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Municipal solid waste program should serve as national model [1]

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Date: 2023-09-26  

Fresno, California, at 121 square miles (roughly three times the size of San Francisco) and with a half-million residents, is, in a way, like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield: Respect-starved or so it would seem. Over the years, Fresno has received a plethora of negative press and, the city, often the object of intense outsider ridicule, pretty much takes all of this in stride and pays such vitriol no mind.

But, Fresno has much to be proud of like its auspicious neighborhood-after-neighborhood-serving Operation Cleanup solid municipal waste (MSW) collection program.

What makes Operation Cleanup so admired, if not unique, is the platform upon which the program is built and functions. And, there is really nothing all that complicated about it.

Every year and once per year, each and every neighborhood is so-served. And, the service is comprehensive.

Assigned workers will collect what the City describes on its Web site as “bulky items,” that does not meet the criteria that allows such refuse to be placed in city-provided waste bins designated for regular weekly pickup. Items like tree branches and limbs limited to 3-foot long lengths qualify, as do palm-tree fronds.

And, the City, moreover, provides to served residents, so-called “DO’S” and “DONT’S” guidelines that helps take out the “what can be placed for curbside pickup and where” guesswork. This information can be found by accessing: https://www.fresno.gov/public utilities/trash-disposal-recycling/operation-cleanup/

A front-end loader, furthermore, is employed and does the job of scooping up much of the discarded debris en masse; in other words, by, in a manner of speaking, the “front-end-loader-full.”

And, once all of the curbside rubbish is removed, a streetsweeper will come through to, more or less, “clean-sweep” the remaining residue.

Programs like Operation Cleanup can sure go a long way to not only helping municipalities spruce and tidy things up, but can keep the bulk-trash component from getting out of hand.

Meanwhile, for proper disposal of household consumer products that contain in them certain hazardous chemical ingredients or compounds, a facility located about 20 miles to Fresno’s west - Rolinda - can take these off of city residents’ hands.

All of which is proof-positive that there exist programs that do do waste collection right, meaning effectively, efficiently and properly.

Perhaps a similar program could soon be on its way to a neighborhood near you. You just never know.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/26/2195596/-Municipal-solid-waste-program-should-serve-as-national-model

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