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Toxic Day is a popular event photo by Jim Craven Josiah Benesch of Prospect sorts through items available for re-use Friday at the Southern Oregon annual hazardous waste disposal day at the county fairgrounds in Central Point. Some dropping it off, others are taking it home CENTRAL POINT -- Josiah Benesch has found the best deal in town on paint thinner, bug spray and other stuff. You can't beat free. Benesch, of Prospect, is culling at the hazardous waste drop-off Friday at the Jackson County Expo. "It's excellent," he says. Southern Oregon's annual household toxic waste disposal event started Friday and continues today. Some 20 workers from Vancouver-based Onyx Environmental as well as local refuse companies are on hand to sort waste for incineration or other types of disposal. Benesch has found the re-use table, where he's practicing basic recycling and the theory that one man's trash is another's treasure. "Cool stuff," he says, coming back for some weed killer after schlepping one box of stuff out to his pickup. This is the annual opportunity for that toxic stuff that's been breeding in the garage: paint, fertilizers, thinners and strippers, bug stuff and lawn and weed stuff. The only rules are that the label be legible, and more than half the stuff be left. The landfill won't take many of these products the rest of the year. Hence this event, back for a ninth year. Last year people brought almost 40 tons of waste in more than 1,000 vehicles, and this year is bidding to beat that. The Ashland School District dropped off 30 gallons of duplicating fluid. The city of Phoenix dropped off lots of paint, and something called "aqueous film forming foam." Larry Soll of Williams brought stuff left by the previous owner on the farm he bought near Williams. There are pesticides, other stuff. "We don't want it around our family," he says. JoAnne Applegate of Central Point brought paint left in a rental house by a tenant. "They collected all this," she says, waving at the cans in the back of her pickup. "I don't know what for." People can get rid of as much as six 32-gallon trash bags of such stuff for $5. Officials estimate the cost of disposal at about $100. Workers in white coveralls scurry to keep up with the volume of stuff coming in: cans, bottles, boxes, all needing to be sorted under a big awning at the end of the line of cars and trucks. People don't have to get out of their vehicles here. The event was open Friday (but not today) to businesses producing less than 25 gallons of waste a month. Businesses had to pay a higher rate, depending on the type of waste being dropped off. The re-use table is just past the awning where stuff is sorted. From it, floor wax, cleaning fluids, epoxy coatings and other mysterious goopy products call out to the likes of Benesch. He's taken some good-natured ribbing from workers Gary Royse and Arnold Means, who wonder what his wife will say. "She'll just say," he says, "that's typical." Toxic Day particulars What : Household hazardous waste drop-off When : 8 a.m. to noon today Where : Jackson County Expo Park, Central Point Cost : Minimum charge of $5 covers the first cubic yard (about six 32-gallon trash cans) of waste Accepted waste : pesticides, insecticides, pool chemicals, fluorescent light ballasts, weed killers, lead paint, latex paint, oil-based paint, paint removers and wood preservatives. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA