“Dear PoPville,
A trash collection truck caught fire this morning on the 600 block of Quincy St NW. It was so persistent that we had to run our kitchen extinguisher out for the collection team to use. Thankfully no one was hurt, but this is a good reminder to all of us that there is a whole slew of hazardous household materials that cannot be thrown away in the regular trash –not only for environmental reasons, but to keep DPW workers safe!
It’s a good idea for anyone to be generally familiar with the list of items that need to be tossed at special waste collection events.
And I’m the biggest fan of Zero Waste DC’s ‘What Goes Where’ search tool (it’s super granular and specific, I just learned that butter wrappers are not recyclable)
Also, batteries are a major fire hazard! We now have a ton of battery recycling drop off locations in DC (you can also decrease fire risk by taping off the top of the battery).
Ironically, now that our fire extinguisher is spent, it is considered hazardous waste!”