Hughes encourages residents to participate in SFC Cleanup
Dumpsters to be placed in communities over next few weeks
The annual St. Francis County clean-up event is scheduled to begin this weekend with two locations for residents to dispose of unwanted items.
Over the next few weeks, dumpsters will be placed in different communities across the county.
According to the schedule released by St. Francis County Judge Gary Hughes, this weekend, April 16 and 17, dumpsters will be in Colt on the right side of the water department and in Wheatley on 8th Street behind the Civic Center.
On April 23 and 24, dumpsters will be located in Forrest City at the former Ridout building on Highway 70 and in Hughes where the railroad tracks were previously located.
On April 30 through May 1, a dumpster will be available at the community center in Widener and in Palestine, behind city hall. On May 7 and 8, the dumpster will be at city hall in Madison, and on May 14 and 15, a dumpster will be at Caldwell City Hall and at the Newcastle Fire Department.
"We started this back in 2007 and we have done it every year since then," said Hughes. "A lot of the time, the biggest problem we have is getting the word out.
People will call and say they didn't realize we had dumpsters out so we want to get the word out to our residents."
According to Hughes, while county residents have the option of taking trash directly to the county’s solid waste department in Madison, Monday through Friday, these dumpsters make cleaning up easier for residents by taking the dumpsters closer to their homes.
"It has always been very successful," said Hughes. "We have always had good participation at all of our locations. We want people to clean up their property and take advantage of the dumpsters being out and closer to them than they normally are.
“Of course, we are still available in Madison any time, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m.,” said Hughes. “We don't accept anything from contractors because they have to pay, but anything from homes and people trying to clean up around their houses and things like that we accept. If they have a load of stuff they need to get rid of, they can feel free to bring it to us."
Hughes said anyone in the county may use any dumpster at any site.
“If a dumpster is located at Colt, you don't have to live in Colt to use it," said Hughes. "You can come from Caldwell or Pine Tree or anywhere else in the county to use the dumpster. We definitely encourage people to use them, and we are looking forward to another successful clean up in the county."
According to Hughes, although the majority of things can be thrown into the dumpsters, those who would like to recycle anything, such as electronic devices, should take those to the agency in Madison during the week.
"People can throw away pretty much anything in the dumpsters," said Hughes. "Things like flammable paint aren't supposed to be put in them, but we kind of go through it as it is collected. On the other hand, for those who would like to recycle things, electronics can be brought to Madison to be recycled. Things like computers, televisions and other electronics can be brought to us for recycling.”
“We definitely encourage people to use them.”
– SFC Judge Gary Hughes