One of the events the City of Wyoming hosts is its annual Community Clean-Up Day. The city will not be accepting hazardous waste at this year’s community clean up set for Saturday, Aug. 7. (WKTV)
After a year and half of lockdown, we probably all need to do a little purging so the City of Wyoming has brought back its popular Community Clean Up Day which is set for Saturday, Aug. 7, at Grand Rapids First. 2100 44th St. SW. The event will be from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Started five years ago by employees, the event has become one of the most popular in the city. Before the annual clean up, the city would place dumpsters in certain neighborhoods where residents would be able to discard unwanted items. In 2016, city staff decided to host the community clean-up day which had more than 300 cars come through the site and 33 20-yard roll-offs of trash. The event has continued to grow every year since.
“We hope to have a great turnout for this event as we have had in the past,” said Mayor Jack Poll.
Residents should enter Grand Rapids First on the right lane of eastbound 44th Street. (WKTV)
Of course with the COVID pandemic, the event was cancelled for 2020. City officials made the commitment to have the event this year. City Manager Curtis Holt, at the Aug. 2 City Council meeting, noted that this year the city will not be collecting hazardous waste. For those looking to dispose of hazardous waste such as rechargeable batteries, needles, or garage and automotive products such as coolant, visit the Kent County site reimagetrash.org for drop off locations.
Other items not accepted at the Wyoming Community Clean-Up day are kitchen garbage, liquid latex paint, yard waste, TVs, vehicles batteries, sealed drums, liquid, biological, radioactive waste, propane tanks, refrigerants, and explosives.
Liquid latex paint can be dried and placed in residential waste disposal. For details on doing this, search “drying paint for disposal.”
For yard waste, the city does have a yard waste drop-off site at 2600 Burlingame Ave. SW. Wyoming residents, with proof of residency, may bring sorted yard waste from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday – Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Ties and mattresses or box springs may be brought to Community Clean-Up event, however there is a fee for those items. Whole tires are $10 each and mattresses or box springs are $15 each.
Poll said residents also may bring gently used items as the Salvation Army will be on hand to collect as well.
Residents must bring proof of residency such as a photo identification, utility or credit card statement within the last 90 days, bank statement from the last 90 days, mortgage, lease, or rental agreement, insurance policy, a license, or Michigan vehicle registration.
Participants should enter the site using the right lane of eastbound 44th Street. Participants also must be in line by 1:30 p.m. in order to drop off items.
“Hmm, how to purge when you can’t donate, garage sale, and somethings are weird to post on Facebook Marketplace,” a friend posted on her Facebook page.
During the few months of quarantine, I have seen a lot of people, including my own family, cleaning out whether it be the garage, the entire house, or cleaning up the lawn. And now that we may come to the end of the trail — maybe — the question is what to do with all this stuff?
“We’ve seen a lot more stuff coming from the residential area,” said Russ Boersma, general manager for Arrowaste, of collection during the lockdown. Arrowaste is a garbage and trash removal company located in Jenison. “On the flip side of that is that we have seen a lot less from the commercial areas.”
He added that it depends on the commercial route as some of those routes do include apartments.
And most waste haulers like Arrowaste have tried to be accommodating about the extra refuse. Boersma has encouraged customers to leave the lid open with a couple of bags on top.
Arrowaste trucks, like most in the trash haul business, are automated with the driver not having to leave the vehicle to remove trash. An arm comes out of the truck and lifts the waste container upside down so the contents fall into the truck. Boersma said it is up to each hauler’s discretion if they feel comfortable about picking up items that are placed next to the trash container.
“I tell people that if they have a couple of extra bags, they can use leave the lid open and stack the bags on top,” Boersma said, adding that Arrowaste did open its yard waste program in April, which runs through November.
Sticks, yes; Stones, no
According to state law, yard waste such as grass clippings, leaves, and trimmings, must not be mixed in with garbage and many communities, such as the City of Kentwood, do not allow the burning of yard waste. To help residents, both the cities of Kentwood and Wyoming offer yard waste drop off options free to cities’ respective residents.
At the end of April, the City of Wyoming opened its Yard Waste Drop-Off site, located at 2660 Burlingame Ave. SW. There are social distancing guidelines in place with addresses ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, ,7) may drop off on Monday and Wednesday and those with addresses ending in even numbers (0, 2, 4, 6, 8), may drop off on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday and Saturday are open to all residents. The hours for the site are 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. One thing to remember, if it does not come from the yard naturally, it is not accepted at the Wyoming Yard Waste Drop-Off.
