The city’s free “one-stop” recycling event occurs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 at the Wild Waves parking lot at 36201 Enchanted Parkway S. Residents can bring a variety of bulky or difficult-to-recycle items, such as appliances, scrap metal, branches, tires, mattresses, Styrofoam and confidential documents.

This is the final recycling event for fluorescent bulbs and tubes.

“While we prefer to not eliminate items accepted at recycling events, this is actually a positive change,” said Jeanette Brizendine-Jurgensen, the city’s recycling project manager and event coordinator. “The new state-wide bulb and tube recycling program now offers free, local recycling almost every day of the year.”

Northshore Ace Hardware at 35419 21st Ave. SW and Walker Ace Hardware at 1616 SW Dash Point Road both accept fluorescent lights for free from residents and small businesses. They are part of a new program called LightRecycle Washington.

This program is run by mercury-containing light manufacturers and funded by a $0.25 disposal fee added to the price of mercury-containing lights sold in Washington. This helps defray the cost to recycle the thousands of bulbs and tubes already in use.

Since Mercury is toxic, these lights should never be disposed in your regular garbage container. For information, visit www.lightrecyclewa.org.