While many people have found more time for household cleaning and reorganizing during the COVID-19 Safer at Home period, many may also have been frustrated that the city’s collection centers for household hazardous waste and discarded electronic items (E-waste) have been closed for several months, leaving people with no way to safely dispose of items they’ve finally managed to weed out of their homes and garages.
But you don’t have to wait much longer. This Saturday, July 11, the LA Department of Sanitation will re-open all seven of its Solvents Automotive Flammables and Electronic (SAFE) disposal centers…with new procedures in place for employee and customer safety and social distancing.
“Re-opening the SAFE centers represents a significant milestone in our road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Enrique C. Zaldivar, Executive Director and General Manager of LASAN in a message to the community yesterday. “In the early stages of the Safer at Home order, we asked Angelenos to temporarily store their residential hazardous waste and e-waste. Now they can once again safely dispose of any hazardous materials and e-waste they generate.”
According to the statement, the SAFE centers – which usually process 11 million pounds of household hazardous waste annually – have been closed since March 21st, when they were shut in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Mayor Garcetti’s Safer at Home order.
When the Centers re-open on Saturday, LA Sanitation warns that because of both pent-up demand and additional new safety procedures, wait times at the dropoff locations may be longer than usual, so customers should plan to arrive early and wait longer than they may have in previous visits. Also, face coverings will be MANDATORY at all times (with no exceptions).
See the flier below (and here’s a downloadable PDF version) for more information.
Finally, please note that the weekend SAFE Center hours are for household hazardous waste only. For disposal of small business hazardous waste, please call (213) 485-2260 for a weekday appointment.
