L’Observateur / November 8, 2000

LAPLACE – The third annual Household Haz/Mat Collection Day, held recently in St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, generated more than43,000 pounds of recycled goods and 60,783 pounds of total material managed.

The event also helped residents remove tons of material unsuited for landfill disposal, including tires, auto batteries, paint, fluorescent lights, used engine oil and scrap metal.

A total of 170 cars contributed at the Shriners Temple in Destrehan and 107 vehicles contributed at the old Kmart building in LaPlace.

The event has steadily grown since it began in 1998. That first year, 12,332pounds of recycled goods were accepted. This year, that total shot up to43,409 pounds.

Fred Goodson of Shell Chemicals, one of the corporate partners in the event, commented, “It’s good to see the program is getting more and more utilized.”In addition to the above-listed materials, others were accepted such as oil- based paints, insecticides and herbicides and standard landfill-recyclables.

Sponsor companies includes Bayou Steel (which accepted 4,000 pounds of scrap metal this year), DuPont, DuPont Dow Elastomers, Marathon Ashland, Monsanto, Montell Polyolefins, Motiva, Nalco, Occidental, Pinnacle Polymers, Shell Chemical, Stockhausen and Union Carbide.

Other organizations which provided 78 volunteers included Green Project, Philip Services and the state departments of environmental quality and agriculture.

Support organizations included the sheriff’s offices and parish councils of both parishes. Other support services were provided by Bayou Steel, GreenProject, International Petroleum, LaPlace Battery Inc., Lamp Recyclers Inc.,St. John Parish Department of Public Works and St. Charles ParishDepartment of Public Works.

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