Also remember to bring your ID as the site is monitored.
The brush drop-off site will accept brush, sticks, tree limbs and logs. Materials not accepted are plastic bags, trash, dirt, concrete, asphalt, tires, rocks, stones, construction materials, and glass or metal. The leaf drop-off site will accept loose leaves and grass clippings.
But what to do about that old sofa?
Jill Wallace, Goodwill ow West Michigan’s chief marketing and communications officer, can also attest to the fact that people have been spring cleaning. The first few weeks of the statewide shutdown and most of the Goodwill locations had items stacked in its donation area, all of which the organization had to have hauled away.
“During that time period we were closed and were not accepting items,” Wallace said. “It was so sad because we were really going to need those once we did reopen.”
For the past several weeks, Goodwill of West Michigan has been working to reopen stores. Currently the Kentwood and Wyoming locations remain closed but the organization has open drop off in several areas such as Allendale, Cedar Springs, and Coopersville, according to the organization’s website.
Those planning to donate are ask to do so during business hours, which are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m .Tuesday — Saturday. Because there is a touch-less system in place and all items will be stored for 72 hours, Goodwill is asking that donors bag and box their times and then place the donations inside the provided carts. Many of the stores are not accepting large furniture items right now. For specific details on what is being accepted, call the the individual stores.
Many Wyoming and Kentwood residents have the opportunity during the spring to rid themselves of unwanted trash and junk through community clean-up days. Due to the governor’s State Home, Stay Safe executive order, both cities were forced to delay the popular community events.
The City of Kentwood moved its annual Community Clean-Up Day to June 6. It will run from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Kentwood Public Works facility, 5068 Breton Ave. SE. Residents must have picture identification to bring items to the event and according to city officials, there will be social distancing guidelines to follow.
The City of Wyoming moved its Community Clean-Up Day to the fall, Oct. 6. The popular annual event will be at Grand Rapids First, 2100 44th Street and run from 8 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Residents must provide proof of residency which can be a photo ID or a utility or credit card statement.
If you are really desperate to get rid of items, there is always the South Kent Landfill located at 10300 S. Kent Dr. SW. The landfill is open 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
The Kent County Recycling Center reopened at the beginning of May. This includes curbside recycling services that come to Kent County Recycling Center to be sorted and the residential Recycling Drop-Off Stations. The North Kent Recycling & Waste Center opens 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. for solid waste disposal and residential drop-off recycling services.
Also the county’s SafeChem program has resumed regular hours as of May 18 but the SafeSharps and SafeMeds programs are still closed.
Kentwood Public Works Department oversees the city’s recycling center.
As spring ushers in warmer weather, it’s a great time to think about cleaning and decluttering your home. The City of Kentwood will help get rid of some of that unwanted junk with its annual Community Cleanup Day this Saturday, May 6, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Kentwood residents are encouraged to bring hazardous household materials for disposals, gently used items for donation and electronic devices to be recycled. The drop-off location is the Kentwood Recycling Center at 5068 Breton Rd SE., Kentwood.
“Kentwood Cleanup Day is a great service and opportunity for our residents to join their neighbors in keeping our community in great condition,” said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley. “It also gives residents the chance to donate to the Salvation Army and responsibly dispose of unwanted items like old computers or hazardous household waste.”
The City has partnered with the Salvation Army to collect gently used items for donations (for a list of accepted items, visit the Salvation Army website). Kent County will be collecting household hazardous waste and recycling. (For what is accepted in hazardous waste and recycling, visit the Recycle Kent website.) Comprenew will be onsite to collect electronic devices for recycling. Examples of accepted electronics include mobile phones, computers and fax machines. The large CRT monitors will not be accepted but can be taken directly to any Comprenew location. In Grand Rapids, there is one at 1454 28th St. SE and one at 629 Ionia Ave. SW.
Yard waste, mattresses, construction materials and tires will not be accepted. Appliances must have all Freon removed. If you are looking to get rid of a working refrigerator or an air conditioner, you might want to consider contacting DTE Energy or Consumer Powers as both offer incentive programs for removal of such items.
Community Cleanup Day is free and open to residents of Kentwood. Residents will be asked to show their photo ID for proof of residency and are asked to enter the drive off Breton Road. Those who own rental or other properties in Kentwood need only show proof of property ownership with a water bill or tax statement.
If you have any further questions, or are seeking more information, please call the City switchboard during business hours at 554-0817.
