Household hazardous materials collected in Spfld.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Men and women wearing protective clothing Saturday helped get rid of hazardous materials from hundreds of Springfield homes.

Residents came to the collection depot with pesticides, wax polish and drain cleaners to name just a few of the materials they gladly gave to the experts who knew just how to safely dispose of all that stuff.

“I wanted to get rid of some stuff I had in the garage. I had a lot of deck material, just wanted to get rid of it. It's been there for years,” said Kenneth Allen of Springfield.

“I had a bunch of old paint cans, came to get rid of them, I wanted to do it in the right way and conveniently and it was both,” said Ernie Gagnon of Springfield

The people who know how to handle the potential dangers, quickly neutralized the hazards from the car batteries, the solvents and the fertilizer. And yet there's one popular product whose potential harm has been over-stated, latex paint.

“It’s something that you dry it out, once it's dried out you dispose of it, that goes into a burner and it's gone,” said landfill foreman Ed Alvarado.

Hundreds of homes emptied of hazardous material for another year.

The men and women in white are ready for next year, when the cars will come to drop off the dangerous clutter that will have accumulated during the coming months.