JAMESTOWN – Citywide cleanup is Monday through Thursday, May 9-13, in Jamestown, and the city baler is expected to see more traffic during the week, according to Shawn O’Neill, sanitation foreman.
“There’s a lot of people coming in and out with extended hours that we have,” he said.
He said the sanitation department gets help from all of the other city departments. The street department and water plant will give the sanitation department trucks to use for the week.
It also takes a lot of manpower as well.
“If it was just the sanitation department that did citywide cleanup, we just wouldn’t be able to do it because we just don’t have the staff to do it,” O’Neill said. “With the street department and all the other departments helping us out during this time, it goes really smoothly.”
The citywide numbers were down last year for the amount of items collected during cleanup week because there was a late start on announcing that it would happen.
“We were deciding if we were going to do it,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of people had their stuff ready.”
Last year, 135 tons of items were collected during the week, which includes 34 tons from the southeast, 29 tons from the southwest and 36 tons each from the northwest and northeast sections of Jamestown.
Because of the low numbers, city crews were done picking up items earlier in the day.
“I think the latest we worked that whole week was probably 1:30 and that was on Thursday and that is our biggest route, the northeast part of town,” O’Neill said. “Some days we were done at 11:30, 12:30. Years past we are up to 4:30, 5, maybe even 6. It just depends on the years.”
O’Neill said people have to be reminded that they get to dispose of up to 500 pounds of garbage for free every month. Residents must show proof of residence in Jamestown.
“That is a pretty good deal there,” he said.
He said Jamestown residents should try to put their items in neat piles in front of their property. He said he understands that people will dig through their piles and make a mess.
“A lot of people set stuff out and hope people will grab it,” he said.
Common items that are on the streets that don’t get picked up include cardboard, toilets, kitchen and bathroom sinks and even regular household items. He encouraged people to take recycling items to Recycle North Dakota and clothing to Easter Seals Goodwill.
During cleanup week, residents are required to place items on the roadway as close to the curb or shoulder as possible. Materials must be out by 7 a.m. on the designated day.
All items left at a property after the city truck collects accepted items are the property owner’s responsibility to clean up. Trucks will not return to collect any remaining items once the route is complete.
Items that are accepted include:
- basic household items such as furniture, toys and mattresses.
- small-scale building, remodeling, landscaping debris, lumber, carpet and padding, wall board, tile, doors, windows, gutters, fencing, non-creosoted landscaping timbers and brick pavers.
- wood, lumber, fencing and non-creosoted landscaping timbers, which should be broken apart and tied in bundles less than 4 feet long and weigh less than 50 pounds.
- carpeting and padding that must each be rolled, tied and no longer than 8 feet.
Items that are not accepted include: no large quantities of clothing and linens or bags of any kind, cardboard, household garbage, yard waste, appliances, electronics, automotive products, vehicle parts, large-scale debris, pain, solvents, thinners, primers, bio-medical waste, propane tanks, gas cans with any contents and metal unless it is a part of a material that will be picked up.
The following is the schedule when items will be picked up during cleanup week:
- Monday, May 9: southeast
- Tuesday, May 10: southwest
- Wednesday, May 11: northwest
- Thursday, May 12: northeast
The city baler and landfill will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, May 9-13, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 14.
For more information about citywide cleanup, visit
.