Working together, we can make a significant difference. And what a difference we made.

On Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste District and Judge O. Clark Collins Community Service Program began a major cleanup of Ironton. We had two trailers and three pick-up trucks to conduct this entire cleanup. Every alley in the city was cleaned, removing TVs, mattresses, tires, sofas, recliners and other furniture and household waste.

The cleanup of alleys continued Wednesday and all day Thursday. On Friday, we moved the cleanup operation to downtown Ironton, pulling weeds in alleys, picking up litter and trash strewn throughout the alleys.

Also, we used equipment to remove weeds along the city walks and weeds embedded in the street curbs. Gas blowers were used to clean the alleys and remove leaves from the walks. Over 80 bags of weeds were collected in the downtown section.

During this cleanup event, which ran from Wednesday through noon on Saturday, we filled eight 40-yard roll-off containers to capacity. Mi-De-Con, Inc. provided the equipment and personnel to crush the debris in the containers many times. On Tuesday morning (Oct. 15), the containers were once again crushed in order for the containers to be safely transported to the Rumpke Transfer Station. We collected and removed over 22.48 tons of trash with 8 roll-off containers.

This cleanup could not have been possible without the assistance of J.D. McDaniel, Tim Collins and community service workers’ from Judge Collins Court. Judge Collins provided 15 community service workers each day for this cleanup. They did an outstanding job!

I wish to acknowledge the trailer donated to this cleanup by Brett Looney of the Lawrence County Juvenile Center.

This was a vital piece of equipment, which enabled us to haul the mattresses, TVs and many other items we collected to the roll-off containers. Dennis Salyers, owner of Mi-De-Con, Inc. assisted us daily in crushing the items placed in the containers. This enabled us to get the maximum amount of trash in the roll-offs.

His donation of equipment and personnel saved us time and a considerable amount of money.

I am extremely grateful to the generous sponsors who also made this cleanup possible by their contribution of $400 for a roll-off container. The containers were provided by: Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital; St. Mary’s Medical Center; City of Ironton Health Board; Citizens Deposit Bank; Friends of Ironton (2); Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce; Ironton Rotary Club; City National Bank.

Yes, we did make a difference in our city and I thank each and everyone for their contribution in making the Ironton Citywide Cleanup a success.

 

Dan Palmer

Lawrence-Scioto

Solid Waste District