Clean sweep picks up more than 1M pounds of trash
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
People laughed when Phil Dillon estimated Emporia Clean Sweep would bring in a half-million to a million pounds of trash from the corners of Emporia. They thought Emporia wouldn’t generate that much trash in four weeks of cleaning up, he said.
Dillon got the last laugh on Monday, when the tonnage from four weeks of collecting was tallied at 573 tons — 1,146,350 pounds, to be specific.
Dillon, who helped organize the city-wide project, was one of 367 volunteers who donated a total of 1,929 hours, unloading trucks and passenger cars, and picking up appliances and other large items from homes of elderly or disabled people who were not able to load and haul them to the dumping sites.
The fourth weekend of the project had Dumpsters and roll-off carts located at the north side of Emporia State University and at Whittier Park.
The project began Sept. 19 and continued on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 10. Collections ranged from 97 tons the first two days to a high of 167 tons during the third set of collection days. Week Two brought in 144 tons and the final week saw 167 tons, just one ton short of the previous high.
Tonnage totals according to categories were:
Brush and trees, 26.48 tons; construction and demolition, 204.8 tons; trash, 169.22 tons; iron, 46.29 tons; appliances, 1.785 tons; tires, 93.87 tons; recyclables, 1.83 tons; electronic waste, 14.71 tons; household hazardous waste, 14.19 tons.
Emporia Clean Sweep was a cooperative effort originating with the Emporia Building Futures campaign, the Human Relations Commission, city staff members, area service organizations, and volunteers from throughout the community.
A $15,000 contribution from the Clint Bowyer 79 Fund gave the project a substantial boost toward its estimated $40,000 in expense.
The core committee that planned, organized, and executed Emporia Clean Sweep met Tuesday morning to assess the four-week project and talk about the possibility of holding another city-wide cleanup in a couple of years, organizer Patty Gilligan said.
“We still want to work on some of the housing,” Gilligan said. “It all goes hand-in-hand with this.”
The core committee was made up of: Fred Neuer, representing the Building Futures campaign; Jeannine McKenna, Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce; Phil Dillon and Pru Schmidt, Human Relations Commission; June Hubert, Lions Club; Matt Zimmerman, Patty Gilligan, and Keith Senn, City of Emporia; Robert Catlett, Emporia State University; Stan and Antonia Felix, Eastside Neighborhood Group; and Stephanie Sandoval, ESU intern.
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Posted by petziez95 (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 1:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
June Hubert goes to my church!
Posted by create (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 2:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you to all who gave so graciously of your time. This was a much needed activity.
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