SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. — Saturday marked “Household Hazardous Waste Amnesty Day” in Santa Rosa County.

Residents were encouraged to bring items that are flammable, corrosive, poisonous or toxic.

“I’m cleaning out my garage and I had some old chemicals and some used motor oil that I didn’t know what to do with,” resident Connie Sutton said.

There’s no landfill in the south end of Santa Rosa County. The nearest one is about 40 minutes away in Milton.

The problem is that not all waste goes in the garbage.

“Most of us don’t know the proper way to dispose of a lot of things and this keeps everyone safe, so we’re not putting wrong things in the trash,” one resident said.

Trucks gathered at the Gulf Breeze Community Center for the event.

County workers collected items like pesticides, gasoline, needles and electronics.

“We don’t want those types of things to end up in the landfill,” event organizer Kelly Hobbs said.

Hobbs says hazardous materials in the landfill could contaminate drinking water.

Along with hazardous waste, the county also accepted tires — 10 per county resident.

Staff counted 190 tires, which filled up an entire trailer.

“Some of these tires are fairly new,” said Jeff Phillippi, the head mechanic at the Santa Rosa County Landfill. “They’re sitting in people’s garage for 10 years and they decide to throw them away.”

Phillippi says these collection days help not only the residents, but also the environment.

“It stops the mosquito population. It really does, and some people don’t realize that,” he said.

Phillippi says an Alabama based company will remove the tires from the landfill.

Organizers say the county collects hazardous materials Monday through Saturday at the central landfill in Milton.

Officials host the amnesty events twice each year in the south end of the county. The next is expected to happen in March.