Hazardous Waste Collection

The Grand Portage Household Hazardous Waste Collection is next Friday, June 3rd from 8am-4pm and Monday, June 6th from 8am-4pm. Come drop off your hazardous items at the Trustlands Office at 27 Store Rd. Contact Amy Seitz at 475-2028 for questions.

Improperly disposing hazardous waste can cause environmental pollution and can be dangerous to human health. Check out the EPA website to learn more.

Accepted items are:

• paints and stains
• pain thinner
• solvents
• automotive products
• home and garden pesticides and fertilizers
• PCB ballasts
• adhesives
• hobby supplies
• aerosols
• acids and bases
• rechargeable and button batteries
• fluorescent tubes

Also, the Cook County Hazardous Waste Collection is on Saturday June 11th, from 9am-1pm at the Cook County Recycling Center.

Image from St. Charles County Division of Environmental Science, which also has some good information on hazardous waste.

Fish Consumption Guide

Chemicals such as mercury and PCBs are found in store bought or wild caught fish. These chemicals can be harmful to humans, so people should monitor their consumption of fish in order to limit the accumulation of these chemicals in the body. Grand Portage released a Fish Consumption Guide for fish caught within the reservation boundaries. It is recommended that you follow the guidelines from the table below and take other precautionary measures when consuming fish: eat smaller fish, eat fewer predator fish, eat less fatty fish, and trim fat off the fish.

For fish caught in Grand Portage waters, follow this consumption advice:

The “Special Population” includes pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, or children under age 15.

Species	Sensitive Population Consumption Advice	General Population Consumption Advice
Brook Trout Under 12"	unlimited	unlimited
12" or over	1 meal per week	unlimited
Coho Salmon	1 meal per week	1 meal per week
Chinook Salmon Under 22"	1 meal per week	1 meal per week
22" or over	1 meal per month	1 meal per month
Herring	1 meal per week	unlimited
Lake Trout Under 21"	1 meal per week	1 meal per week
between 21” and 43”	1 meal per month	1 meal per month
34” or over	1 meal every two months	1 meal every two months
Walleye Under 20”	1 meal per week	unlimited
20” or over	1 meal per month	1 meal per week
Whitefish	1 meal per week	unlimited

If you eat fish caught outside of Grand Portage, you can find the Minnesota State guidelines at the Minnesota Department of Health website.

Stop by Trust Lands if you would like to pick up a copy of the Fish Consumption Guide.

Toxic Ingredients in Cosmetics

In July the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 was proposed to the House of Representatives. This Act will help to ensure that harmful chemicals are kept out of our cosmetics. Currently, there is no regulation by the Food and Drud Administration on what ingredients go into cosmetics, and the FDA cannot recall products that are found to be dangerous and extremely harmful. Many of the products, including ones listed as green, natural, or organic have ingredients in them that are allergens, known carcinogens (cause cancer), and are linked to neurotoxicity and reproductive and developmental toxicity. The Act still needs to be passed by Congress and the Senate. Contact your local politicians and let them know how important this is to you. You can visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to learn what to do to help.

While we are waiting for the FDA to catch up and regulate these products, how do we avoid putting endless amounts of chemicals on our face and bodies and on our children every day? Think of every product you put onto your body: shampoo, lotion, make-up, deodorant. All those products may contain harmful ingredients! To start, you can go to this website that rates cosmetic products' toxicity from 1 to 10. Pay attention to what products you are buying when you are at the store, and if a product is really unnecessary, stop using it. You can also write letters or emails to companies making these products and tell them that you want safer, toxic free products.

There is a great project going on called the Story of Stuff. Annie Leonard uses cartoons to help educate people on environmental issues. There is a video called the Story of Cosmetics that everyone should watch, and while you are there, take a look at some of her other videos too. The website is www.storyofstuff.org.

Picture from Storyofstuff.org.