Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation has announced its 2017 Eco-Depot schedule. The first collection will take place on Saturday, January 7 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 65 Shun Pike in Johnston. This Eco-Depot is available to Rhode Island residents only, and to help reduce time spent in line, appointments should be made in advance.

Created in 2001, the Eco-Depot program is a free service offered by Resource Recovery that provides for the proper handling, packaging, storage, transportation and disposal of household hazardous waste. Since its inception, Resource Recovery has collected approximately 11.9 million pounds of household hazardous waste and served more than 155,000 Rhode Islanders.

In addition to household hazardous waste, properly prepared sharps (i.e. needles, lancets) are also accepted at Eco-Depot collections. For sharps to be accepted for disposal, they must be secured either in a sharps container or a puncture-proof plastic bleach, detergent or coffee container that is taped shut and labeled SHARPS. Sharps containers prepared in this method can also be disposed of with regular trash collection.

Many common household items are actually household hazardous waste materials that cannot be collected through Rhode Island’s standard trash and recycling collection services. These materials include: fluorescent light bulbs, gasoline, pesticides, oil-based paints, disinfectants, used motor oil and lawn and pool chemicals. When not properly collected and disposed, these materials can cause harm to the local environment by contaminating Rhode Island’s waterways. For a full list of household hazardous waste materials visit www.ecodepotri.org.

This upcoming collection is one of 15 Eco-Depot collections RIRRC will provide on-site in 2017. The off-site locations and dates will be released in early 2017. On-site collections will take place Jan. 21, Feb. 4 and 18, March 11, April 8, May 13, June 17, July 8, August 12, Sept. 16, Oct. 21, Nov. 4, December 9 and 23.