City's Clean Sweep program begins Oct. 1

Sep. 22—In order to assist St. Joseph residents in maintaining their property, the city is hosting another round of its Clean Sweep program.

Clean Sweep will go from Oct. 1-7, when residents can dump yard waste, trash and appliances at the landfill.

Rod McQuerrey, the superintendent of solid waste and recycling at the St. Joseph Landfill and Recycling Center, said residents must bring their personal property receipt and picture ID before entering the landfill with waste.

"Citizens get two days a year," McQuerrey said. "They can use those two days either, both in the spring, which is April first through the seventh, during normal business hours. Or, they can split 'em up, use one in the spring, one in the fall."

McQuerrey described varieties of waste the landfill will collect during the Clean Sweep.

"Any kind of general trash, they're allowed six tires off the rim and they can also bring appliances," McQuerrey said. "The only things they can't bring are the things we can't like anyway, like liquids, hazardous waste."

McQuerrey said the almost weeklong event will be pretty busy, so it's best to come prepared.

"They'll come, pull in on the in-bound scale, we'll check their ID, hand them a token," said McQuerrey. "There'll be people scattered around to point 'em where to put their appliances, where to put tires. Most of 'em will use our drop-off area down here, rather than going to the active fill."

Through almost 20 years of clean sweep collection, McQuerrey said he's seen it all when it comes to trash drop-off.

"At one time I had a picture of a little ... it wasn't an El Camino, but it was a smaller version, the car/pickup bed," McQuerrey said. "That had trash bags stacked probably 8-foot tall."

McQuerrey said the city will host a Household Hazardous Waste collection on a separate date.

Residents can come to the parking lot at the Remington Nature Center to drop off hazardous household chemicals on Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.