By Don Rush

At its last meeting of 2022, the Addison Township board of trustees voted to opt out of an interlocal agreement with Oakland County to dispose of household hazardous waste this year. The township had been a member of the North Oakland Household Hazardous Waste (NoHaz) group for almost 20 years.

“We were a part of it from the beginning in 2003,” township supervisor Bruce Pearson said. “We looked at the numbers and last year we only had 125 cars that participated and it cost us about $50 a car. This year the price about doubled.”

Pearson said the cost to the township to sign up for 2023 would have been $12,017. “We tried to figure out the economics of it. This year they really raised the rates. That would cost us about $100 a car. Quite frankly we thought we could do it better.”

The NoHaz Consortium is a group of 17 Oakland County communities that, according to the county website, “have come together to provide residents with a safe, reliable and environmentally-responsible way to dispose of household hazardous waste (HHW).”

The communities which were included were townships of Addison, Brandon Township, Groveland, Independence, Oakland, Orion, Oxford, Rose, Springfield and Waterford; plus the villages of Leonard, Lake Orion, Oxford, Ortonville and the cities of Lake Angelus, Pontiac and Rochester.

According to Pearson the vendor they use for their annual community spring cleanup can handle hazardous waste “at a much, much cheaper rate.” The spring cleanup takes place on the Saturday before Mother’s Day (May 13, 2023) at the township complex on Rochester Road.

“We’ve been doing this for many years and it’s convenient for our residents,” he said. “We’re going to try collecting the hazardous waste ourselves this year and see how it goes. Maybe we can build a better mouse trap.”

At its December meeting Oxford Township signed the NoHaz agreement.