Some energetic Iberia Parish citizens were taking advantage of a gloomy, cold Saturday morning to clear out some space at home by taking part in the Iberia Parish Household Waste Day in the parking lot behind the Iberia Parish Courthouse.

At 8:30 a.m., when the various stations began accepting drop-offs, several vehicles were waiting in line, their drivers wanting to get rid of everything from old paint and batteries to lightning-struck electronics and obsolete VHS camera equipment.

“Just put the things with batteries here,” electronic recycler Paul Smith told one of the volunteers. “Anything with wires, put in this bag.

“If it looks like a computer, set it down over here,” he said, pointing at the tailgate of a covered trailer he had brought to the site.

Iberia Parish Executive Assistant Cindy Provost was coordinating the movement of vehicles to the various stations where volunteers waited at canopies to offload and sort whatever the vehicles were carrying — within limits. For some, the restrictions on what could or could not be dropped off were puzzling.

“If it’s a hazardous waste drop-off, why won’t they take oil-based paint?” asked Richard Schales, who showed up with the back of his Jeep full of old paint cans. “They only took like three cans of paint from me because they said they can’t accept oil-based paint.”

For most of the people passing through, however, the event was a way to get rid of things that were already overdue to be tossed out.

“We had a power surge and the LED screen on it went out,” one driver explained as a volunteer unloaded a Pioneer audio-video receiver and put it on the dead electronics pile. “It’s the fourth one I have had go out.”

At the far end of the aisle, A crane truck hovered over a large dumpster where tires were dropped off. When a big enough pile had formed, scooped up in the crane’s maw and dropped into the dumpster.

Overall, the event was a success despite the dismal weather. The administration had discussed doing the event twice a year, a plan which was shelved in 2020 but which the council recently began discussing again at its meeting last month.