Paint · Motor Oil · Pool Chemicals · Batteries · Propane · Temecula Valley
Household Hazardous Waste in Temecula: Where Garage Chemicals Actually Go
Most of it goes to Riverside County for free. The county's Lake Elsinore facility takes paint, motor oil, pool chemicals, pesticides, batteries, gasoline, and propane from residents on scheduled collection days, up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds a trip. Leftover house paint can also go to a PaintCare store, and used motor oil to a certified collection center. None of it can go in your trash cart or a junk removal load.
Family-owned in Temecula since 2021 · Licensed & insured · 5,000+ loads since 2021
Wild West Junk Removal · 41713 Niblick Rd, Temecula, CA 92591 · (951) 837-8072 · Mon to Sat: 7AM-7PM · Sun: Closed · Family-owned and operated by Weston Molitor since 2021
The short list
Where Does Each Garage Chemical Go Around Temecula?
Paint goes to a PaintCare store or the county, motor oil goes to a certified collection center or the county, and almost everything else on a garage shelf goes to Riverside County's free household hazardous waste collection. Here's the item-by-item version.
| Item | Free drop-off | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Latex and oil-based house paint, primer, stain, varnish | A PaintCare drop-off site (most are paint and hardware stores), or the county HHW facility | PaintCare sites take up to 5 gallons a visit, in original labeled containers. Spray cans and thinners aren't PaintCare products. |
| Paint thinner, mineral spirits, solvents | County HHW facility | Keep them in the original can. Never pour them out to "dry." |
| Used motor oil and oil filters | A certified used oil collection center or a county ABOP site | Most centers take up to 5 gallons at a time and pay 40 cents a gallon. Don't mix in antifreeze or gas. |
| Antifreeze | County ABOP site or HHW facility | Sweet-tasting and toxic to pets. Keep it capped and off the floor. |
| Car batteries | Where you buy the new one, a county ABOP site, or the HHW facility | Carry it upright. A cracked case leaks acid. |
| Household and tool batteries, fluorescent tubes, CFLs | County HHW facility, or battery drop boxes listed by the City of Temecula | Tape the ends of lithium batteries. Keep tubes whole. |
| Pool chemicals, pesticides, weed killer | County HHW facility | Never combine chlorine and acid products, even in the same bag. |
| Old gasoline and fuel mixes | County HHW facility | Use an approved gas can, capped, in the trunk. |
| Propane cylinders | County HHW facility; barbecue tanks can usually be swapped where you buy a full one | Upright and secured. Call ahead before bringing a barbecue-size tank to a collection day. |
| TVs, monitors, computers | County HHW collection days take e-waste; certified e-waste recyclers too | Covered e-waste can't go in the trash. See what counts as e-waste. |
For leftover paint and building products from a remodel, our guide to leftover building materials goes deeper on PaintCare's rules, dried-out paint, and aerosols. For the full list of what our trailer does and doesn't carry, see junk we take.
Riverside County
How Does the County's Free Collection Work?
Riverside County residents can drop off household hazardous waste free at the Lake Elsinore Permanent HHW Collection Facility, 512 North Langstaff Street, on its scheduled collection days. The limit is 15 gallons or 125 pounds per resident, per trip, and only household waste from county residents is accepted.
The county's own release on its fall 2026 collection events lists what's accepted: batteries and fluorescent tubes, TVs and other electronics, motor oil, filters, and gasoline, and lawn and garden products. Its spring release showed the Lake Elsinore collection running on a Saturday from 9AM to 2PM. Dates change, so check the county's HHW schedule before you load the car.
Closer to home, the county also lists ABOP sites, short for antifreeze, batteries, oil, and paint. They take those four and not much else, so the pool chemicals and pesticides still go to Lake Elsinore. The sites close in bad weather.
The 15-gallon, 125-pound limit is per trip, and it's measured by the container, not by what's left in it. A garage with ten half-empty paint cans is closer to the limit than it looks.
For the drive
How Should You Pack Hazardous Waste for the Drive?
In the original containers with the labels on, upright, inside a plastic tub or a box lined with a trash bag, in the trunk. Keep pool chemicals in their own tub, and never combine products to make fewer containers.
- ✓Leave labels on. The people unloading your car need to know what's in each one. The EPA says to keep household hazardous products in their original containers and never mix them.
- ✓Double up leakers. Set a leaking or rusted can inside a bigger container or a sealed bucket.
- ✓Separate the pool chemicals. Chlorine and acid products react with each other. Different tubs, different sides of the trunk.
- ✓Cap the gas and the oil. Approved gas cans only, and oil in jugs of 5 gallons or less.
- ✓Secure propane upright. Wedge it so it can't roll, and don't leave the car sitting in the sun with it inside.
- ✓Go straight there. Don't run errands with a trunk full of chemicals on a Temecula summer afternoon.
The reason for all this
Why Can't It Go in the Trash or a Junk Load?
Because it's hazardous waste, and the trash, the recycling cart, and the landfill aren't set up to take it. Used motor oil is hazardous waste in California, and CalRecycle points out that a single gallon of it can contaminate a huge volume of drinking water. Batteries, fluorescent tubes, and electronics have their own handling rules on top of that.
CalRecycle's used oil program certifies collection centers across the state that take used oil from the public and pay a 40-cent-per-gallon recycling incentive. Paint gets the same treatment through PaintCare, which is funded by a fee on new paint, so dropping it off costs nothing.
