An interesting partnership resulted in two dogs hanging out and greeting visitors at the landfill who were taking advantage of an opportunity to get rid of their household hazardous waste.
On Saturday, July 12, the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society joined Waste Connections, the operator of the Town of Colonie Landfill, in an effort to properly dispose of hazardous waste and also raise money for a good cause.
The Humane Society was on site with two dogs that were up for adoption so people disposing of old paint, pesticides and other hazardous waste could get a chance to meet and possibly adopt them. For every pound of waste the landfill received, Waste Connections donated money to the Humane Society — with the end result being a donation of $5,000.
“I don’t know that they have ever given to a non-profit before, and the thing is if this is successful, they may do this so that people will drop them off instead of putting them into the landfill itself and be able to dispose of it properly,” said Nancy Laribee, marketing and development manager for the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.
The Humane Society is a privately funded non-profit that gets the majority of its money from fundraisers. The money pays for everything from toys for the animals to medical expenses.
“We’re thrilled because people think the shelter is scary or sad, and it really isn’t. It’s clean, it’s bright and these guys are well taken care of. Everything is spayed and neutered. We have enhancement for cats and dogs. All of this helps us do that because we are privately funded. We don’t get any government money. It’s events like this and people in the Capital Region who donate money because they know animals are family,” said Laribee.
Waste Connections holds a monthly citizens awareness meeting in the Town of Halfmoon, where they discuss things that are going on at the landfill. It announced this open house June 2 to people living in Cohoes, Halfmoon and Waterford, as well as Colonie.
Aside from meeting the dogs from the Humane Society, people were encouraged to take tours of the landfill to see how things are done and how the landfill works. The partnership with the Humane Society came about because everyone cares about pets.
Waste Connections District General Manager Donald Hallock said that they just wanted to help out a good organization and animals.
“I’m a big animal lover. It was really a team effort. Everybody kind of talked about some of the good things we can do, what we can do for pets and I think it’s a really good service for a donation factor for them. We do a lot of donations throughout the community, and we wanted to partner up with the Humane Society. It’s always important to try and help,” said Hallock.
Waste Connections also helps Boy Scouts. It allowed a local troop to build a small shed where people can donate their cans and bottles, and the Boy Scouts return the cans and keep the money.
The Humane Society is always looking for volunteers to help with the many different tasks involved in taking care of the animals that are up for adoption. More information on how to volunteer or adopt a pet can be found at mohawkhumane.org.