By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

“Hmm, how to purge when you can’t donate, garage sale, and somethings are weird to post on Facebook Marketplace,” a friend posted on her Facebook page.

During the few months of quarantine, I have seen a lot of people, including my own family, cleaning out whether it be the garage, the entire house, or cleaning up the lawn. And now that we may come to the end of the trail — maybe — the question is what to do with all this stuff?

“We’ve seen a lot more stuff coming from the residential area,” said Russ Boersma, general manager for Arrowaste, of collection during the lockdown. Arrowaste is a garbage and trash removal company located in Jenison. “On the flip side of that is that we have seen a lot less from the commercial areas.”

He added that it depends on the commercial route as some of those routes do include apartments.

And most waste haulers like Arrowaste have tried to be accommodating about the extra refuse. Boersma has encouraged customers to leave the lid open with a couple of bags on top.

Arrowaste trucks, like most in the trash haul business, are automated with the driver not having to leave the vehicle to remove trash. An arm comes out of the truck and lifts the waste container upside down so the contents fall into the truck. Boersma said it is up to each hauler’s discretion if they feel comfortable about picking up items that are placed next to the trash container.

“I tell people that if they have a couple of extra bags, they can use leave the lid open and stack the bags on top,” Boersma said, adding that Arrowaste did open its yard waste program in April, which runs through November.

Sticks, yes; Stones, no

According to state law, yard waste such as grass clippings, leaves, and trimmings, must not be mixed in with garbage and many communities, such as the City of Kentwood, do not allow the burning of yard waste. To help residents, both the cities of Kentwood and Wyoming offer yard waste drop off options free to cities’ respective residents.

At the end of April, the City of Wyoming opened its Yard Waste Drop-Off site, located at 2660 Burlingame Ave. SW. There are social distancing guidelines in place with addresses ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, ,7) may drop off on Monday and Wednesday and those with addresses ending in even numbers (0, 2, 4, 6, 8), may drop off on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday and Saturday are open to all residents. The hours for the site are 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. One thing to remember, if it does not come from the yard naturally, it is not accepted at the Wyoming Yard Waste Drop-Off.

Also remember to bring your ID as the site is monitored.

The City of Kentwood will be opening its brush and leaf drop-offs sites June 6. The sites are located at the Kentwood Department of Public Works, 5068 Breont Ave. SE. The sites will be open for about a month, closing on July 11.

The brush drop-off site will accept brush, sticks, tree limbs and logs. Materials not accepted are plastic bags, trash, dirt, concrete, asphalt, tires, rocks, stones, construction materials, and glass or metal. The leaf drop-off site will accept loose leaves and grass clippings. 

But what to do about that old sofa?

Jill Wallace, Goodwill ow West Michigan’s chief marketing and communications officer, can also attest to the fact that people have been spring cleaning. The first few weeks of the statewide shutdown and most of the Goodwill locations had items stacked in its donation area, all of which the organization had to have hauled away.

“During that time period we were closed and were not accepting items,” Wallace said. “It was so sad because we were really going to need those once we did reopen.”

For the past several weeks, Goodwill of West Michigan has been working to reopen stores. Currently the Kentwood and Wyoming locations remain closed but the organization has open drop off in several areas such as Allendale, Cedar Springs, and Coopersville, according to the organization’s website.

Those planning to donate are ask to do so during business hours, which are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m .Tuesday — Saturday. Because there is a touch-less system in place and all items will be stored for 72 hours, Goodwill is asking that donors bag and box their times and then place the donations inside the provided carts. Many of the stores are not accepting large furniture items right now. For specific details on what is being accepted, call the the individual stores.

Many Wyoming and Kentwood residents have the opportunity during the spring to rid themselves of unwanted trash and junk through community clean-up days. Due to the governor’s State Home, Stay Safe executive order, both cities were forced to delay the popular community events.

The City of Kentwood moved its annual Community Clean-Up Day to June 6. It will run from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Kentwood Public Works facility, 5068 Breton Ave. SE. Residents must have picture identification to bring items to the event and according to city officials, there will be social distancing guidelines to follow.

The City of Wyoming moved its Community Clean-Up Day to the fall, Oct. 6. The popular annual event will be at Grand Rapids First, 2100 44th Street and run from 8 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Residents must provide proof of residency which can be a photo ID or a utility or credit card statement.

If you are really desperate to get rid of items, there is always the South Kent Landfill located at 10300 S. Kent Dr. SW. The landfill is open 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

The Kent County Recycling Center reopened at the beginning of May. This includes curbside recycling services that come to Kent County Recycling Center to be sorted and the residential Recycling Drop-Off Stations. The North Kent Recycling & Waste Center opens 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. for solid waste disposal and residential drop-off recycling services.

Also the county’s SafeChem program has resumed regular hours as of May 18 but the SafeSharps and SafeMeds programs are still closed.