The same goes for us. Paint, oil, and chemicals can't ride in a junk removal load at any price. The landfill and transfer stations we use turn it away, and a leaking can in the trailer ruins everything around it. When we clear a garage, the hazardous pile stays behind and everything else goes.
The City of Temecula's household waste and e-waste sheet says the same thing in plainer terms: hazardous waste, batteries, and electronics don't go in any of the carts.
The jar with no label
What Should You Do With a Mystery Container?
Leave it closed. Don't open it, smell it, or pour it into something else to check. Set it upright in a tub on its own, write "unknown" and where you found it on tape, and ask the county about it when you bring the rest.
Older garages turn up a lot of these. Coffee cans of something that used to be paint thinner, a pesticide that was banned years ago, a jug that's lost its label to the sun. Some of the old pesticides found in garages are no longer sold, which is exactly why they need to go to the county and not the trash.
Open the garage door, keep kids and pets out, and don't try to clean up a spill of something you can't identify. Riverside County's HHW program is the place to ask what to do next.
Water got into the garage and soaked the shelf? A flooded garage often turns up a pile of ruined chemical containers along with the wet boxes. Our fire, flood, and water damage cleanout page covers what we haul after a leak and what has to be set aside.
If you're clearing the whole garage
What Happens to the Chemicals During a Garage Cleanout?
They stay behind, set aside, and everything else goes. Tell me about the chemical shelf when you text the photos, put it in one spot before we arrive, and we'll load around it.
That's the cheapest way to do it anyway. The county takes the hazardous pile for free, and our price is set by the volume of everything else, starting at $195 for a quarter load and $595 for a full 12-yard trailer. A packed two-car garage is usually a full load. Prices, what we take, and how it works are on our garage cleanout page, and if you're doing it yourself, start with how to clean out a garage in one weekend.
Who's writing this
Straight From the Owner
Weston Molitor
Founder · Wild West Junk Removal · Temecula, CAI started Wild West Junk Removal in Temecula in 2021. We're family-owned, licensed and insured, and the chemical shelf is part of almost every garage we clear.
I wrote this because I tell people the same thing on the phone every week: we can't take it, and you don't need us to. The county takes it free. The only hard part is knowing where and when.
"Put the paint and chemicals in one corner before we get there. We'll take everything else in the garage."
Quick answers
Household Hazardous Waste Questions
Not a permanent county facility. The nearest one is the Lake Elsinore Permanent HHW Collection Facility at 512 North Langstaff Street, which runs scheduled collection days. Riverside County also lists ABOP sites in the Murrieta and Temecula area for antifreeze, batteries, oil, and latex paint.
Up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per resident, per trip, at Riverside County collection sites. If you have more, plan a second trip; the county says sites will take multiple trips when they have the room and staff.
No, it's free for county residents. Business-generated waste and waste from outside the county isn't accepted at the household program.
No. Used oil is hazardous waste in California. Take it to a certified used oil collection center or a county ABOP site, in a container of 5 gallons or less, and don't mix anything into it.
Many certified collection centers take filters along with the oil, but not all of them. Drain the filter first, bag it, and check CalRecycle's center finder, which lists whether each location takes filters.
PaintCare sorts it. Usable latex is often remixed into recycled paint, oil-based paint can be used as fuel, and paint that can't be reused is disposed of properly.
Not in a regular junk load. We won't take household hazardous waste at any price, and neither will the landfill the rest of the load goes to. Drop it off free with the county, and we'll take everything else in the garage.
Sources & related pages
- rcwaste.orgRiverside County Department of Waste Resources — Household Hazardous WasteFree household hazardous waste collection for Riverside County residents; current schedule.
- rcwaste.orgRiverside County — Lake Elsinore Permanent HHW Facility512 North Langstaff Street, Lake Elsinore.
- rivco.govCounty of Riverside — Free HHW Collection Events This Fall (Sept 3, 2026)15 gallons or 125 pounds per resident, per trip; accepted materials; fall 2026 events.
- calrecycle.ca.govCalRecycle — Used Oil Recycling ProgramCertified centers take used oil and pay a 40-cent-per-gallon incentive.
- calrecycle.ca.govCalRecycle — Find a Used Oil Certified Collection CenterSearch by ZIP; shows whether each center takes oil filters.
- paintcare.orgPaintCare — California Paint RecyclingFree drop-off for house paint, primer, stain, and clear coatings.
- epa.govU.S. EPA — Household Hazardous WasteKeep products in original containers and never mix them.
- temeculaca.govCity of Temecula — Household Waste, Medications and E-WasteHazardous waste, batteries, and e-waste stay out of all carts.
- wildwestjunkremoval.comGarage Cleanout in TemeculaPrices, what we take, and how a crew clears a garage.
- wildwestjunkremoval.comLeftover Building MaterialsPaintCare rules, dried paint, and aerosols after a remodel.
- wildwestjunkremoval.comHow to Clean Out a Garage in One WeekendThe DIY plan, start to finish.
Written by Weston Molitor, owner of Wild West Junk Removal. Last reviewed October 12, 2026.
Drop-off rules and dates are set by Riverside County, CalRecycle, and PaintCare and can change; check the source pages before you go. Wild West doesn't haul household hazardous waste. Wild West prices as of October 2026: $195 quarter load, $350 half, $495 three-quarter, $595 full 12-yard trailer; $30 per fridge, freezer, or AC unit; $15 per mattress or box spring; stairs $150 on loads up to a half, $300 over a half, no charge with an elevator; past the hour of loading included with a full load, $75 per hour per crew member.