Free. Fast. Easy. Since we began the program in 2001, we have offered more than 582 collections and safely recycled or disposed of approximately 11.9 million pounds of household hazardous waste (HHW). Our Eco-Depot collection events help Rhode Islanders do the right thing with substances in their home that are flammable, combustible, poisonous, toxic, corrosive, or reactive. We host about 19 Saturday collections per year throughout the state. HHW is the only material for which we require appointments for drop-off.   Check out this virtual tour!

At these events, and in partnership with Clean Earth, we consolidate like-substances and separate others before shipping them to be treated.  Latex paint gets remanufactured for industrial and commercial uses. Flammables and other combustibles are sent to waste-to-energy facilities and are used to make electricity.  Mercury gets reclaimed for different purposes, too.  Anything that can’t be recycled or repurposed is safely disposed of in one of two special hazardous waste landfills out-of-state. No HHW from our Eco-Depot collection events is buried in the Central Landfill.

Accepted Materials & Event Schedule 

Tour Resource Recovery’s Operations

In addition to the virtual tour, the Eco-Depot building is one of the stops on our facility tours. You can also download “A Guide to Resource Recovery” here, containing more information about all of our operations.