Pearl River County residents visited the county barn this past Saturday to safely dispose of hazardous waste during the county’s annual household hazardous waste collection event.

Pearl River County Fire Marshal Albert Lee said they received a lot of electronics this year.

“We got somewhere around 6,000 pounds of electronics, such as televisions and computers, 25 barrels of base paint and a half a trailer load of latex paint,” Lee said. “It was a low count on everything as a whole. But every year it grows and that’s an indication that people are getting better at cleaning out these items and bringing everything in.”

The items are collected, packaged and sent to specialized landfills, where they’re often recycled, Lee said.

The county is able to host the event every year thanks to a solid waste assistance grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which awards the grant to counties statewide.

This year, Pearl River County received $23,434 in assistance through the grant from MDEQ, Lee said.

Through the MDEQ grant, the county can improve their management of solid waste and offer residents a chance to clean the streets and avoid household hazardous wastes from finding a home in creeks, ditches or landfills that are not suited to handle hazardous waste, Lee said.

The items that are accepted during the annual event include used oils, lily water, antifreeze, gasoline, diesel fuels, batteries of various sorts, including alkaline, ni-cad, nickel metal hydride, lead-acid and lithium. Residents can also bring straight fluorescent lamps, compact or u-tube, circular lamps, HID, HPS, mercury vapor, metal halide lamps, mercury containing items, miscellaneous electronics such as TVs or computer equipment, aerosols, corrosives, flammables, oil based paint, latex paint, oxidizers, reactives and propane cylinders.

Lee hopes more people come out during next year’s event. The date will be announced once the grant is secured.