AUBURN — The city will test to see how good residents are at estimating the weight of their trash with a new spring cleanup contest.
Jaclyn Beebe, planner for the Auburn Public Services Department, said the city is taking guesses for how much bulky waste, in tons, residents leave at their curbs for city crews to collect.
“We’ve just launched our Facebook page and we’re trying to get a few more likes, so we wanted to do something fun,” Beebe said. “It’s just something to get our residents involved in spring cleanup. As they are driving around town and seeing the bulky waste at the curbs, how much do they think the city will pick up?”
Residents can make their guesses at the Public Services Department’s Facebook page.
Winners can claim a car care package, donated to the department by NAPA Auto Parts on Center Street.
Spring cleanup collections begin on Monday, May 4, and should take about two days per neighborhood. Beebe said the city will close the contest on or around May 16, once the collections are finished. They should have an answer in June.
“We won’t know until we get everything weighed, and that’s going to take a couple of weeks,” Beebe said.
The city will only be counting bulky waste for the contest — not brush, demolition wood, scrap metal or tires.
Bulky waste includes old furniture, mattresses and carpets and makes up most of what people leave at the curb.
“We have to count it all up by category, and that was the category we decided to use for the contest,” she said.
Residents that have trash collected on Mondays will have their spring cleanup collections on May 4. Collections for residents normally on the Tuesday trash schedule should begin two days later, and so on.
But Denis D’Auteuil, director of Public Services, said the collection schedule could change depending on how much people leave out.
“It should take about two days per neighborhood, but it may take longer for some areas,” he said. “Just to be safe, everyone should have their stuff ready to go by May 4.”
Auburn residents can leave up to a truckload of wood waste and brush, furniture, rugs, mattresses, large metal auto parts and old appliances at the curb. Crews will also collect up to four car tires per address.
The city has not had a curbside spring cleanup collection since 2012. That year, the city collected 824 tons of trash, tires, trees and metal waste. Bulky waste, the kind being counted for the contest, amounted to 363 tons in 2012.
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