Providing a place for one man’s trash ...

MILLERTON — The biannual Bulk Trash Day was a resounding success on Saturday, April 16, as volunteers from both the village of Millerton and the town of North East lent a hand to collect unwanted rubbish from local residents. Those who brought their unwanted trash had to pay a fee on a scale that was set according to the size of the load (the fees ran from $10 to $40).The half-dozen helpers were stationed at the town’s highway garage on South Center Street, where there were two 40-yard bulk trash containers and two 30-yard bulk metal containers at the ready for discarded soft-waste items, old appliances and electronics, unwanted carpets, broken bicycles and forlorn lawnmowers.Millerton Mayor John Scutieri said many of the above items made their way to the disposal site.“We’ve seen a good combination of everything,” he said. “People are getting rid of things from outside, which is how this got started. We wanted to help people clean up their yards.”That was 12 years ago, and the town and village have been holding Bulk Trash Day twice a year ever since.“We hold it the third Saturday in October and the third Saturday in April,” Scutieri said. “We figure if we keep to a routine people will remember the day. It seems to work.”Indeed it does. Just ask Millerton resident Patricia Stevens, who has been taking advantage of Bulk Trash Day on a regular basis.“It’s extremely convenient and cost effective,” she said after dropping off a truckload of junk. “I borrowed a truck and have been planning for months [to take advantage of the opportunity]. There’s no place like this in Millerton. The closest place for bulk trash is in Sharon, and even then you have to be a resident to make use of it.”Stevens was not alone on Saturday. The mayor said the morning was a busy one; Bulk Trash Day ran from 8 a.m. until noon, and by mid-morning two of the large bulk containers were nearly full.“It’s been pretty steady,” he said. “We’ve had a good flow of people. We even had people who waited for us to start this morning; at 8 o’clock there were a couple of trucks waiting for us. It’s been pretty good.”Clearly, the word is out.“I’ve told so many of my friends [about Bulk Trash Day] and they’re very excited about it, but it takes preparation,” Stevens said. “I was ready for it and I’ll be ready for it in the fall, too.“It’s definitely worth it,” she added. “These are items I couldn’t dispose of easily any other way. That’s the whole point.”

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