Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day held in Hancock County

HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - On Saturday, Hancock County hosted a drop-off site for Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day. The free event was held at the Hancock County Arena and Fairgrounds from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event is held annually to help people whole live in the area carefully dispose of unsafe materials.

“These types of events help keep our waters clean,” says Jeff Loftus, event coordinator. “It’s also gives the residents an opportunity to get rid of items so the county road department will not have to spend all of their time picking it up out of the roadways.”

People were able to drop off products containing toxic chemicals, including flammable liquids, aerosol cans, cooking oils, appliances and more. Nearly three hundred people showed up to the Fairgrounds this year.

Despite South Mississippi being hit hard with thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, Loftus says he was shocked with the turnout.

“I’m surprised that we’ve had a steady flow,” he said. “We we’re really concerned about the rain; we had some challenges getting this even set up due to a lot of conflict in schedules with contractors and our venue. So, we’re really happy; we have a good turnout, volunteers and the county always comes through. It’s a collective community group that makes this happen.”

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