Tulsa Opens Permanent Disposal Site For Household Pollutants

The City of Tulsa has opened a permanent household pollution collection site.

It replaces the weekend collection events at the fairgrounds with a site that's open all year.

It's free to drop off household chemicals, the only catch is you have to make an appointment, but that's easy by phone or online.

It's otherwise about the same as the event at the fairgrounds, but it's available year round.

Tulsa's mayor was the ceremonial first customer at the new site, where Tulsa residents can drop off old oil, chemicals, and batteries.

List of approved items you can take to the collection site

The average house has plenty of those items, and they often end up in the trash or dumped outdoors.

For 20 years, the city supported the collection events at the fairgrounds, but the temporary setup for a rush of people pushed up the costs.

The new facility has a small staff, but it's open all year.

"You cannot just show up, it's appointment only,” Terry Ball of the City of Tulsa said.
“What they'll do, we set appointments the two days a week we're open. And as they're open, we'll fit the times that work for people to just come in and drop it off."

The City of Tulsa was spending $310,000 for the two collection weekends at the fairgrounds.

The new site, open two days a week, will cost $180,000, which saves $130,000 each year.

"We can open this thing up, after we get going, to other cities like Jenks and Broken Arrow if they want their citizens to bring stuff here, they can it would cut the costs even more,” Tulsa City Councilor David Patrick said.

The new site has the blessing of the Department of Environmental Quality, which says the only other site like this - in Oklahoma City - helps encourage people to do the right thing.

"It's turned out to be a popular community service, just like I expect it to be here,” DEQ’s Fenton Rood said.

The city is talking to officials of the suburbs, but it hasn't made any deals there yet.

The facility is open Wednesday and Saturday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.  

You can call the facility at 918-596-2100 to schedule an appointment.