Mike Pope, left, of Duratek Federal Services, Paul Newberry and Deba Daymon, right, both of Solid Waste Operations (NWIS-SWO), pour fungicide into a 55-gallon drum at the household hazardous waste collection day at the La Loma Transfer Station on Industrial Park Road in Española. The Laboratory partnered with San Juan Pueblo, the city of Española and Duratek Federal Services - the Lab's prime contractor for handling solid waste, including both radioactive and hazardous waste - to collect pesticides, chemicals, solvents, old paint and other hazardous chemicals. Some 135 vehicles came to the transfer station and more than 5,500 gallons of hazardous products were collected. "We got some very toxic ones," Daymon said of some of the pesticides collected. "These were pesticides that had been withdrawn from the marketplace because of their extreme toxicity, but a lot of people still have them stored in the garage," she said.
