Clean-Up Week a boon for pickers, cleaners

Spring cleaning is in full swing during Clean-Up Week in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, but not all the tossed items are going to the landfill.

Facilitated by the two local city governments, residents can throw out unwanted appliances, furniture and other materials for free until Friday by leaving the additional trash near where they would normally put their garbage for collection by 7 a.m. of their normal trash day.

Most use the week as an opportunity to discard unwanted items, but as the saying goes, one person's trash can be another person's treasure. Alice Ellingson, Glenfield, N.D., made the drive to Grand Forks to turn some of the unwanted furniture into something new.

"We found dressers, tables, lamps, everything," she said. "We sand them down and refurbish them."

Ellingson started "picking" -- purchasing or acquiring secondhand goods to sell for profit -- as a hobby with her daughter last year. She said it was their first time in Grand Forks to pick, and they suffered for it.

"I didn't get going early enough," Ellingson said. "I met a woman from Langdon (N.D.) with a trailer and pickup full of things, and it looked wonderful. It was a haul I would die for.

"Next year it will be even better for me."

Since the discarded items are on public rights of way such as berms and alleys, the public is allowed to take those items.

"The city neither encourages nor condones scavenging items placed in alleys or on berms for Clean-Up Week, but neither can the city prevent it," said Kevin Dean, Grand Forks public information officer. "We simply continue to ask anyone who should take part in scavenging to be respectful of personal property.

"If someone wants to grab that old bike or washing machine you intend to throw out, there's nothing stopping them from doing so."

Less to landfill

Early figures in Grand Forks show lower municipal collection totals than last year. According to LeahRae Amundson, Grand Forks Public Works, the city collected 144 tons of material on Monday -- the first day of Clean-Up Week -- compared to 164 tons last year.

The drop isn't necessarily a bad thing, she said.

"As the local thrift and consignment stores have grown in number, popularity, and use, as well as with the increasing emphasis on reducing waste and the merits of reuse and recycling, we note that the tonnage collected during Clean-Up Week is less and less," Amundson said.

East Grand Forks Public Works Director Jason Stordahl said it's too early to tell how this spring's collection compares to previous years.

"We generally have more participation in the spring than in the fall," he said. "Right now, we don't know how much we have collected, but you can drive around town and see that many people are participating."

Scrap sales up

Area scrap metal buyers are seeing an upswing in metal coming in, too. Customers at Residual Materials Inc. in Grand Forks have been on the rise since early May, but Monday was the busiest day the company had seen this year.

"We've had around 100 customers each day since May 5, with 144 on Monday," said Linda Hull, chief financial officer of Residual Materials. "On Monday, we processed 160,000 pounds of steel and 10,000 pounds of other nonferrous metals."

The increase in metal recycling has helped the city and businesses, Amundson said.

"It's keeping it all out of the landfills, and putting money back into the economy," Hull said.

Call Jeffries at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1105; or send email to rjeffries@gfherald.com .