By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – For the 12th year in a row, residents of the River Parishes came out in large numbers Saturday to drop off hazardous household chemicals and other materials not appropriate for curbside garbage collection as part of the region’s annual Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day.

Industries in St. John the Baptist, St. James and St. Charles parishes teamed up at two sites, one in LaPlace and one in Destrehan, to collect materials from vehicles passing through.

Industry sponsors event coordinator Lynette Currier of OxyChem said household materials that were accepted Saturday included oil-based paint, latex paint, solvents, tires, automotive and other rechargeable batteries, household cleaning products, acids/ bases, used oil, antifreeze, aerosol cans, fluorescent lamps, pesticides, herbicides and scrap metal. She said items were either prepared for recycling, or disposed of properly and safely.

Currier said exact figures were not available, but it was estimated that nearly 400 vehicles visited the two collection sites to drop off more than 40,000 pounds of assorted materials to the 79 volunteers in attendance. She said figures were comparable to last year’s collection event.