Annual Recycling Day A Success Once Again

HARRISON – The 2019 Recycling Day at Harrison City Park got off to a brisk start Saturday, quite likely due to this year’s reduced hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In the past, the event was open to residents of the City of Harrison and Hayes Township. This year, Greenwood Township households also were included, and many seemed to take advantage of the convenient opportunity to get rid of their old furniture, clothing, electronics, scrap metal, household plumbing and wiring, car batteries and passenger vehicle tires. Many people also opted to bring their stockpiles of old documents for proper and secure shredding.

Greeting and directing people as they arrived at the two park entrances were Hayes Township Clerk Deb Hoyt and Hayes Township Zoning Assistant Ken Hoyt. East of the park, Harrison Mayor Pro Tem Dan Sullivan manned the road accessing the tire drop-off.

The electronics drop-off was handled by City of Harrison Treasurer Sharon Hawkins, Greenwood Township Supervisor Jesse McClaughry and Hayes Township Trustee Bob Buckley. Their site saw a steady stream of residents, as did the tire drop-off. That site was again the beneficiary of the efforts of some “guests” of the Clare County Jail.

At the scrap metal, plumbing/wiring drop-off, Harrison City Manager/Clerk Tracey Connelly and Hayes Township Trustee Mike Haley assisted with the transfer of those items.

Hayes Township Treasurer Maye Tessner-Rood, along with her cadre of assistants, oversaw the collection of clothing and furniture, as well as directed people to the shredding station.

All these representatives put a smiling face and a willing hand to the task of helping their neighbors properly dispose of their items.

Monday morning, Connelly provided the following collection totals:

Two city dump trucks full of scrap metals; two trailers full of electronics; one tractor-trailer was filled with tires and an additional 400 tires were set aside to await the city’s ordering of another trailer; 18 boxes/bags were filled with clothing and one trailer filled two-thirds to three-quarters full with recyclables.

Connelly said that, unfortunately, some folks didn’t understand that dropped-off furniture needed to be recyclable and brought in moldy furniture which had to be rejected.

Participants have tended to bring their items earlier in the day in recent years, enabling them to quickly get on with their Saturday, and this year was much the same with traffic eventually dropping off around 1:30 p.m.

Different this year was a tallying of vehicles. That count showed some 218 vehicles came through the Recycling Day venue, which Connelly counted as a strong success.

It was definitely a day for cleaning up; Hamilton Township also seized the day by holding its annual tire collection Saturday. Hamilton has done tire collecting for years and consistently anticipates a big turnout. This year, collecting was scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or when the dumpster was full, whichever was earlier.

These projects not only enable people to clear out items which would otherwise end up in the landfill, they also give residents the opportunity to improve the community and to make an ecological difference in the world.