From trash to treasure : Nonprofit organization will benefit from county cleanup
Posted on Tuesday, September 2, 2008
BENTONVILLE - Benton County is getting ready for its semiannual cleanup day, scheduled for Oct. 4 at the Benton County Road Department. For the first time in its sevenyear history, the program is partnering with Life Styles, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping adults with developmental disabilities in Benton and Washington counties.
"When we heard about the Benton County cleanup and all of the furniture that was brought in to them in May, we thought, ' Wow, we have got a lot of people who could use that furniture, '"said Susan Foley, development director for Life Styles. "We have never partnered with anyone like this before, and we are just very excited because all of the sudden, what was someone's trash will be our treasure."
Life Styles will use the furniture gathered during the cleanup day in two ways. The chairs will be offered to local artists to decorate and turn into art, which will be auctioned at Life Styles' annual fundraiser," A Chair Affair. "All other furniture that can be cleaned up and fixed will be donated to the 130 developmentally challenged adults in Benton and Washington counties whom Life Styles helps to become productive and independent citizens.
"We are grateful for anything we get, and it is exciting to think that we could be the recipients of five chairs or 100 chairs," Foley said.
The Benton County cleanup day is an opportunity for residents to do a little cleaning and get rid of the things around their homes that cannot be thrown in with the trash each week, including refrigerators, couches, paint, used motor oil - anything and everything except for old tires and construction waste.
"The purpose (of the cleanup day ) is to allow citizens to bring unwanted junk in for one day without having to pay to have it hauled off," said Jim Ecker, director of Benton County Environmental Services.
"If you have a throw rug, furniture or mattresses, anything in your house you have been wanting to get rid of, we will take it," Ecker said, noting that even old engine blocks and swing sets will be taken during the cleanup day.
Last spring's cleanup day brought in two semitrailer loads of household waste and two semitrailer loads of electronic waste.
For the fall cleanup day, Wal-Mart will again partner with the county to provide four semitrailers for hauling everything away. Two of the trailers will be used for furniture for Life Styles, and the other two will be used for everything else that comes through the gate. Without Wal-Mart's support, the program would not exist, Ecker said.
Everything that is brought into the county's cleanup day that can be recycled is recycled. The county takes the scrap metal to a recycling facility. Money received from that recycling is used to offset the program's $ 30, 000 cost.
The county received $ 6, 000 from recycling scrap metal in the spring.
Ecker and his staff are trained to remove Freon and hazardous chemicals from old refrigerators to make sure they do not harm the environment.
Old computers and electronic devices that have microchips containing mercury will be accepted during the cleanup. The electronics are then sent to Texarkana, Texas, where they are torn down and the parts recycled.
The only thing that the cleanup project has taken in the past that was not recycled was furniture, and thanks to Life Styles, the furniture that can be refurbished will now be reused and recycled for those in need.
It is for this reason that Ecker says he might finally get rid of an old hide-a-bed he has in his own home.
"We have an old hide-a-bed that as far as I am concerned, being the man that I am, we can use it for another 20 years, but my wife hates it and has been wanting to get rid of it for a while. So I think we may take it down to the cleanup," Ecker said. "We are excited about (partnering with Life Styles ) because it gives people a chance to get rid of the furniture that they had been kind of wanting to, but were not really sure, for a good cause.
"This is really an excellent program. You would be amazed. We say we do not open until 8 a. m., but a lot of times at 6 a. m., the line is already starting to block the highway, so we will end up opening at 7: 15 a. m."
The cleanup day is a service that a lot of residents of Benton County take advantage of. In spring 2001, the county's first cleanup day, 320 loads of unwanted household items came in. The cleanup for spring 2008 saw 1, 740 loads come into the gates, making the county-sponsored cleanup days some of the most popular events in Benton County, Ecker said.
"The phones will start ringing in the next week with people asking when the cleanup is, so people get excited about this pretty early," Ecker said. "This is really a good program, and we are tickled to do it."
Volunteers are needed for the cleanup day. No special skills are required to help with the day's events, and in exchange for help, breakfast and lunch will be offered, not to mention the opportunity to pick up a few pieces of furniture or other items that are being thrown out.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the cleanup day may call the Benton County Environmental Services Department at 271-1083 for more information.
This year's fall cleanup day will be from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Benton County Road Department, on Arkansas Highway 102 between the county Health Department and the county jail.
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