Tulsa Household Pollutant Facility Free, Open-Year Round

If you’re busy with spring cleaning, you could find yourself with some old chemicals to get rid of.

The city used to have big weekend pollution collection events at the fairgrounds, but only twice a year. Now, the same service is open all year at a permanent site in west Tulsa.

There's constant motion at the city's drop-off site for hazardous chemicals. It opened in January before most people started spring cleaning.

"The first couple of weeks were slow, every week since then it's picked up," said Roy Teeters with the City of Tulsa.

The site takes in old antifreeze and plenty of old motor oil - that's one of the more common items.

Old fluorescent light bulbs are fine too; they go into a grinder that captures the mercury.

The facility has drive-in service and is the first permanent place where people in Tulsa can drop off things that need to stay out of the trash.

Larry Rhueark came in with a partial pickup load of light bulbs he's been saving up.

"I think it's necessary because I'd wait six months for the fairgrounds to open up, and I'd miss it," he said.

In the first 20 days, the City had 199 people drop off 11,000 pounds of chemicals - an average of 55 pounds per person.

That's five-and-a-half tons of harmful chemicals that didn't go into the sewer system or get dumped elsewhere in the environment.

Teeters said, "The primary reason we're doing it is to improve the water quality in the creeks and the rivers, and to get this water stream out of the other trash so it doesn't end up in a landfill."

The city takes in chemicals for free, but only by appointment, and only Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The facility is located at 45th and Galveston. Hours are Wednesday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To get an appointment, call 918-596-2100.

Find out more about the Household Pollutant Collection Facility.