By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Residents in the River Parishes will again have an opportunity to properly dispose of or recycle hazardous household chemicals or other materials not appropriate for curbside garbage collection when the region holds its annual Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day in April.

Industries in St. John the Baptist, St. James and St. Charles parishes will team up at two sites in the region for the April 14 event. Residents can either go to the Jerusalem Temple, 1940 Ormond Blvd., Destrehan, or New Wine Ministries, 1921 Airline Highway, LaPlace. The collection will take place from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Industry sponsors event coordinator Lynette Currier of OxyChem said household materials that will be accepted during the event include oil-based paint, latex paint, solvents, tires (limit five per vehicle and one delivery only), automotive and other rechargeable batteries, household cleaning products, acids/bases, used oil, antifreeze, aerosol cans, fluorescent lamps, pesticides, herbicides and scrap metal.

“We are really hoping lots of residents take advantage of this opportunity,” Currier said. “It is a chance to clean out hazardous materials from utility rooms and sheds that are taking up space and need to be properly disposed of in a safe manner.”

Fellow event coordinator Bob Harris added that electronics recycling and disposal will also be available. He said the sites will accept major appliances, used computers, old radios and televisions.

Currier said the collection sites will not accept explosives, ammunition, infectious medical wastes, unidentifiable materials, compressed gas cylinders, radioactive wastes, asbestos, high school lab wastes or commercial/governmental facility waste, including in-home business waste.

With approval from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the event is financially sponsored and staffed by volunteers of the following companies as a community service: Air Products, Americas Styrenics, ArcelorMittal (formerly Bayou Steel), Cornerstone Chemical Company (formerly Cytec), DuPont, Entergy, Ergon, Evonik Industries, Galata Chemicals (formerly Chemtura), LOCAP, Marathon Petroleum Company, Momentive (formerly Hexion), Monsanto, Mosaic, Motiva, Nalco – an Ecolab Company, Noranda, Norco Manufacturing Complex, Nucor, NuStar, OxyChem, Plains Marketing, St. James CAER, Shell Pipeline LP, Valero and Valero Asphalt.

Currier said it is the first time that a number of St. James Parish industries are involved as sponsors.

At 2011’s Household Hazardous Materials Collection event, 79 volunteers collected over 21 tons of potentially harmful materials, which was prepared for recycling, recovery, treatment or disposal, not including the electronics. Currier said 394 vehicles visited the two collection sites.