Hot Springs cleans up
Rain didn’t deter Hot Springs residents from turning out in droves for this year’s citywide Spring Fling cleanup.
Angelica Crockett, who volunteered with the cleanup at a dumping station set up in the Hot Springs High School parking lot, had positive things to say about the event.
“It’s a great event,” Crockett said. “People are able to get some trash out of their yard and finally do some cleaning up — you know, spring time, spring cleaning. That way, they don’t have to pay with taking it to the landfill or anything. They can just get it done with.”
City Solid Waste Department Director Randy Atkinson said that he believed the influx of people visiting the locations to
throw away their waste was the result of storms that were predicted to hit the city Saturday afternoon, according to National Weather Service.
“It’s really been hard and heavy all (Saturday) morning,” Atkinson said. “People (are) trying to beat this storm they say is coming.
The city was hit by a brief rainstorm around 1 p.m. Saturday, but volunteers said that it did not deter residents from throwing away their trash. Charlie Stanley, who was working the Hot Springs High School dumping site with Crockett, said that the flow of residents to his site had been consistent.
“It’s not bad,” Stanley said. “They’re still coming in. It’s nonstop.”
Atkinson said that the consistency of visitors was the same for every dumping ground in the city.
“Every one of them is just getting hammered all morning long,” he said. “I mean, it’s been one thing after another. Just constant.”
According to Crockett, the cleanup is open to any kind of garbage that Hot Springs residents wish to get rid of, with the exception of paint, tires or electronic devices. The Hot Springs High School dumping ground was an example of this — outside the dumpster were grills, bicycles and other unwanted items. Stanley explained that such metal items are all recycled.
Stanley said that many of the residents who came to drop off their trash were elderly individuals. He said that they were grateful for the service that the city is offering.
“A lot of old people come in here with a car loaded full of stuff with a trunk open, and are just glad we’re unloading it now,” Stanley said.
Atkinson said that the city had collected 88 tons of trash and had emptied 38 dumpsters by 1:30 p.m. Saturday. He said that at the pace they were going, they could surpass their 2016 total of 198 tons by the end of the event Sunday.
“Unless the weather turns really bad tomorrow, we can very well break that,” Atkinson said of last year’s total.
While the volunteers spoke highly of the cleanup, Atkinson had positive things to say as well. He said that the free, accessible nature of the event is a benefit for many.
“It doesn’t cost anybody anything,” Atkinson said. “The city does all the work.”