The Clark County Solid Waste District hopes that the start of a new program and the revival of a another one will make a major impact on the community’s appearance.
On Tuesday, March 9, the District will begin offering a monthly Furniture Drop Program to give residents a way to dispose of unwanted chairs, couches, mattresses, and more. On March 20, the District, working with Keep Clark County Beautiful, will bring back the Great American Cleanup, which had to be paused during the pandemic, but in previous years had always attracted hundreds of volunteers to pick up litter in public places.
“We do believe that both programs will help reduce litter and illegally dumped items in the county,” CCSWD Director Chuck Bauer says. “The GAC is a wonderful program that encourages volunteerism in our community and empowers people to improve their public spaces by picking up litter. This program not only helps to reduce litter by physically removing trash, it also helps to educate thousands of people in our community to not litter.”
The Furniture Drop will be offered every second Tuesday of the month, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the District’s warehouse facility, 1620 W. Main St. Residents can drive though the facility and have their items unloaded. Fees depend on the size of each item. Anything 4 feet by 4 feet or smaller will cost $5; anything larger will be $10. Examples of small items would be desk chairs or end tables. Large ones would include couches, easy chairs, or mattresses. Bauer says the fees will cover the costs to dispose of the items at a landfill.
The program is limited to residents; businesses and furniture haulers cannot participate. Bauer says many residents call the District asking how to dispose of bulky items because not all trash haulers will pick up those items. Furniture items often are illegally dumped.
“The goal of this program is to help provide affordable local access to residents of Clark County to dispose of bulky furniture items,” Bauer says.
The Great American Cleanup has attracted hundreds of volunteers every year, but was canceled in 2020 because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus. Instead, the District set up boxes stocked with trash bags, gloves, litter grabbers, and safety vests for individuals or small groups to do their own cleanups. This year, the District will return to providing supplies to individuals or groups who sign up to pick up litter from March 20 to June 20.
Bauer says they expect to have “the best year ever” and hope to have more than 2,000 people sign up.
“We do believe that people will feel safe gathering in groups and picking up litter outside,” Bauer says. “We do have COVID-19 precautions that each group will receive with cleanup supplies.”
The safety precautions include staying six feet away from anyone not part of your household, using a litter grabber or gloves to pick up trash, securing litter in a container, and more.
This year’s cleanup will have a theme of “wrestling litter,” with a competition for the winner to be crowned the Keep Clark County Beautiful “Litter Cleanup Champion” and get their name inscribed on a belt styled like a championship wrestling belt. To enter the competition, do a cleanup and then submit information about your work through an online survey.
Anyone wanting more information on these programs can call (937) 521-2020, or check the Keep Clark County Beautiful Facebook page.
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