Looking back on the 2024 Wastemobile season

Every year, the Hazardous Waste Management Program’s traveling Wastemobile brings free hazardous waste collection events to communities not directly served by one of our four hazardous waste disposal facilities. What does that look like in our region? Let’s look back.

In 2024, from February to October, the traveling Wastemobile visited 12 cities and hosted 21 collection events, providing residents and businesses across King County an opportunity to dispose of their hazardous waste safely. Through these events, the Wastemobile collected 602,846 pounds of hazardous waste from residents and businesses, keeping toxic chemicals and products out of our environment and out of our bodies

The Haz Waste Program’s Wastemobile offers residents and businesses in King County a free and convenient option for disposing of hazardous items. For those unable to make it to one of our four disposal facilities in Factoria, Auburn, North Seattle, or South Seattle, the Wastemobile can provide a collection site closer to home. 

Last season, the Wastemobile provided safe hazardous waste disposal options for community members in the Bothell and Woodinville areas, Kent and Covington, Redmond, Vashon Island, Kirkland, Enumclaw, Snoqualmie, Des Moines, Sammamish, Carnation and Duvall, Burien, and Renton. 

The Wastemobile collected a broad range of hazardous materials from residents and businesses, but the most common items we helped safely dispose of include: 

• Oil-based paint 
• Automotive oil  
• Flammable liquids   
• Batteries 
• Antifreeze

The top three reasons customers brought their wastes to the Wastemobile include: 

• Routine visit
• Major clean-up effort
• Auto maintenance  

In 2024, we were able to inform customers of the Wastemobile schedule through digital ads, postcards, our website, and sharing our events with our partners. Here is a recap of our outreach:  

• Direct mail postcards – 394,927 households reached       
• Social media advertising – 97,397 clicks 
• Digital media – 3,677,442 impressions 

We were also able to gather feedback from customers on site to ensure we continue to make the experience as accessible and helpful as possible. The traveling Wastemobile strives to provide convenient drop off services that meet people where they are. This is an important initiative in the Hazardous Waste Management Program’s effort to support a healthier and cleaner King County. 

Based on the feedback from our customers, we plan to make adjustments to our outreach methods so that we can continue to reach communities not directly served by one of our permanent facilities. We also plan to continue to conduct surveys on site to capture customer feedback. These are just some of the strategies we are looking at to improve our visibility and improve our relationships with our customers. 

The 2024 Wastemobile season has wrapped up, but our collection facilities accept hazardous household and business products such as oil-based paint, batteries, stains, household cleaners, pesticides, and more all year round. 

Get ready for the 2025 Wastemobile season beginning at the end of February! Keep an eye out for the announcement of our 2025 Wastemobile schedule in the coming weeks.