Clean Sweep Will Happen Saturday, July 14
(26 June 07) by Eric Gustafson, CNO Staff

Corcoran's annual Clean Sweep – soon to be known as ‘Green Sweep’ – will happen on Saturday, July 14 this year, and volunteers and food are needed! Green Sweep offers help disposing of nonhazardous junk that cannot be reused, sold, or given away. The materials should be left at the alley and marked clearly.

Volunteers load these materials into trucks and haul them to the Southside Transfer Station – commonly known as “the dump.” Yes, the dump – so please make sure that what you leave for Clean Sweep cannot be reused, sold, or given away. Dumps and landfills are not limitless, after all, and building new landfills to store garbage has real health and financial consequences for communities and households.

We need volunteers and food for Green Sweep! Volunteers have a great time throwing around junk, serving the community, and meeting some new people. Loading is physical work, and not for everybody. However, we also need an event receptionist to answer phones, we need food servers, and we need drivers. And we need food to feed our hungry volunteers! Please call me at the CNO office at 724-7457 to commit to helping as you can.

And if you plan to leave junk for our volunteers, please consider joining them for an hour or two. If you are gutting a kitchen or bathroom at this time, please don't leave all the waste materials for Green Sweep. Any Minneapolis property owner can obtain a free Transfer Station voucher. If you're doing a major renovation project, we assume you have access to a truck to deliver your new materials. So please use that truck to make your own trip to the Transfer Station.

And as always, hazardous materials such as electronics, fuels, paints, and chemicals cannot go in the trash, and will not be accepted on Green Sweep. Bring them instead to the free County Dropoff site at 1400 W 96th Street in Bloomington (612-348-3777). The city takes appliances and furniture on your garabage/recycling day, so volunteers won't be taking them for Green Sweep. Please call me at the CNO office with Green Sweep questions, at 724-7457.