GONZALES -- Volunteers and workers from various organizations around the Gulf Coast partnered to collect hazardous household materials at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center on Saturday.

The Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day is now in its fifth year. Each year, Ascension Parish invites residents to bring in their hazardous waste and materials for disposal. It's all part of an initiative to "Keep Ascension Beautiful."

"It's to keep the debris from out of our major canals, drainages, and our roadways," Ascension Parish Environmental Manager Aline Pruitt said.

Ascension residents came with truckloads of waste including gasoline, home and garden chemicals, old medications, televisions, appliances, and much more.

Some of the materials will be reused in different ways. Items like oil-based paint and gasoline will be reused for a process called fuel blending.

"Flammable liquids from a hazardous waste generator to a household waste event are blended together and sent to a cement kiln to make cement," Clean Earth's Kelby Neal said.

Other materials like paint will be recycled to help area non-profits.

"The DEQ staff, they're recycling the latex paint right here on site and giving it to Habitat for Humanity to sell to make money," Neal said.

The rest of the materials will be properly disposed of. Various organizations from across the parish pitched in to help with the event today which spanned multiple hours.

"We partner with the parish in trying to pull in volunteers and also just citizens from Ascension parish to help with this event. You're gonna see a lot of your neighbors driving through, some of your friends driving through, and it just makes for a great day of volunteering here in Ascension," Volunteer Ascension's Sherry Denig said.

Clean Earth, a hazardous disposal company, is one of the main groups involved with hazardous waste collection events, hosting clean-up efforts across the Gulf Coast for years.

For people who missed Saturday's events, there are two recycling centers in the parish where you can drop off items like aluminum, metal, and mattresses.

There will also be another collection event in September.