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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rite Of Spring Landfill’s Busiest Season Under Way As Residents Begin Yard Cleanup Chores

A broken $1,200 snowblower. An unwanted compound bow. Several hundred tons of grass, tree limbs and cardboard.

That’s some of what’s coming into Kootenai County’s landfill transfer station on Ramsey Road this week as area residents begin an annual rite of March - spring cleaning.

About 600 people a day - four times as many as three weeks ago - are hauling everything from broken chairs to rusty cans as they wipe away winter dust and cart unneeded belongings to the dump.

It’s the kickoff to the busiest season of the year for transfer station workers.

“In wintertime we get about 200 tons a day here,” said station manager Kevin Pollard. “Heading in to summer, it’s about 500 tons.”

Disappearing snow uncovered leaves and brush littering the flowers edging Coeur d’Alene resident Dolores Miller’s lawn. She spent the weekend cleaning the yard. On Tuesday, she hauled away the results.

“We’ve been working for two days, and we’re still not done. At least we can see the tulips now.”

Miller hasn’t gotten around to cleaning inside her home: “Oh, that will have to come later,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Fred Bjurstron, a Ross Point retiree, spent the winter sunning in Tucson, Ariz. He was paying for it Tuesday.

“It’s a mess out there,” he said of his yard, as he dumped a load of debris at the transfer station. “I’ve got at least another load like this.”

But Bjurstron also finds spring cleaning gives him a chance to socialize with neighbors. One, known only as Betty, convinced him to cart away her garbage by baking him cookies.

“She knows I can’t resist those cookies,” he said.

For resident Bob McLeod, this time of year reminds him of his youth during the Depression, when he spent time at the Coeur d’Alene dump for fun.

“My mother used to give me a penny for every rat I killed, thinking I was helping rid the dump of varmints,” he said. “I undoubtedly spent more money on .22 shells than I made killing rats.”

For Pollard and crew, March can be the best - and the worst - of times.

The sun is shining. Birds are singing. And workers constantly are tempted by the surprising things people throw away.

A scavenging ban prevents workers - or county residents - from pawing through tossed-aside debris once it hits the ground at the landfill. Some salvageable items - like the only slightly faulty snowblower - are sold to contractors to help cover operating costs.

It’s sometimes hard on Pollard and company.

“I wanted that compound bow so bad I could taste it,” Pollard said wistfully.

Workers could only shrug after learning that someone recently tossed away Christmas cards and wrapping paper - remembering later that $2,000 in cash was stashed in one of the cards.

It reminded Pollard of similar incident five years ago, when a husband threw away an old coffee can not knowing his wife had stuffed $5,000 in it.

“There’s a lot of valuable stuff in that landfill,” Pollard said. “But we’re a throw-away society.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo