Time for a chemical clean out?

Did you know you can use the Household Chemical CleanOut service to safely dispose of household chemicals—such as cleaning products, motor oil and pesticides—that could harm human health and the environment if placed in your bins or poured down the drain.

CleanOut events are held twice each year in Newcastle, and at other locations across NSW on specified dates. NSW residents can make use of any event, free of charge.

The next Household Chemical CleanOut will be 9am to 3.30pm on Saturday 1 April at Newcastle (Tighes Hill) TAFE Student Car Park, 266 Maitland Road, Tighes Hill (opposite Henry Street).

The events are supported by the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the Waste Levy.

You can take household quantities of the following household chemicals and items (up to a maximum of 20 litres or 20 kilograms of a single item) solvents and household cleaners, floor care products, ammonia-based cleaners, pesticides and herbicides, poisons, pool chemicals, hobby chemicals, motor fuels, fluorescent globes and tubes, acids and alkalis, smoke detectors, paint and paint-related products, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, car and household batteries, motor oils and cooking oils. Businessrelated and commercial quantities of chemicals are not accepted.

For more information see newcastle.nsw.gov. au/living/waste-and-recycling/problem-wastes/ chemicals/household-chemical-cleanout/

Ruth Cotton’s memoir

make sense of it all. The result is her fifth book A fragile hold: Living with multiple sclerosis and other uncertainties.

This is the first time Ruth has written about the impact of chronic disease on her life, and her memoir reveals with warmth and unflinching honesty the daily, intimate scenes of a life with multiple sclerosis.

Carol Duncan, City of Newcastle Councillor and founder of Lost Newcastle has said of Ruth “If we’re lucky, some of us will meet someone like Ruth Cotton. If we’re really lucky, we’ll pause our own busy lives long enough to listen.”

A fragile hold: Living with multiple sclerosis and other uncertainties is published by Lightleaf Press. It is available in paperback and digital formats at all good bookstores. It can also be ordered from Amazon, Apple Books and other online shops.

The Local has two copies of A fragile hold: Living with multiple sclerosis and other uncertainties to give away to lucky readers. To enter the draw text the words ‘Fragile Hold’ and your name to 0455 210 000 by 17 March. The winners will be advised by telephone, their names published in next month’s issue of The Local.