Photo by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Keith Bottum and Natasha Thomas separate hazardous materials Sunday at the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority Transfer Station. About 325 vehicles dropped off items.

Gene Hunt transfers liquids to containers Sunday. The hazardous waste disposals are a joint effort that includes Roanoke, Vinton and Botetourt and Roanoke counties.

A station wagon arrived with a back seat full of fluorescent light tubes. The vehicle had a dozen old paint cans in back.

And on the green pickup truck? A wine jug that held either used motor oil or a gallon of sour Merlot.

So came a slow procession of cars, about 325 in all, each one dropping off a load of household hazardous waste at the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority Transfer Station in Northeast Roanoke on Sunday afternoon.

It was a collection day for the sort of refuse considered too toxic for the trash can. Sunday's haul included car batteries and pesticides, antifreeze and acids. Some antique cleaning supplies showed up, too, looking like they had been in the closet for decades.

The smell near the sorting tables, not surprisingly, was somewhere between a chemical spill and a musty basement.

A crew of 16 workers from Clean Harbors Environmental Services emptied trunks for three hours. Each wore the standard uniform: safety glasses, work gloves and steel-toed boots.

"Who wants to open the mystery bag?" asked Mitzi Kesler, a chemist with Clean Harbors, upon receiving a stuffed plastic bag. There were no takers.

She peeled open the bag, an oily pinata of lighter fluid, solvents and cleaning potions. Each item found its way to a box or barrel of similar items.

"I'm used to mystery bags," Kesler said brightly. "If you're concerned about sticking your hand in there, this is probably not the job for you."

Landfills are not designed to handle these hazards because they can pollute the land and taint groundwater, explained Todd Sheaffer, an account manager with Clean Harbors. Sunday's waste is headed in other directions.

Latex paint, car batteries and used motor oil will go to Roanoke County to be reused or recycled, he said. Household cleaners and pesticides will be sent out of state for incineration, or to be used as supplemental fuel for incinerators.

Several workers noted that the drop-offs are popular with local residents. The three-time-a-year collection days require advance registration, which filled up days in advance of Sunday's date.

The home hazardous waste disposals are a joint effort among Roanoke, Vinton, Botetourt and Roanoke counties, and the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority.

The next free collection date is Nov. 2, when residents of those localities can bring old or used poisons, flammables and corrosives.

Tires, explosives, asbestos, commercial or medical waste and radioactive materials are not accepted. Nor is any material in a container larger than five gallons.

To preregister for November's collection, call 387-6225.