Cruising Durango’s neighborhoods, we couldn’t help but get swept up in the spirit of spring cleanup. It’s exceptional that the city picks up items as large as appliances, and as unwieldy – and icky – as tired mattresses and broken furniture.
There’s something special about the collective spirit of rolling up our sleeves and getting rid of things we no longer need, while our neighbors around us are doing the same thing. That shared sense of accomplishment, the communal feeling. As if we’re all preparing for a lighter, more intentional future at the very same time.
Seasons of neighbors’ lives were apparent in the piles of junk arranged as neatly as possible after garages, closets and kids’ bedrooms discarded contents. We don’t mean to be nosy, but it’s obvious that neighborhood kids have reached milestones, done with plastic playhouses and basketball hoops, ready to put some older-child distance between these playthings and move on to more big-kid stuff.
It was kind of fun, too, looking anew at old things, such as the innards of a hot tub chain-sawed into pieces. A wealth of treasures were everywhere, yet, they wouldn’t quite fit in our lives at this time. These riches were ultimately meant for other people. Some finds would have been perfect way back when, during an era when the children were little tykes, when lumber, metal and assorted remodeling debris would have made fine treehouses.
In daydreaming of the future, goods cast aside would help to realize that vision of a greenhouse. Shelves, gardening pots and tools that could live on with some duct tape, and the errant wheelbarrow would all be put to good use.
Or those ideal end tables or chairs, in surprisingly great condition, that would add a little zing to the living room. But there’s no room to give these pieces that deserved second life.
According to Marty Pool, Durango’s Sustainability Manager, the city’s spring cleanup usually collects around 4,000 to 5,000 cubic yards of material, which weigh 650 to 800 tons. Roughly speaking, Pool said, this is between 5% to 10% of our total annual collected residential waste by weight, including all trash, recycling and cleanup programs.
That’s a lot of stuff.
The spring cleanup, managed by the city’s Streets Division, are for residents who pay the fee collected on monthly utility bills. Material placed by ineligible residents or material placed outside a designated area/time is illegal dumping. (Please, don’t be that person.) Depending on your neighborhood, the cleanup runs through May 5.
Researchers trace the origin of spring cleaning back 3,000 years to the Iranian Nowruz, the Persian new year, which falls on the first day of spring. Iranians continue the practice of khaneh tekani, which translates to “shaking the house.” Sweeping up dust, removing clutter – and much later – vacuuming drapes and wiping down the refrigerator in one’s home would prevent ill-fortune in the upcoming year.
Well, we like the idea of having everything going for us and welcome the idea of “shaking” our offices and homes.
The city’s spring cleanup has put us in motion. Not only are we saying goodbye to objects, but reflecting on habits and attitudes that no longer serve us. For example, how can we use Opinion pages to deliver renewed action for more understanding and discourse, especially around subjects that divide us.
How to lighten our own loads as well as those around us?
We’re spring cleaning to refine how we work.
Besides, we have that peer pressure from our neighbors. And so far, the “shaking” and tidying up has been nothing less than cathartic.
