Community Clean-up Day 2014 a Success

On Saturday, May 3, Tehachapi area residents cleaned out garages, sheds and backyards during the Second Annual Community Clean-up Day.

Hundreds of local folks brought in sofas, hot water heaters, washers, dryers, computers, TVs and boxes of documents for shredding to one of four locations in Bear Valley Springs, Golden Hills, Stallion Springs and the City of Tehachapi.

According to Neil Agness, with Alianza (Electronic Waste) Recycling, "People brought in hundreds, maybe thousands, of old computer monitors, televisions sets, computer towers, speakers and laptops to be legally and securely recycled. Each location was extremely busy."

The amount of E-Waste, brought in for recycling, topped last year's event.

Alianza Recycling transported the E-Waste to its recycling facility in Bakersfield where Agness' staff will disassemble the items and recycle nearly every component.

Benz Sanitation provided roll-off bins and paper shredding service for residents in Bear Valley Springs, Stallion Springs and in the city of Tehachapi.

All three communities experienced good participation however, per capita, Stallion Springs cleaned up the most.

"Stallion residents were lined up at 7:30 a.m. and filled up four roll-off bins in three hours. It was a big, big clean-up day for Stallion Springs," said Stallion Springs volunteer Lewis Brown.

The roll-off bins were taken to the recycling facility where Benz staff separated out recyclable materials.

The remaining trash will be taken, without cost, to the Tehachapi Landfill. The Kern County Waste Management Department waived all landfill fees typically associated with disposal.

Golden Hills' residents filled four bins and four large containers of electronic waste.

Roll-off bins, for that community, were donated by the new waste hauler in Golden Hills: J Torres Co. "The morning began slowly but picked-up considerably after 10 a.m.," said Golden Hills General Manager Bill Fisher, "in the end, we finished strong."

In addition to large item collection and disposal, volunteers picked up litter in the city and in Stallion Springs.

Bags of litter, at the easements of vacant land, could be spotted throughout the day. Staff retrieved the bags and added them to the bins.

The Community Clean-up Day 2014 was supported by the city of Tehachapi, Golden Hills CSD, Bear Valley CSD, Stallion Springs CSD, Benz Sanitation, Alianza Recycling, J. Torres Co. Inc. and the Kern County Waste Management Department.