North Hempstead, NY – After a long winter season and spring finally arriving, North Hempstead residents have the perfect opportunity to clean out their homes and dispose of hazardous waste responsibly! The Town of North Hempstead would like to remind residents to clean out their garages, basements, attics and medicine chests, and take advantage of the Stop Throwing Out Pollutants (S.T.O.P.) program scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 5th from 9:30am to 3:00pm at Michael J. Tully Park, located at 1801 Evergreen Ave, New Hyde Park, NY 11040.

Residents can return items such as aerosols, household chemicals, pesticides, disinfectants, fertilizers, bulbs, thermostats, rechargeable and lithium batteries, TV’s, and computers.  Please bring oil-based paints only.  Latex and water-based paints, once dried out (usually 24-36 hours after the lid is removed) can be placed in a trash bag and thrown out with your regular household garbage.  Latex and water-based paints will not be accepted at the S.T.O.P. collection site.  Oil-based paints, on the other hand, are considered hazardous, and will be accepted at any S.T.O.P. Collection Day program.

The Town of North Hempstead is proud to have been the first town in Nassau County to offer a Pharmaceutical Collection Event.  In 5 years, the Town has diverted over 5 tons of unwanted drugs from landfills and protected our drinking water.  In addition, over half of teens who abuse prescription painkillers report they get them for free from the homes of family or friends, or they take them from family or friends without asking.  By bringing this service to each community, North Hempstead strives to keep its children and environment safe.

During the April 5th S.T.O.P. event, North Hempstead residents can also safely shred and dispose of personal documents, thereby minimizing the opportunity for identity theft, while at the same time making an invaluable contribution to the protection of the environment.  Residents are invited to shred any paper documents and credit cards free of charge. Residents are reminded there is a limit of 6 boxes or bags of paper per car, per event. Once the documents are shredded, they will be placed into containers and sent directly to pulping mills across the country.  Every 2,000 pounds of paper the Town recycles equates to one tree saved.

The Town of North Hempstead is proud to once again partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters to have a truck at the April 5th S.T.O.P. event.  Big Brothers Big Sisters will be accepting gently used and working clothes, stuffed animals, electronics, toys, sporting equipment, shoes, books, small area rugs, bikes, scooters, luggage, picture frames, table lamps, bolts of fabric, silverware, glassware, dishes, and cosmetics.  Each resident will receive a receipt for their donation for income tax purposes.

For more information on the S.T.O.P. program, please call 311 or e-mail recycle@northhempsteadny.gov.