ARCHS' St. Louis Area Communities Against Toxics Community Partnership will provide Greater St. Louis area residents with education on how to safely dispose of household waste to ensure a more healthy environment.

ARCHS' SLACAT Community Partnership:

June 2007: ARCHS has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help area residents and small business owners learn how to safely dispose of hazardous waste items.

The EPA Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) grant will fund ARCHS’ St. Louis Area Communities Against Toxics (SLACAT) Community Partnership that will focus on safe ways to dispose of household/small business waste such as paint, batteries, and cleaning products. SLACAT will address air/water quality, lead and indoor mold issues to reduce risk exposures. The grant promotes local problem solving initiatives that can be replicated across the country.

SLACAT will initially work with St. Louis’ Hall Street Industrial Corridor (the St. Louis neighborhoods of Baden, Mark Twain/1-70 Industrial Area, O’Fallon, Penrose, Riverview, Walnut Park East and Walnut Park West) because of the known environmental risks in this area. SLACAT plans to expand its efforts across this city by partnering with St. Louis Public School Community Education Centers (CEC).

ARCHS’ SLACAT Community Partners:

• Better Family Life
• City of St. Louis-Refuse Division
• Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources
• Riverview-West Florissant Housing Corp.
• St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District
• University of Iowa Waste Reduction Center
• U.S. EPA (funder)
• Walbridge Elementary School CEC (Advisory Council)

SLACAT plans to collect 3 tons (6,000 pounds) of household hazardous waste over a three year period. SLACAT will focus on working with residents and business owners. SLACAT will host a series of community Detox Your Domicile and Tox-Away Day training events and create a multi-media toolbox to educate community residents and small business owners about the dangers of improper waste disposal. A special hotline and media campaign will be used to promote SLACATS’ community efforts.

OEJ’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement program requires selected applicants, or recipients, to use the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model as part of their projects. The model assists affected communities in developing proactive, strategic, and visionary approaches to address their environmental justice issues and to achieve community health and sustainability. www.epa.gov./compliance/environmentaljustice.