PARKERSBURG - The two-day Wood County Spring Cleanup continues today from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Erickson All-Sports Facility off Camden Avenue in south Parkersburg.
Hundreds of vehicles from throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley visited the site Friday to drop off a variety of items.
"I think it's a good service to offer," said David Eggleston, of Washington, W.Va., who dropped off items Friday at the event. "I think it's a good thing to get them in the right place."
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Bulky goods was one of the largest groups of items dropped off Friday during the first day of the Wood County Spring Cleanup at Erickson All-Sports Facility in south Parkersburg. (Photo by Wayne Towner)
Marietta resident Allen Weaver was also pleased with the service being offered through the event Friday.
"I think it's wonderful and it's a needed thing. It's a wonderful thing that DuPont's doing for the community and I appreciate it," he said.
Wood County Solid Waste Authority director John Reed said the annual cleanup, organized by the SWA and funded by DuPont Washington Works, got off to a good start Friday, with steady traffic throughout the day.
Reed said a long line of cars began lining up at 7 a.m. Friday, an hour before the dropoff began. It took about an hour Friday morning to clear up the backlog but after that traffic was steady throughout the rest of the day, with little waiting involved for people bringing items in to drop off, he said.
There is no charge for dropping off materials for disposal, said Reed. Among the items being accepted are paint, tires, bulky goods like furniture, major appliances (even those with freon), propane tanks, gas tanks, household trash, electronics, fluorescent lightbulbs, computers, batteries and scrap metal.
The program is not accepting pesticides, gasoline, oil or hazardous chemicals.
In a change for this year's cleanup, Reed said televisions are also not being accepted since haulers are already charging fees for that so people should have their personal haulers handle them. Last year, nearly two truckloads of televisions were dropped off but on Friday only three people had brought them to Erickson Field, he said.
Reed said DuPont previously held an electronics pickup in January and a paint pickup in March. While those items are being accepted through today at the cleanup, he believes the earlier events helped reduce the amount of material which is being collected Friday and today. That was reflected in the number of vehicles counted Friday-840- compared to about 2,000 for the first day last year, he said.
Among other items collected Friday, Reed said the estimated 5,000 tires were about the same as last year's event. Bulky goods like furniture were up this year, with 28 roll-off trailers filled with stuff on Friday, he said.
In previous years, when the cleanup was funded by Wood County, it would only be open to county residents, Reed said. However, with DuPont's sponsorship during the past two years, the event is open to all Mid-Ohio Valley residents, he said.
Reed said there is usually a slight increase in traffic on the Saturday of the cleanup event since people don't have to worry about work schedules when bringing items to drop off, but a forecast of wet weather for today may affect that number.
