Too often homeowners faced with disposing of that half-full can of yellow paint or nearly empty bottle of weed killer hide them in the midst of their trash. Or they simply store them for years in a corner of their garage.

To combat this problem, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has proposed adding a disposal fee to every can of house paint and gallon of general-use pesticide sold in the state. The 20-cent-per-gallon disposal fee would be used to help fund municipal hazardous waste collection efforts. This proposal has the support of many in industry and should be supported by the Legislature.

A similar fee on tires has had an impressive impact. When the state’s tire abatement program was started in 1996, more than 22.3 million tires were stockpiled in 318 locations. Tire dump fires were a frequent occurrence. Financed in part by a $1-per-tire fee now charged for all new tires sold in Maine, more half of those tires have been recycled and several large storage facilities closed. Many of the old tires are chipped and used in road construction projects.

Like old tires, containers of pesticides and paint pose a risk to the environment. Undetected in household garbage, they may end up in incinerators and, then, in the air. Worse, if dumped in water or on the ground, they can foul drinking water and wildlife habitat. Improper disposal can also endanger waste handlers and local residents. Two dozen people were evacuated from a Bar Harbor neighborhood and the hazardous materials team called out three years ago after paint cans burst in the back of a garbage truck. The driver reported trouble after detecting fumes coming from the back of his truck. No one was hurt but the hassle could have been avoided if people knew there was a way to routinely get rid of hazardous materials.

About a quarter of the state’s communities now routinely have household hazardous waste collection days. Although only a tiny percentage of residents participate in such events, they are popular among devotees and likely to catch on. Towns report that they routinely get calls from residents wondering how to dispose of such material. Hazardous wastes are also very expensive to handle. Normal waste costs pennies a pound to process. Hazardous waste costs hundreds of times as much. Therefore, there is not much incentive for communities to undertake these programs. LD 1549 would change that by adding a disposal fee to paint and pesticides in 2004.

The 20-cent fee is expected to raise about $500,000 a year, enough to keep existing collection programs going and, hopefully, to start new ones. The money would also fund educational programs. A small price to pay for not having to chase a fuming trash truck.