LEWISTON – Sunday night is the time to get spring cleanup collections out, according to city officials.

Putting trash out too early or after the trucks have passed will earn a visit from code enforcement officials.

“Folks know that the city tends to look like a war zone during spring cleanup,” said Rob Stalford, Lewiston waste disposal superintendent. “Wherever you went in the city, you knew something was going on. We don’t want that anymore.”

Spring cleanup officially begins Monday for homes that have their trash collected on Mondays and Tuesdays. It begins next week for homes with Wednesday collections, April 26 for homes with Thursday collections and May 3 for homes with Friday collections.

People shouldn’t put their spring cleanup trash curbside until the night before cleanup begins in their area.

“Saturday night is too soon,” Stalford said. “We want them out Sunday night and not sooner,” he said.

Getting the trash to the curb late is almost as bad, he said. City crews will not go back and collect at houses they’ve already passed.

“Realize that the next crew that will come by then is the code enforcement officials, and they’ll ask you to move it away from the curb,” he said.

There are other changes this year. The city will collect from houses and owner-occupied apartment buildings, but not from other apartments.

The city is also limiting how much junk it will collect. Crews will take six bulky items – such as mattresses, carpet rolls and chairs – and 3 cubic yards of construction debris, trash and brush. Residents can include only one television or computer monitor in their bulky items and one Freon-containing appliance, such as an air conditioner or refrigerator.

“Essentially, it’s one truckload per dwelling unit,” Stalford said. “If it’s more than that, they run the risk of having to dispose of it themselves.”

In Auburn, spring cleanup is scheduled to begin April 26.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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