County News
Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority will host its annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Saturday, March 29.
Residents of Lee, Pontotoc, Itawamba, Monroe, Calhoun, Lafayette, and Union counties can bring household waste items to the Lafayette County Multipurpose Arena from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“It’s free of charge to the residents of those seven counties,” said Doug Wiggins, Three Rivers Planning & Development Division director of the government functions division. “The Authority covers the disposal cost associated with that.”
The event gives people an opportunity to declutter their homes, safely get rid of hazardous items that don’t belong in regular trash, and protect the environment.
Community and Environmental Risks
Not disposing of waste properly can have a significant impact on communities.
“There’s a lot of different things that can go wrong, from not only an environmental standpoint, but from a public health standpoint, when people don’t dispose of certain items properly,” Wiggins said.
“For example, if people dispose of items inappropriately — say, they go and throw some fluorescent light bulbs off in a creek. They can hit the rocks down below and burst, and you end up with mercury in creek water. Animals could be drinking out of that creek,” he said.
“If somebody just gets rid of asbestos and throws it out on the ground or in a ditch, and water runs through it and carries it down the road, you end up with harmful, hazardous waste products that could eventually seep through the ground and end up in the water table.”
Three Rivers collects and disposes of the products in different ways. Tires, for example, are broken down to use for rubber mulch in flower beds. Appliances are disassembled and melted down into raw materials that are repurposed for new products.
“Depending on what it is, some of that stuff can be recycled, and what cannot be recycled is disposed of in a permitted facility that can accept those type of items,” Wiggins said.
What to Expect at the Event
People will stay in their cars and be directed to a collection line when they arrive at the arena.
“It’s a one way deal — one way in, one way out, type event,” Wiggins said. “We try to move everybody through as fast, but as safely as possible. We ask that everybody follow instructions and stay in line, and monitor the traffic cones.”
What You Can Bring
Aerosols, all-purpose cleaners, ammonia, anti-freeze, brake fluids, batteries, barbeque lighter fluids, chlorine bleach, computer/ electronic waste, detergents, disinfectants, drain operator, engine fluids, fertilizer, furniture project, gasoline, gas additives, glass cleaner, glues, herbicides, insecticides, moth balls, motor oil, oven cleaner, paint thinner, pesticides, photographic chemicals, propane cylinder tank, rodent poison, silver polish, pool chemicals, stains, tires (maximum 25), toilet bowl cleaner, turpentine, TVs, water sealant, old appliances (such as washers, dryers, air conditioners, compressors, and water heaters), fluorescent light bulbs, metals, and old prescriptions.
Commercial and agricultural waste, helium tanks, and household furniture will not be accepted.
Three Rivers Solid Waste Management Authority, Three Rivers Planning & Development District, City of Oxford-Lafayette County, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, and Waste Connections are sponsoring this event.