Special hazardous materials collection days in the Roanoke area will soon be held on the third Saturday of each month.

The events have been held only three times a year, but will move to once a month starting in July.

Before then, however, residents of Roanoke and Roanoke County can sign up for the next collection day on May 3 to take leftover bleach, oil-based paint, kerosene, burned out fluorescent lights and other hazardous wastes to the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority Transfer Station at 1020 Hollins Road.

Residents can call 387-6225 to get a 30-minute window between noon and 3 p.m. for the May 3 collection.

There are a limited number of slots.

The regional facility will take materials such as varnish, paint thinner and household cleaners.

It will not take tires, explosives, medical waste, smoke detectors -- which have radioactive materials -- or commercial waste. Everything must fit in a five-gallon or smaller container.

Residents can drop off lead-acid automobile batteries, latex paint, used motor oil and used antifreeze to the transfer station at any time during normal operating hours, a practice that will continue when hazardous waste collection expands in July.

At that time, those who wish to dispose of hazardous materials will still have to call for an appointment and only 100 residents will be allowed to visit each month.

More details about that program will be announced before it begins, the authority said in a news release.

Also in the Roanoke Valley, the city of Salem runs its own semiannual hazardous waste collections.

-- Cody Lowe