Over the weekend, the City of Moose Jaw finished collecting Household Hazardous waste from anyone bringing it in. They had large numbers of cars delivering the hazardous materials this year, and was a far bigger operation than previous years, as explained by Jesse Watamanuk, Public Works Supervisor for Sanitation and Waste Water.

"We're well broaching over last year's numbers, we're probably sitting at 350 right now for vehicles, we'll have a firm count at the end of the day, but I'm anticipating we'll be somewhere around 500-550, it's been non-stop here."

According to Watamanuk, the most common items they receive are batteries, paint and light bulbs, and went on to explain the most dangerous materials that may be lying around your home.

"I always like to go back to Mercury. Mercury thermostats, we see those a lot, you know there's a lot of herbicides or pesticides they may have around, or rodent control, whether it's some kind of poison or something, those are ones we love taking here, because it gets it out of your kitchen, out of your bathroom, garage, wherever you're storing it, and then we can get rid of it safely and in an environmentally friendly way."

The majority of rodenticides especially can harm or kill humans, and many pesticides such as DDT can also harm wildlife that predates on animals that have consumed the poison. Mercury is completely toxic to the human body and is found in many old-fashioned thermostats due to how the chemical reacts to temperature change. Watamanuk explained that though they can take the majority of the hazards around your house, they can't take everything.

"Unfortunately we can't take ammunition, we can't take explosives, those are things we can't take, so those I'd recommend contacting the fire department or the police, they may be able to dispose of those a lot better or have better means of disposal. Road flares are one thing we can't take, we have seen a couple of those, unfortunately, we do have to turn those away."

The City of Moose Jaw also stated that they are unable to take in bio hazards such as used needles. Watamanuk also wanted to remind residents that paint can be delivered for disposal to Sarcan, year-round, and oil can be taken to the landfill.