The Evolution of Spring Clean-Up

Spring Clean-Up 2011 marks the 23rd anniversary of the City of Springfield’s strong commitment to its citizens and its environment.

This event originally began as a brush collection program in 1983. During the early years a P.U.S.H. Facilities Committee was created to promote a Springfest Clean-Up. P.U.S.H. was an acronym for “Promote Unique Springfield Happenings.” This was an event that focused on cleaning up the downtown area between A St. and South A St. from Mill St. to 10th St. in preparation for Springfest festivities which began in early May of each year. These festivities included the Festival of Flowers and the Springfest Parade. The very next year Mayor John Lively issued a proclamation to proclaim the month of May 1984 as: P.U.S.H. “Community Pride Month.” His vision was: “The City of Springfield desires to initiate a campaign with the ultimate goal of creating a more beautiful Springfield and encouraging community pride, to urge every citizen and every civic organization to dedicate themselves to observe this time by implementing appropriate clean-up projects that will not only benefit them personally, but will benefit the entire City of Springfield.”

Additionally, drop boxes were strategically placed in five locations throughout the city for the convenience of dropping off yard debris, paper, and exterior trash. With the help of city workers and Neighborhood Watch volunteers, residents were able to dispose of these items both Saturday and Sunday one weekend a year.

In 1986 the P.U.S.H. committee was dissolved and the Clean-Up effort sponsorship was replaced with the Springfield Downtown Association and Sanipac. City workers and Neighborhood Watch volunteers continued to fill Sanipac drop boxes with yard debris and refuse for landfill disposal.

In 1988 the City of Springfield took the lead in this event and called it “Spruce Up Springfield.” City officials were excited to advertise an opportunity for local residents to get rid of unwanted yard debris for free. The idea was to reduce nuisance code violations by allowing residents to clean up their yards and dispose of this debris in one convenient location free of charge. Citizens brought their yard debris to the city parking lot on B St. where City Maintenance staff unloaded vehicles, chipped brush, and loaded up Sanipac drop boxes. As the popularity of the event grew, the B St. parking lot and a handful of maintenance workers were no longer adequate to handle such a large influx of participation.

In 1993 the event was renamed Spring Clean-Up and moved to the Booth Kelly site. Along side City Maintenance staff, City Hall workers began volunteering to help unload vehicles and feed the chippers. This chipping program continued until approximately 1996 when it was moved to the City of Springfield Maintenance yard on South 18th St. By now Spring Clean-Up had evolved into more than just chipping up brush and tree trimmings. More drop boxes were brought in and residents began filling them with all kinds of “junk” from their yards. In 1998 for example, over 230 vehicles brought in items ranging from old couches to broken down bicycles. Tons of old carpet, chairs, wood scraps, etc… were smashed down into Sanipac boxes using backhoes and hauled off to the landfill for disposal. Scrap metal was collected separately for salvage.

Several years of poor attendance due to bad weather and other challenges threatened the future of Spring Clean-Up. In 2003 Maintenance staff recognized the need to revitalize Spring Clean-Up and move this event into the 21st century.

“Spring Clean-Up becomes a recycling event!”

Through newly created partnerships with area businesses and non-profit agencies, items began to get sorted out and placed into appropriate drop boxes for recycle. Appliances, tires, plastics, and propane tanks could now be accepted. The response from our community was overwhelmingly positive. The site was moved to the 4500 block of Main St. where the old Rexius landscape yard used to be located. The residents of Springfield were eager to recycle. The line of vehicles often stretched down Main St. through the 42nd St. intersection creating quite a traffic jam.

“Recycle today for a greener tomorrow!”

In 2005 Spring Clean-Up moved once again, this time to a city owned lot at 1600 South B St. Now in its 6th year at this location, the citizens of Springfield continue to impress the leaders of this community.

In 2010 more than 625 vehicles participated in Spring Clean-Up.

Maintenance Staff worked alongside more than 44 volunteers from City Hall and community volunteers in unloading and sorting tons of recyclable materials. This tremendous effort resulted in recycling 85% of all materials collected!
This years record numbers include:

One 28' tractor trailer of reusable items and
One 18" box truck of reusable items,
54 car batteries,
Just under 5 tons of obsolete electronics,
82 appliances,
84 mattresses/box springs,
100 cushions, pads and carpet padding items,
65 lbs. of Styrofoam,
120 cu. yds. of yard debris,
270 yards of wood,
120 cu. yds. recyclable plastic,
468 tires,
81 propane tanks, and
a variety of building materials were collected for reuse by others.

The City of Springfield has something truly unique – something wonderful – something to showcase.
Spring Clean-Up recycles your past into your future.
The future of Spring Clean-Up is now.