Waste Pickup Collects Toxins — Residents Turn Out to Dump Cleaners, Oil, Pesticides, Aerosols

By Richard Thompson thompson@desotoappealcom

DeSoto County held its first collection day for household waste since 2001 Saturday, and it went better than expected.

One by one, cars, trucks and minivans from all over DeSoto County pulled into the Justice Court parking lot at Mississippi Boulevard in Southaven, unloaded their waste – cans of paint, pesticides, oil, gas, aerosol cans, fire extinguishers and more – and were gone in less than two minutes.

The collection effort was free, funded by a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality grant. It lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We were supposed to start at 8 a.m., and I had people sitting in the parking lot at 7:15 a.m. waiting,” said Jim Bearden, who oversees waste programs for DeSoto County.

Bearden said Saturday’s good weather helped the turnout. He expected at least 300 vehicles to come through the drop-off point, far exceeding the 176 cars from the collection effort in 2001 when it rained all day.

Six people from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) were there, as well as representatives from each of the county’s five municipalities, to help with the collection.

Kevin Posey, MDEQ environmental engineer, said the state usually does about eight collection days a year. While it’s important to get the waste out of the homes, the goal of the event is to make sure the waste doesn’t end up in landfills or creeks, he said.

“It’s about putting (waste) into the proper place,” added Wayne Stover, MDEQ environmental scientist.

Saturday was the only day for the collection. The county hired Indiana-based Pollution Control Industries to dispose of the collected waste at its 36-acre facility in Millington, Tenn.

Sundeep Ploya, a PCI chemist, said most of the waste would be incinerated.

– Richard Thompson: (901) 333-2011