Lafourche Parish collecting hazardous material Saturday

A household hazardous materials collection will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Lafourche Government Complex parking lot located at 4876 La. Highway 1 in Mathews.

“We mostly collect oil, tires, and paint,” said Chris Babin, sanitation foreman with Lafourche Parish Solid Waste. “At last year’s event, we collected 200 tires, 100 gallons of paint, another 100 gallons of oil and about 75 electronics.”

The event is a residential-only collection; items brought from commercial businesses will not be accepted. Residents must prove Lafourche Parish residency with a current water or electricity bill.

“We have the event around Earth Day and the time when most people are doing spring cleaning,” Babin said. “Lots of the items come from people who are cleaning out their garages. We also like to have the event before hurricane season, in case severe weather damage causes these things to get thrown about.”

The parish’s first hazardous materials collection day was hosted by the Department of Environmental Quality. Since then, the parish has been hosting the event itself.

“We had two collection days our first two years, but now we are only having one per year because people seem to have gotten rid of most of these items at our previous events,” Babin said. “We usually get about 75 vehicles each day. We get a good turnout in the lower part of the parish.

Acceptable items at the drop-off include:

• Household products like oven cleaners, corrosive cleaners, cleaning solvents and toilet and drain cleaners.

• Paints – oil- and latex-based, stains and varnishes, paint thinners, turpentine, wood preservatives and arsenic.

• Electronic equipment – televisions, stereos, computers, copiers, cell phones, fax machines and ink cartridges.

• Automotive products – tires, used oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, diesel, and oil and fuel filters.

• Lawn and garden products – herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers and bug sprays.

• Batteries – NiCad, lead acid, alkaline and rechargeable.

• Flammables – propane tanks and lighter fluid.

• Miscellaneous items such as metallic mercury.

The disposal of the items is contracted out to other companies.

“We have a company in Houma that takes the oil, and another company that takes pretty much everything else and recycles it as it should be,” Babin said. “Habitat for Humanity comes to collect the paint. They try to match it in five-gallon buckets, and they use it to paint homes they are building.”

Not many batteries are collected at the event, something Babin attributes to the growing popularity of recycling old batteries by selling them as scrap – especially car batteries – and buying rechargeable ones.

“People are recycling everything they can these days,” Babin said.

As residents drop off items, they will be asked to fill out a quick questionnaire.

“We are trying to find out here where they are from and what they are bringing in, so we can reach those who may not know about the event,” Babin said.

Items that will not be taken at the collection include ammunition, explosives, fireworks, fire extinguishers, appliances, furniture, power tools, radioactive devices like smoke and fire detectors, large gas cylinders for helium, Freon or acetylene, Styrofoam, construction and demolition debris, school lab waste and liquids in containers larger than five gallons.

“People who have theses items should call the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to find out about disposal options,” Babin said.