Sellwood-Westmoreland annual cleanup takes in tons of trash

It’s a fact that the oldest neighborhood cleanup event in the State of Oregon is the SMILE neighborhood cleanup on a Saturday every mid-May. And this year’s cleanup, on May18th, once again collected tons of rubbish.

How much? According to the hauler, Heiberg Garbage & Recycling, eight of their giant drop boxes were filled. Seven of them were filled with 4.9 tons of trash – the other drop box hauled away 2.21 tons of scrap metal for recycling.

The current President of SMILE – the Sellwood and Westmoreland neighborhood association – is David Dugan. In chatting with THE BEE as he checked in cars and trucks headed for the collection site on the Westmoreland Park parking lot, he reflected, “Providing this service is so important, because it’s a convenient way for people in our neighborhood to dispose of trash – and recycling and reusable items, as well.

“In addition to the metal recycling, Free Geek is also on-site for electronic recycling of computers and such – which all helps keep it out of the waste stream,” Dugan pointed out.

In addition to helping neighbors rid themselves of junk that won’t fit in their curb-side roll-carts, the collection service is also a fundraiser. “The money received here goes not only to the tipping fees, but also to support our annual SMILE Egg Hunt, Summer Free Concerts Series, and to continue the good work that Smile does.”

As the volunteers helped him offload his batch of trash, resident Jason Gill commented, “It’s a great feeling to be able to unload a lot of large items that I couldn’t put out at the curb. It’s great to have this opportunity every May.”