Greenie's AlbumTexarkana, Texas Community Clean-up Day a Huge Success
Posted on: Monday March 1, 2010The City of Texarkana, Texas held the first of its scheduled Community Clean-up Days on Saturday, February 27, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Beverly Community Center, 901 Lumpkin Street, and the former Tiger Gym at 16th Street and Pine Street. Roll-off dumpsters were provided to give residents an opportunity to dispose of bulk items. Three dumpsters, containing a total of over 100 cubic yards of bulk waste, were filled to capacity. Residents from throughout all areas of the city participated by bringing items such as furniture, appliances, exercise equipment, mattresses, and other household items which were no longer being used. While some were simply ‘cleaning out the garage’, for others, the clean-up day provided them an opportunity to remedy code violations for which they had been cited.
“We were very pleased with the response from our citizens to the Community Clean-up Day,” commented Daphnea Ryan, Environmental Services Unit Manager. “The event went extremely well and residents expressed gratitude to our staff for providing this service. We learned a few things that will assist us in having even more successful events as we hold our monthly Clean-up Days at various locations throughout the city.”
Due to the overwhelming response by residents, the amount of bulk items that can be disposed of will be limited to the equivalent of one pick-up truck and trailer per household per month. The purpose of the Community Clean-up Days is for residents to have a free means of disposing of bulk waste, not to provide contractors and landlords a free place to discard construction site and rental property waste.
The City also hopes to provide electronics recycling at future events. Waste Management partners with Unicorp to provide this service.
Residents were asked to show a valid Texarkana, Texas driver’s license and a current copy of a water bill. “We wanted the process to be as simple as possible for our citizens,” explained Vicki Melde, the City’s Marketing and Communications Manager. “There was never a wait time of more than a couple of minutes to drop off items. At the end of the day, it was very encouraging to look at those full dumpsters – which compare in size to rail cars – and know that we’d removed that much waste from our neighborhoods.”
Residents are reminded that refrigerators must have had the Freon removed and the certification tag in place. Citizens can also dispose of appliances for recycling at Tri-State Iron & Metal Company, 1725 E. 9th Street. Tri-State also requires that the Freon has been removed from refrigerators. Tires and batteries will be accepted, but no hazardous materials or paint will be accepted at the Clean-up Day sites. To dispose of paint, citizens need to add a drying agent such as “Kitty Litter”. Once the paint is dried, the can may be placed in the citizen’s waste container for disposal. Fluorescent bulbs will not be accepted at the Clean-up Day sites, but can be taken to the local Home Depot store for recycling free of charge.
The 2010 Community Clean-up Day schedule is attached. For questions and additional information, please contact the City’s Environmental Services Unit (903) 798-3944.