Spring cleanup suspended due to virus

Waste Management says annual event is among ‘non-essential services’ temporarily halted

Perry Township’s annual spring cleanup might take place during a different season this year, because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Township trustees are hoping to reschedule the two-day event after COVID-19 concerns prompted Waste Management to temporarily suspend what it described as “a number of non-essential services.”

A day after trustees recently awarded the 2020 spring cleanup contract to Waste Management, the township received a notice from the contractor, announcing that the event would not take place.

“In order for Waste Management to maintain its focus on municipal solid waste collection and disposal and due to the reduced number of employees in the field, Waste Management is temporarily suspending a number of non-essential services, including Perry Township’s spring cleanup that was to occur on April 18 and April 25,” the company stated.

Waste Management, on its website, wm.com, said it is “taking precautionary steps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention … and other relevant federal, state and local agencies and experts to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

With Perry Township’s curbside-pickup event being called off, the annual program for dropping off unwanted tires at the township service garage also will not be held. The tire dropoff would have taken place on April 18 and 25, along with the cleanup.

The format for the 2020 spring cleanup would have been identical to previous years, where curbside pickup of household items would have been scheduled in the northern half of the township on one of the days and in the southern section on the other day.

Township trustees are looking into options for rescheduling the community cleanup once COVID-19 is declared under control.

Holding the event in late summer or early fall are possible options being considered, although no decisions have been made yet, said township Trustee Rick Amos.

It’s likely that the township will have to wait until Waste Management is ready to again provide service for community cleanup programs, rather than find a different contractor for the endeavor.

That’s because for the past four years, Waste Management has been the only contractor which has submitted a bid to handle Perry Township’s spring cleanup.

“As much as we’ve tried and looked and made inquiries, there just doesn’t seem to be anybody else with the capabilities and desire to take this on,” Amos said last year, before the township sought bids for the cleanup project.

Amos also said in 2019 that the spring cleanup is “an excellent service in the community for people to get rid of a lot of things.”

“In a lot of cases, they’d have to pay and it’s a significant amount of money to have their own provider take away some of that bigger stuff that’s not free,” he said.

The township used to conduct two separate twoday cleanups every year, but budget constraints have narrowed it down to a oncea-year event.

“In order for Waste Management to maintain its focus on municipal solid waste collection and disposal and due to the reduced number of employees in the field, Waste Management is temporarily suspending a number of non-essential services, including Perry Township’s spring cleanup that was to occur on April 18 and April 25.”

— Statement from Waste Management