GREENFIELD — The Water Pollution Control Facility on Deerfield Street has paused its hazardous waste collection until July 1 as the facility installs a new press.

In the six-month period during which the facility will be closed, the Department of Public Works recommends that those seeking to dispose of their hazardous materials, such as waste oil, antifreeze, auto batteries or pool chemicals use NEDT Hazardous Waste Removal, which has a drop-off location in Westfield.

Although the water facility has served as the primary spot for residents to discard their household hazardous waste products for roughly 20 years, Water Facilities Operation Supervisor Paul Zilinski said disposal of common household products is typically not an urgent endeavor and the pause is likely to be a relatively minor inconvenience to the community.

“For the most part, when people get rid of hazardous waste, it is people who have either passed away or inherited a house or something like that and they’re cleaning out a basement, a garage, and you’re talking some old cleaners, some pesticides, things like that. It’s not like there’s stuff that always has to be taken off their premises right off the bat,” Zilinski explained. “A lot of the time it’s people just doing cleanup. So I don’t think it’s that bad that people have to wait for just a little bit to do it. Otherwise, they have the option to bring it down [to Westfield] and to get rid of it that way.”

Zilinski said the Deerfield Street facility will not have space to collect, and ship bi-annually, household materials while it is in the middle of replacing its press machine with a “sludge screw press,” which is capable of squeezing more water from sludge. He said the modern screw press is roughly the size of a minivan.

“Right now we ship out liquid-solid, which is anywhere from 3% to 5% solids. With this new press, we’ll run sludge through that, and then we’ll be sending out sludge that’s anywhere from 25% to a little over 30% solids,” Zilinski said. “We’ll be shipping out a lot less loads, because we’re eliminating more water.”

The press removal and installation work is slated to begin in December, Zilinski said.

NEDT Hazardous Waste Removal can be reached by phone at 866-769-1621 or more information can be found online at nedt.org. In addition, the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District in Greenfield can be reached by phone at 413-772-2438 for more information on hazardous waste disposal. The district’s website is franklincountywastedistrict.org.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.