(Peru, IL.) - Carus Corporation celebrated Earth Day 2004 by holding a Household Hazardous Collection at its Peru headquarters site.  Carus Corporation employees staffed the collection, which was held in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.  Traffic control was provided by the Peru Police Department and the Civil Defense.

According to Dave Anderson, Environmental Protection Specialist with the IEPA, the Carus collection was one of the most well organized waste collections in the state.  "Carus and its volunteers did an exceptional job of bringing this event to the Illinois Valley community.  Our preliminary records show that they collected 300 drums (55-gallon size) of household waste from 634 local households in 452 cars," said Anderson.

Carus Corporation also independently collected prescription eyeglasses and old cell phones.  Lynn Solorio, Community Relations Director at Carus Corporation, will deliver the eyeglasses to the Lions Club and the cell phones to the Freedom House Shelter for use by victims of domestic abuse. 

Carus Corporation, founded in LaSalle, Illinois in 1915, is the world's leading manufacturer of potassium permanganate and sodium permanganate, which Carus manufactures mainly for environmental applications: to improve the quality of drinking water, to treat municipal and industrial wastewater, and in the remediation (clean-up) of contaminated sites.  Carus has been a member of the American Chemistry Council for more than 60 years, and is an active participant in the ACC's Responsible Care® initiative, a voluntary program to achieve improvements in environmental, health and safety performance beyond levels required by government regulations. The Responsible Care program has resulted in significant reductions in releases to air, land and water, major improvements in workplace and community safety, and expanded programs to research and test chemicals for potential health and environmental impacts.