LEWISTON – A new collection center outside Lewiston’s landfill should make it easier for residents to get rid of noxious household chemicals.

Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments is scheduled to open its new hazardous waste collection facility on Sept. 10. The facility is on River Road in Lewiston, at the city’s Solid Waste Facility.

The new facility, which includes a gas-station like canopy for drive-through waste drop-offs, will be open on the first three Saturdays of each month through November. It reopens again in April 2006.

“Now, people don’t have to wait and save the materials until it’s time for a collection day,” Lea said.

It’s open to any resident of AVCOG’s region, including the Twin Cities, Oxford Hills, Mexico/Rumford area and the Jay/Wilton/Farmington area.

It also means more efficient collections in those areas, according AVCOG spokesman Fergus Lea. AVCOG will continue collecting hazardous materials in the outlying regions.

“Before, we’d collect, say, half-a-barrel of hazardous chemicals in Rumford, then we’d have to treat it like a full barrel,” Lea said. “Then, we’d go up to Farmington and collect another half-barrel. Now, we can bring the waste down into the Lewiston facility and collect a full barrel. It’s much better use.”

The facility has four separate collection tanks, one each for flammables, toxic chemicals, reactive chemicals and a miscellaneous tank for nasty chemicals that don’t fit into another category.

“We get a lot of old gasoline, and a lot of pesticides that people forgot about,” Lea said.