The cars waited in line for their turn to be checked out.  Three or four cars, waiting to enter the garage the Rochester Highway Department had aside for today.  Men and women in hazmat suits waited until a car stopped and then unloaded its cargo: paint thinners, pesticides, used motor oil and more.  They moved to action, collecting, sorting and packing everything dangerous in short order.

The Rochester and Mattapoisett Health Departments once again paired up to hold Household Hazardous Waste Day on July 16.

“About 75 people have come through so far,” said Jeffrey Eldridge, Highway Surveyor for the Town of Rochester and one of the organizers for the event.

“We hold it once a year in June or July,” said Sidi Mateo, Vendor for Veolia Environmental Services, the contractor that handles the waste handling, transportation and disposal for the event.

“It’s a partnership between Mattapoisett and Rochester,” said Dale Barrows, a member of the Board of Health for both towns and organizer of the event with Eldridge and Mateo.  “Rochester supplies the labor and space.”

“We’ve been doing this together for about 10 years now,” Mateo said.

All morning cars drove in to the Rochester Highway Department, declared their hazardous cargo and had it removed by trained personnel. A flyer circulated prior to the event laid out the materials that would be accepted, the materials that would not be accepted and how to ensure they are safely stored.

Once the materials were accepted they were sorted according to whether they would burn well as alternative fuel or not.

“We bring the equipment and sort everything,” said Mateo. “The stuff with high BTU [British Thermal Units] value goes to New Jersey to turn cement kilns and the rest goes to Illinois to a licensed waste incinerator.”

As the morning wrapped up, another Hazardous Waste Day had ended in success with even the weather suited to the hot, outdoor work.

“We haven’t had a bad day or rain yet,” said Barrows.