We all have them in our homes: Items like paint, fertilizer and cleaning products. But what do you do when it's time to get rid of these potentially harmful chemicals? Residents in Warren County found their options were limited, prompting the Fund for Lake George to call for a change. Our North Country Bureau reporter Matt Hunter has more.

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LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- Up until 13 years ago in Warren County, if you had a hazardous chemical like paint or pesticides you wanted to get rid of, you took it to the county landfill. Today, there's no such option.

"Everything that can be considered as toxic, you cannot dispose of in regular waste stream," said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky, who works with the Fund for Lake George.

In 1997, Warren County dissolved its recycling program and put it in the hands of local towns and cities. When that happened, its hazardous waste disposal program went out the window.

More than a decade later, the county's municipalities still haven't created their own programs.

“People will just get rid of them,” Navitsky said. “Either dumping them in their back yards, digging a hole, putting them in their septic systems or down their drains."

Navitsky says that's causing environmental problems all over the lake. Last spring, a paint plume was found near the Million Dollar Beach.

That's why he and other staff at the Fund for Lake George have gotten town boards within the Lake George Watershed to support a resolution urging the county to reestablish this program.

"We think it's a large problem and we think it's something we need to get addressed soon and start giving people this relief and get it out of their homes," Navitsky said.

Warren County Public Works Superintendent Bill Lamy says the public works committee will examine the proposal at its next meeting.

In the meantime, Navitsky is doing his best to educate residents before the problem is out of hand.

“This is the type of non-source point pollution that you really don't detect until it's too late,” Navitsky said. “Until you may have a fish kill, you may have a well that turns up bad but you won't really know that until it's too late.”