HANGING ROCK — As Douglas Shaffer sees it, the annual Household Hazardous Waste Event helped him out in two ways.

First on Saturday, he got rid of bottles of motor oil, cans of half-used paint and tires. Secondly, he got to make sure his South Point farm wasn’t turned into a dumping ground for the same.

Looking back at the mile-long line of cars and trucks coming into the entrance of Dow Chemical at Hanging Rock, Shaffer said, “This would all be dumped on my place, if this weren’t here.”

This is the 11th year for the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District to host the event where residents of the two counties can get rid of electronics, tires and chemicals just by packing them up in their car and driving into the Dow parking lot.

Its popularity apparently has not diminished over the years as a steady stream of vehicles snaked into Dow. By 8:15 a.m. there were already 50 vehicles waiting for the gates to open at 9 a.m.

Anna Killian of Portsmouth was one of the first to drive in with a truck loaded up with old paint cans and antifreeze.

“You don’t know what to do with the products,” she said.

Mary Madden of Ironton missed the event last year, but showed up early this time with a load of tires.

“It helps me get my yard cleaned up,” she said. “A lot of things you can’t put out in the trash.”

Up on the parking lot were trailers for electronic waste and tires with a separate tent set up by Veolia Environmental Services where technicians in protective uniforms were sorting through the chemical waste.

“You have to know how to separate the chemicals,” Dan Palmer, coordinator of the district, said. “You don’t want to put together anything combustible.”

Despite the fact that many other solid waste districts are discontinuing the hazardous waste collection event, Palmer said he has no intention of following suit.

“We are going to keep it,” he said. “When you look at these tires, all this stuff, what avenue do people have to dispose of it? This is the taxpayers’ dollars at work. Where else can you pay a $12 fee annually (what residents are charged to have the district) and get this?”