Thursday's Internet Edition, August 28, 2008.
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Editor - Organizers are expecting few takers Saturday during the ninth annual Stash the Trash countywide cleanup.
The Roane County Commission, Roane Solid Waste Authority and city of Spencer are sponsors for the event, which will take place from 5-9 a.m. at the Bowman Street parking lot in downtown Spencer.
“I don’t expect a lot (of participation),” Leonard Paxton, SWA coordinator, said. “With the price of metal so high, we don’t expect to get a lot of that.”
Paxton said the cleanup collects about 30 tons of unwanted items per year, about half of the total collected in earlier years. Stash the Trash began in 2000 with a five-day collection that was later scaled back to only one day. The time of the single-day collection was reduced by two hours last year.
The first Stash the Trash, which included Calhoun County, collected 372 tons of trash and recyclables.
This year, county residents may drop off their unwanted items free of charge and have them taken to a landfill.
Items that will not be accepted include roofing, shingles, household garbage, tires, paint, batteries, hazardous materials and propane tanks.
Paxton estimated the cost of the cleanup at $7,000, with the county commission providing $2,000 and the SWA the rest. City workers provide manpower for the cleanup.
While the days of long lines of pickups waiting to unload items may have passed, Paxton said the program remained worthwhile.
“There’s still some stuff out there,” he said, “most of it household items. We’ll continue to do this as long as we can afford to do it.”
Those who would like more information may call Paxton at 927-4349.
