Tons of household hazardous waste were hauled away Saturday, leaving Moore County a far safer place to live.

An estimated 900 vehicles showed up at Pinecrest High School for a joint community hazardous waste collection day. The sponsors had expected about 300.

"We were inundated," said Jeff Batten, Pinehurst village assistant manager. "It far exceeded our expectations. But it was a good problem to have. People got all of that stuff out of their homes, and it didn't end up in the landfill."

Hazardous waste materials are banned from landfills.

Batten said the turnout was so heavy that their major contractor, Clean Harbors Environmental Services, had to dispatch a second tractor-trailer truck from its headquarters in Reidsville to handle the overwhelming amount of materials brought to the collection site.

The need for more helping hands was so great that volunteers were plucked from among the drivers delivering their household materials to the site.

The event, which had been scheduled from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., was extended an additional hour to accommodate the overwhelming response. The sponsors, contractors and dozens of volunteers worked into the night loading materials onto the second truck from Clean Harbors.

Joan Neal, executive director of Keep Moore County Beautiful (KMCB), said local residents were already at the school as early as 9 a.m. By 10, there was a long line of cars waiting to drop off a wide variety of hazardous materials, ranging from paint and paint thinners to hydraulic transmission and brake fluids, along with paper for shredding.

"It was amazing," Neal said. "We were all so surprised. We certainly didn't expect such a large turnout."

For more on this story, see the print edition of The Pilot.