CITY OFFERING RESIDENTS ANOTHER CHANCE TO DUMP WASTE

The city of Cape Girardeau is prepared for a large turnout at its latest hazardous household waste collection Saturday at Area Park.

Collection hours will be from 8 a.m. until noon at the 4-H Shelter and will take place regardless of the weather.

A similar collection Oct. 17 drew far more residents than anticipated and resulted in traffic jams, long waits and hundreds of unhappy people who were turned away.

"We did not expect that kind of demand the last time," said Pam Sander, the city's solid waste coordinator. "We were really overwhelmed.

Sander said the city, which had not sponsored such a collection in several years, learned from the experience and made arrangements to allow the collection to go more smoothly.

Traffic will be rerouted to avoid backups and plenty of people will be on hand to direct people to where they need to go, Sander said.

Also, more than double the staff -- both from the city and from Safety-Kleen Corp., with whom the city has contracted for disposal of the waste -- will be on hand to more quickly process collections. Several student volunteers from Southeast Missouri State University will help out as well.

"We will move people through just as quickly as possible," Sander said. "We are better prepared for a lot of people this time."

Anyone who shows up by noon will be served. Last time, the line for disposal was cut at 10:30 a.m. because of contractual obligations. More than 150 cars had to be turned away.

Waste that will be accepted for disposal includes fuels, oils, solvents, glues, cleaning products and paint.

The city asks that residents not bring latex paint, which can be disposed in the regular trash, as long at it is solidified. That is easily done by mixing the paint with a non-flammable absorbent, such as clay-based cat litter.

Despite the problems at the previous collection, Sander said the turnout was encouraging and hopes for a similar response Saturday.

"It is great there is so much demand," she said. "That means our citizens are environmentally aware and want to do the right thing."

Don Lind, the branch manager for Safety-Kleen, said most of the collected waste will be recycled. The remainder will be incinerated.

"We try to reuse as much as we can," Lind said.

Hazardous waste collection

The city will collect household hazardous waste Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon. For a detailed list of items that will be accepted, call the Public Works Department at 334-9151.

Unacceptable items include:

-- Ammunition

-- Batteries

-- Biological waste

-- Explosives

-- Fertilizer

-- Fire extinguishers

-- Gas cylinders

-- Mercury thermometers

-- Paint in glass containers

-- Pharmaceuticals

-- Radioactive waste

-- Smoke detectors

-- Syringes

-- Tires

-- Transformers/ballasts