April 3, 2025

New Locations This Year for St. Lawrence & Lewis Counties!

The Development Authority of the North Country, in cooperation with its regional county partners and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, will be sponsoring five free household hazardous waste collection days this spring and fall to help residents in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis counties properly and safely dispose of certain hazardous materials. There are new events locations for St. Lawrence and Lewis counties this year. 

The free collection days will be May 17 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Gouverneur at the St. Lawrence County Fairgrounds, 217 Rock Island Road, Gouverneur; June 7 from 8 a.m. to noon in Watertown at the Jefferson
County Highway Garage, Outer West Main Street; September 13 from 8 a.m. to noon in Lowville at the Lewis County Fairgrounds, 5485 Bostwick St.; September 27 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Massena at the village DPW garage, 85 Robinson Rd., Massena and; October 11 from 8 a.m. to noon in Watertown at the Jefferson County Highway Garage on Outer West Main Street. 

Items such as leftover solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, paints and aerosol cans that still have product in them will be accepted, as well as fluorescent light tubes. Empty aerosol cans, motor oil, asbestos, tires, construction debris and explosives will not be accepted. Electronic waste (televisions, computers, etc.) will not be accepted, it can be recycled at most county transfer stations. 

Leftover paint will be accepted and recycled. If you don't want to wait for a collection event, residents can now recycle their unwanted paint year-round through a non-profit organization called Paint Care. Through the Paint Care program, several paint retailers - although not all - in the tri-county area will accept leftover paint for recycling. Check www.paintcare.org for details and locations. Empty paint cans should be dried out and disposed of in the trash. 

In addition, unwanted or unused prescription and over-the-counter medications from residential households only will be collected by law enforcement at the St. Lawrence County and Watertown events. 

The collection events are open to residential households only; waste will not be accepted from businesses, schools, farm or municipalities. 

For a complete listing of what will and will not be accepted at the Household Hazardous Waste collection days, please visit www.northcountryrecycles.org/HouseholdHazardousWaste. There you can also find tips on how to dispose of items that will not be accepted at the events.