LAPLACE — The 21^st annual Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day, held May 4 in LaPlace and Destrehan, culminated in the collection of 34,506 pounds (17.25 tons) of material to recycle, dispose and treat.

The household hazardous collection event is held annually to provide area households an opportunity to properly dispose or recycle materials that are inappropriate for curbside pickup.

Of all collections, 89 percent were recycled or recovered. Used electronics accounted for nearly 7 tons of total materials collected, followed by 2.6 tons of fuel blending, which includes oil based paint, flammables, aerosols and poisons.

Heavy rain significantly reduced traffic, particularly at the St. John location, but did not stop proceedings. Due to permits and the high cost to host this event, there is no way to reschedule for bad weather, according to coordinator Jan Herrington.

Event coordinators, all volunteers with local industry, included Jay Lambremont and Lance Traylor with Marathon Petroleum Company, Lynette Currier with OxyChem – Taft, Durell Morris with Valero and Michael McNally with Shell Norco.

More than 26 area manufacturers sponsored the event by providing food and volunteers.

The two sites saw assistance from 77 volunteers who serviced drop-offs from 306 vehicles.

Please visit hhmcd.com for additional information.

Sponsors

With approval from Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and support from St. Charles Parish Council, St. John Parish, St. James Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness and Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, this event was sponsored by the following companies as a community service: Air Liquide, Air Products (multiple locations), Arkema, Bayer (formerly Monsanto), Cornerstone Chemical Company, Denka Performance Elastomer, Diamond Green Diesel, Dow, DuPont, Entergy, Evonik Corporation – Reserve, Evonik Corporation – Garyville, Grace, Hexion, Linde (formerly Praxair), MPXL (formerly Pin Oak Terminals), Marathon Petroleum Company LP, Nalco Champion – an EcoLab Company, Noranda, Nucor, OxyChem, Shell Norco, Shell Pipeline Company LP, and Valero. Other organizations which provided donations, volunteers, food, support services and/or recycling were: Arkema, Bayer, Denka Performance Elastomer, Dow, Linde, Shell Norco, COLT, Inc., Jerusalem Shriners Hall, Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, MPLX, New Wine Christian Fellowship, Pelican Pointe Car Wash and Positive Results, Inc. Clean Harbors Environmental Services provided waste and recycling professional services.

Marathon Petroleum Company, United Way of St. Charles and St. John United Way assisted with fiscal tasks for the event.