Clean-Up Day nets 54 tons of trash

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Volunteers collected 54 tons of garbage during last month's Clean-Up Day in Northeast Yakima, according to city officials.

Close to 900 old tires and about 200 appliances were hauled off as part of the
Aug. 29 event, which organizers said was so successful that it actually took more than a week to collect all the garbage put out by residents.

"A week ago we were thinking 15 tons or so, but it just kept rolling in," marveled Greg Harpel, a summer intern from Portland State University's urban studies program.

More than half the garbage, 30 tons, was removed by Poor Boys Wrecking for recycling. City officials praised the partnership.

"They saved the city a load of time and money, and they were very quick to jump right in," said Archie Matthews, operations supervisor for the city's Office of Neighborhood and Development Services.

The balance of the garbage, 24 tons, was taken to the county landfill. Matthews said the city paid about $2,000 in dumping fees.

"The cost compared to the cleanup, it was insignificant," he said.

Neighborhood Services has conducted a number of smaller-scale clean-up patrols in other parts of the city's eastside, particularly in the area known to city staff as the Dead Presidents, nicknamed for the city streets Lincoln, McKinley and Garfield.

But those patrols by Neighborhood Services volunteers have focused mainly on right-of-ways such as alleys, Matthew said. The largest previous amount of trash hauled away was somewhere around
15 or 16 tons.

The Northeast Clean-Up received a lot of participation, in large part because of door-to-door notifications made two weeks prior to the event by Harpel and another Portland State intern, Cherize Ramirez, Matthews said.

He said the success of future, more large-scale Clean-Up Days will depend on the volunteer turnout, as well as better communication with residents.

"We can't do it alone," Matthews said. "It takes other departments, other partners. The more hands you have, the lighter the work."

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.