Spring cleaning

Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Andy Kalm, left, and Richard Brockman, right, unload a trailer Saturday morning, during a city/county cleanup day at the Nevada-Vernon County Recycling Center.

* Residents deliver tons of trash to recycling center during city-county cleanup effort.

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada-Vernon County Recycling Center bustled with activity Saturday morning as dozens of area residents took advantage of the city-county cleanup day to get rid unwanted materials,

"We had cars lined up to Osage Boulevard when we opened and we had a car at the center when we closed at noon. We did a good day of recycling as well," Ron Clow, city planning director, said.

The turnout was better than it was for the last cleanup day held by the recycling center and with nine or 10 people, including four community service workers who volunteered to work at the recycling center, helping to unload cars and trucks no one had to wait very long.

"The last time we used three dumpsters, this time it took four," he said.

The opportunity for people to drop off old tires for free was again a popular feature of the cleanup day.

Clow said that he had anticipated people bringing in about 1,000 old tires and they brought about 1,300, including around 150 tires from one county residence.

Joyce Caldwell said that she and her husband, Earl, bought 20 acres in the country a couple years ago and the 150 tires that they brought in Saturday came with the property.

"The person who owned it before us kept everything," she said. "It's a relief to get rid of these. They draw snakes and mosquitoes," she said.

"I budgeted $1,200 for the tires, and it actually came to $1,700," he said, adding that although they advertised that they would only take car and truck tires, they ended up taking a few tractor tires as well, and disposing of those costs more.

"It's amazing what people bring in here," Andy Kalm, who was helping at the recycling center Saturday, said. In addition to the normal recyclables and the tires, people brought in old batteries, televisions, computer monitors, old carpet, furniture, and appliances, even a well-used aluminum shell for a pickup.

Clow, encouraged by the success of the event, Clow said, "I want to try to make this a semi-annual event. Next year I'm going to try and include the cost in the budget."

Clow said that the next time he would like to make sure the dumpsters are located so a truck can be driven up to them and unloaded, rather than having to use a front loader to dump the trash.

By the time the center holds a cleanup this fall Clow said the facility should have a new office built and the lot surfaced.

The center should also be able to accept glass, Clow said, noting that he hopes the center will be able to accept glass in the next couple of months.

"When we can we will let everyone know," he said. "As we pick up more recyclable materials and get more commercial business the center will be able to be open more hours," he said.

Clow said that some of that needed increase will come from educating people about the benefits of recycling.

The center has been doing some recycling of its own as well. Clow said that as a pilot project the center also offered free compost made from the leaves that the city picks up each year. He plans to offer this as a regular service to those people who use the recycling center.

Currently, the recycling center, which is located east of Osage Boulevard at the intersection of Locust and Colorado streets, is open every Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. and the first and third Saturdays of the month from 8 to 10 a.m. Clow said that it is important to educate people about the benefits of recycling.

"Eventually, this could be a full-time job for someone, but first we need to make it self-sustaining," he said.

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