore County moving resources.

New Baltimore County Recycling Begins February 1, 2010

On December 10, 2009, I announced the new Baltimore County Single Stream Recycling being implemented on February 1, 2010.

Well, here we are in late January, and it is coming very soon!

Here are the details — it’s SO easy — now everyone in Baltimore County can recycle without having to think too much about it!

What’s new & easy?

• It all goes into the same container! LIDS, CAPS, LABELS & RINGS are accepted now. No throwing the cap of the milk jug or soda bottle away anymore.
• Juice cartons, aluminium pans, AEROSOL cans, frozen food boxes — ALL NOW ACCEPTED!

The changes you need to make:

• NO MORE PLASTIC BAGS. They will not be accepting plastics/glass/etc in grocery bags anymore. (So now is the time to start using those reusable bags you may have for your groceries!)
• You can put your recyclables in small cardboard boxes, in 34 gallon or less recycling containers, or 34 gallon or less trash containers marked with an “X” or “RECYCLE”.

Click here for the Baltimore County Single Stream Recycling website for all of the details.

I am thrilled that Baltimore County is implementing this new recycling system as the ease should help more residents to be involved in the program! Join in!