The third annual Household Hazardous Waste Day will go on Saturday in Monticello come rain or come shine.

“Nobody gets out of their cars. We unload them. They stay in their cars and they drive through depending on what they have, they go to the different stops and we pull it off their trailer or out of their vehicle,” said Monticello Mayor Martha Watts.

The program is hosted jointly by the Town of Monticello, the Lawrence County Board of Supervisors and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. MDEQ recently awarded the town a solid waste assistance grant of $25,000 that will be used to conduct the program Saturday.

This event is a great time for Lawrence County residential property owners to get rid of hazardous waste they have stored around their homes, Watts said. No commercial items or waste will be accepted.

Recommended items for disposal are aerosols, oil, fertilizers, poisons, batteries, paint, propane cylinders, corrosives, electrical wires and cables, computers, stereos and televisions.

“We’re collecting everything that should not go in a dump like batteries, tires, pesticides, fertilizers, electronics. We even have a scrap trailer for white goods like dishwashers and things like that,” she said.

Items should be loaded and taken to Reid Road Loop at F.E. Sellers Highway around the Sportsplex in Monticello. Sorting stations will be placed along the route and workers will gather items for disposal at each designated stop.

While the event is designed for Lawrence County residents, others won’t be turned away.

“We realize that if someone takes the trouble to load their vehicle up and if we were to refuse to accept it, they’re not taking it back home. They’re dumping it on the side of the road,” Watts said.

The first year the hazardous waste collection company didn’t come prepared for the amount that was brought for disposal.

“This has been two totally successful years and we’re looking for another one this weekend,” she said.

Cities and counties may apply for the competitive Solid Waste Assistance Grants through MDEQ. These grants are used by communities for programs to prevent and clean up unauthorized dumps; to aid in hiring local solid waste enforcement officers; for public education efforts on solid waste disposal and recycling, and to establish programs for the collection of white goods, bulky wastes and recyclables.